Tariffs and sky high audio prices.

@pedroboe



You are correct although it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Its bigger than that though, excellent parts come from all over the world and are used in a great deal of the “made in America by American hands” type gear. Same goes for cars, motorcycles...the whole idea of the righteous tariff imposing camp makes my head hurt a little. When no making policy they are probably advising pregnant teens on the merits of abstinence.

@david_pully 


While I agree with you in principle, there is a measurable point on the sliding scale where consumers abandon principle en masse to migrate to value. The 1% that is often bashed is not in Walmart nor buying direct from Aliexpress. You actually made the point with your new purchase. Once something becomes commoditized, its a race to the bottom. On a macro level, the higher raw cost/labor cost nation is better redeploying that macro resource to an area of less commoditization.

"...there are millions of Americans, including children, who are hungry."

Statistics can be so deceiving...

https://www.aafp.org/news/health-of-the-public/20181015obesityrpt.html

Despite the rising levels of obesity in those who can afford to eat badly, or for those who don’t have healthy food choices but tons of fast food nearby, there are over 40 million Americans, 12 million who are children, who are classified as food insecure.

That means they don’t know where their next meal will come from or have the means to get it on their own. They don’t factor into the obesity statistics, which could lead someone to think, fake news.

One needs to be careful of statistics and who's using them. If, say, 20 guys are in a bar one night and their average income is $40,000 a year, you'd think they were an average American. If Bill Gates were to join them, their average income would be $255 million, and that would be misleading.

All the best,
Nonoise

@glupson



While its unlikely anyone would imply, because obesity rates are on the rise, that hunger isn’t one of our major challenges as a society capable of preventing it.

If someone were to use that data to make a case that all is well, they are ill informed....or worse. Denying that a problem exists makes it worse, it doesn’t make it go away.