I think better value would be okay, if done legitimately, with a properly paid workforce and due to own merit... but that is not the case here.
Back when you bought a Kenwood radio in the 80s etc, you knew the radio was, arguably, better or comparable quality and performance to US made stuff, which was fine. The US helped rebuild Japan after WWII, so I would've expected a country that built the Zero fighter plane, the Yamato battleship, et all... to flourish rather quickly with the large money and expertise inflow coming from the US to rebuild their nation.
China, is not, and never was in the same situation as Japan was/is.... Their radios were garbage from the get go, polished garbage, which appears to have more value b/c it costs a lot less, with fancy screens, etc, but when in fact, these doesn't. Its just lower cost, but its not a better radio, not even close. Can't compare a Kenwood/Icom to a Baofeng/TYT...
As for IP theft, no matter how big, or small... that's the end of a company for me. I will never support stealing, and thieves are thieves... whether they steal 10 dollars or 100 million... both are punishable by law. The little weasels are now trying to dodge the bullet... I hope they pay.
US consumers are not at fault that these thieves are stealing IP to save (or avoid) doing their R&D, so they can offer cheaper products... and then made with government subsidized money, too... and free labor... holy crapola... that is the capitalists wet dream... free ideas, free labor, gov subsidized money to make even more money... Unfortunately, tho, that system is called feudalism, and we ran that system for roughly 1000 years after the Roman empire fell in 476 AD... and those 1000 years were called, IIRC, the "dark ages"... before we finally (and slowly) came back to our senses during the Renaissance... Think of were we could've been today... when it took us from 1450 to 1969, or from the time Gutenberg invented the printing press to landing humans on the Moon, imagine if the press would've been invented in 550 instead.... Yeah... slavery, thievery, forced labor and subsidized government funds are totally the key to prosperity... for the few rich ones atop running the show... for the rest? Move over, peasant... The thieves don't invent anything new, they simply steal stuff, which conveniently its easier and cheaper... Problem is that parasites only thrive while the host is alive... and the moment the host dies b/c of the parasite infection, the parasite dies along with the host.
As things stand today, the US cannot compete with China b/c, first, they don't respect any rules, then they have pretty much free labor, and lots of it... and then they encourage the stealing of IPs for profit...
In other words: You can't hope to have an enjoyable chess game against someone who starts with 6 rocks, 16 pawns, after stealing your 8 pawns, an then claims that they all move like queens...
At this point all that can be done is impose some serious tariffs at the borders in hopes to contain the uncontrolled inflow of cheap and stolen IP products made by an even cheaper labor force, driven by rampant IP theft.
G.
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