[BuckingFastard]

Originally Posted by MathGeek

Owning two American made trucks (a Ford and a Chevy) cured me of patriotic notions related to buying American. Getting half the service life for the same money is a bad deal. We've owned five Honda's now (three still in service), and I firmly believe that capitalism better serves US interests than buying American when American quality is sub-standard.

As far as rods go, I'm a dedicated Ugly Stik customer. We own at least a dozen and my first Ugly Stik (a birthday present in 2004 or 2005) is still in service. We like them because they last a long time and are hard to break even when seeing heavy use and hard service. Our main techniques are trolling and bait fishing, so weight and sensitivity are not as important to me as durability.

I've moved away from Shakespeare reels (to Shimano) due to durability issues. I've also moved from American made braids to Power Pro for quality reasons. Without doubt, Seaguar (Japanese) makes the highest quality fluorocarbon leader materials. But there is little need for fluorocarbon leaders in most LA waters due to the lack of clarity, so we've switched back to regular mono due to price concerns. We retie leaders frequently to maintain knot strength, so we use a lot of material.

Without doubt, the US still makes the best bullets, but my daughter recently switched to Lapua bullets due to lack of availability of US bullets. A few years back, we switched to Lapua brass because it is so far superior to US brass. No one in the family wants to buy a gun in a cartridge for which Lapua doesn't offer brass. Rem, Win, and Fed brass have all gone down hill quickly since 2000.

Buying American is not patriotic when it rewards poor quality. The free market is at its best when high quality is rewarded and poor quality is run out of business (or forced to improve).

yea i drive a nissan and would only buy a ford if i went domestic. (bailout)... but on a small scale like rods and such, i prefer to go to the small guy and local if possible.