My daughter was interested in a radio, so I opened it to show her the insides. It was a "free gift" we got when we ordered some magazine a couple of years ago. I was amazed how they managed to do things so cheap. Along with low quality components, the cost cutting is amazing. Not much in there are extras - even the length of wires. The plastic tabs to hold something in place was just enough. A millimeter or two shorter the battery would have just slip out. Nothing extra, just barely enough to do the job. They have the cost-cutting down pad. The plastic was literally falling apart in my hands when I tried to put it back together but it held well until I opened it. Oh, the soldering was awful too.
But then it occurred to me.
Not very long ago in the 1960's-1970's, "Made in Japan" was the description for junk. Toyota and Datsun were cars you drive only when you cannot even afford a VW bug. Then comes 1980's: US car makers were playing the catch-up game to try to catch up with the Japanese.
Not long ago, "made in Korea" brands like Samsung were stuff to avoid and you buy it only when you cannot afford the dollars for the "Made in Japan" quality. Now Samsung is considered a quality brand. Even Hyundai autos are now considered rather main-stream instead of "cheap junk."
I can see in the not too distant future, perhaps we will have to fight hard to beat the quality stuff out of China.
China is big - around the size of the USA, so like in the USA, there will be different areas perhaps making stuff with different quality level. Already, their Shanghai students already command the top spot in PISA score (tests of students of OECD countries). Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore are the frequent top 5's. The Netherlands is not far behind. We are way back in the twenties. The last published number I remember well is 2009 where we were down to 26/29 (reading/math+science). I think last year we failed to even make top 30 with math & science. While we in the USA consider them making only cheap-junk, they are bringing up a generation that MAY leave us in the dusk!
So, we should look at ourselves and ask if we are doing enough to keep up. Today, most would prefer "Made in USA" quality (nationalism aside) over "Made in China". But, we need to work hard to keep it that way -- or else soon in the future, we will be buying "made in the USA" stuff only when we can't afford the $ for quality stuff from China.