We just lost a Made in USA motorcycle

[Slojo]

[QUOTE=Phil Mast;96562]qu Pete:
Ditto, Ditto, Ditto!
Anybody ever seen a church congregation halved by political dispute? Ugly.
Anybody wanna wear their political persuasions on their sleeve at Davenport? with a vengeance, I mean? Are you ready to go to blows over things? Could go there, you know. Don't doubt whether the other side is every bit as angry and indignant as you are. The recipe is ripe. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: politics is poison, regardless of whether you're in a bar or a church.

Divide and concur.
Joe

[junkyarddog]

I make a Fine Living with my Bridgeport Milling Machine, thank you. A new Series 1 is 14,000. A comparable Jet is 5,000. I'll bet you a Rigid Frame Chief against a HD 45 that if you buy both of them right now and work then side by side the Bridgeport will not only produce Better work from the get go, it will outlast the Import be at least 500%. That seems pretty competitive. We have now been trained that Everything is supposed to be cheap and disposable. There are MANY things available that are Higher quality, and yes, more expensive, and built right here. By the time a new American Made Milling machine is ready to be rebuilt, hey just like Our quality built American Motorcycles, you will probably have spent 20,000 replacing Disposable Chinese junk. And still have Chinese Junk! What work I haven't lost to the CNC, I have lost to China. Except for my customers who see the Value in American Craftsmanship.

Diddo on Bridgeport verses Junk.
I worked in a shop before the CNC stuff took over.
They had a Bridgeport that Western Electric retired, but still decent and would hold .001 with no problem.
They also had a new counterfeit.
Give both machines the same part and you could move material more the twice as fast on the Bridgeport with a better finish.
I bought a new Bridgeport in 1979 which I believe to be the last year that the casting were made in Connecticut.
I could have bought Junk new for less then 1/2, but I have also tried to buy American if available and not sorry for it.
Jim

[sludge]

"Anybody wanna wear their political persuasions on their sleeve at Davenport? with a vengeance, I mean?"

sure, i do it all the time....still a free country....as long as people are still willing to stand for something that they believe in.

"Are you ready to go to blows over things? Could go there, you know."

you bet, anybody not willing to stand up for themselves or their brother or their beliefs i got no use for.

"Don't doubt whether the other side is every bit as angry and indignant as you are."

good for them, i wouldn't have any respect for anybody that wasn't passionate about their beliefs.

"politics is poison, regardless of whether you're in a bar or a church."

been my experience that bars are much more civil places.

Joe[/QUOTE]

[fillibuster]

"Anybody wanna wear their political persuasions on their sleeve at Davenport? with a vengeance, I mean?"

sure, i do it all the time....still a free country....as long as people are still willing to stand for something that they believe in.

"Are you ready to go to blows over things? Could go there, you know."

you bet, anybody not willing to stand up for themselves or their brother or their beliefs i got no use for.

"Don't doubt whether the other side is every bit as angry and indignant as you are."

good for them, i wouldn't have any respect for anybody that wasn't passionate about their beliefs.

"politics is poison, regardless of whether you're in a bar or a church."

been my experience that bars are much more civil places.

Joe

[/QUOTE]

2 bits says we lost Pete.

[silentgreyfello]

2 bits says we lost Pete.[/QUOTE]

Peking Pete? Probably down at Harbor Freight picking up more tools to replace the stuff he bought last week.

[Barry Brown]

Here's some irony. A prominent member of this club makes his living dismantaling closed US factories and selling and setting up the machine tools in China! A lot of that commie crap is probably made on worn out Bridgeports !

[exeric]

This is off the subject that is off the main subject; but what was the deal with those Pierce 4's that were being made somewhere other than America? That was the big scare in our hobby about 10 years ago. Did any of those Pierce 4's show up at an AMCA meet?

[fillibuster]

2 bits says we lost Pete.

Peking Pete? Probably down at Harbor Freight picking up more tools to replace the stuff he bought last week.[/QUOTE]

No mercy, huh? hope ol' Pete's got a sense of humor!

[Pete Gagan]

This is likely my last post. I assume you are all wearing Florshiem shoes while you are typing your messages on your American computers. (I do have a sense of humor, by the way.) Like it or not, the Chinese products are getting better, like the Japanese ones before. Buying an old Bridgeport made by guys that are either retired or dead wouldn't help todays American workers anymore than buying an old BSA would bring back the British motorcycle industry. I am unaware of any machine tools built in Canada, so the Canadian workers are out of luck as well, unfortunately.
Pete

[Robert Luland]

"O" Boy is this going to be fun!

[Chris Haynes]

This is likely my last post.

If ya can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen.

[Britluv]

Polaris move

The problem is that the accountant "bean counters" know how to save money on the short-term basis, at the cost of the long-term health of the company. Qurarterly financial reports look good...right up until bankruptcy.

Accountants are like morticians: they can make a corpse look "alive," but it's still a corpse. If nothing is made in America, where are the jobs, where are the paychecks? What they forget is that no matter how cheap the product is, if no one has a job, no one can buy it.

[indianut]

Buying an old Bridgeport made by guys that are either retired or dead wouldn't help todays American workers anymore than buying an old BSA would bring back the British motorcycle industry.

Yes, but we are talking about what is BETTER! By that logic you may as well go buy a Ching-Jang Scooter because buying a 101 Scout won't help American Workers. It's a Quality/American Thing. You wouldn't understand.

[indianut]

Accountants are like morticians: they can make a corpse look "alive," but it's still a corpse. If nothing is made in America, where are the jobs, where are the paychecks? What they forget is that no matter how cheap the product is, if no one has a job, no one can buy it.

Right....When it get's to the point where you can buy a television set at Walmart for 67 cents, it won't matter anyways if no one has a Job, or the money to buy it!! It sounds real good on the surface that things are cheaper now than when we were kids, but the fact of the matter is that that $12 Chinese blender will be toast long before the old Kitchen Aid your Grandma had is worn out! Sadly, the Magic of America is over. I am just glad I got to see at least the Tail End of it.

[fillibuster]

If ya can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen.

I thought we were in the outhouse.