Master_Dave

You're right, Duke, it's not just our industry that's sold out. There was a time not 30 years ago when buying from American firms and using union labor was a good guarantee of receiving a quality product. The enemies of unions moved their operations to unregulated southern states and then value engineered the 'value' out of everything. For a buck.

I recently tore out a wall and found a lot of old denim clothing in the stud bay; probably the earliest form of denim insulation. They'd been there a long time, since the thirties or before I speculate, and carried the JC Penney union made label.

The seams were triple stitched with cotton thread and with such finely woven stitches and tightly loomed material I would have washed and worn them off into the sunset if they'd been a little bigger.

At the time I looked down at my own shabby work clothes made in China and India and the boots pressed out in Brasil and it made me want to spit nails. All these years of hard work and patient craftsmanship so I can buy crap manufactured by children or slaves in factories built specifically to be far away from regulation or oversight of any kind? American citizens willing to spend hours online with technical support in Mumbai so some greasy haired 25 year old "En-tre-pren-eur" can buy a Humvee and own a 52" television???

The newspaper says the Chinese own so much of our nation's debt they have a major say in our government; the last President holds hands with Saudi princes and pretends he's just promoting "globalism." How stupid can we be? Enough already.

No, I think we DO need to get all xenophobic. Not because a few bad apples spoil it for all the responsible businessmen, rather, because I just received my Chamber of Commerce monthly magazine which shows business people from my own state kneeling in front of a line of Chinese executives in front of their extensive facilities in a facility we financed. They accompanying article speaks to how hard working and affable those peculiar people are and how we shouldn't, as a nation, erect barriers to trade which will hurt the Chamber's members "back home."

The US Chamber of Commerce is an organization dedicated to buying and selling as much as possible as cheaply as possible, even when it's from a Marxist communist country that our military geniuses in Washington insist is the reason we need to reinforce our defenses and fight goofy-assed wars to contain.

I've been a builder for 40 years and a citizen for 56 and have watched this ridiculous procession long enough. Are we simply powerless to stop the march of gluttonous profiteers in Texas and Georgia who are content to sell our nation out? Is the future of the homebuilding industry in the hands of Dan Ryan?

Perhaps Fine Homebuilding could become a forum for an honest reevaluation of our industry and our trades? We could, perhaps, rename it... Pretty Good Homebuilding, or... OK By Me Homebuilding. After all, this is, apparently, a matter of money and markets and shouldn't we try and be a "Big Tent" to attract the most customers to the circus?

I'm ashamed of what we've done to ourselves and would like to engage with others who believe that America isn't just a place where unprincipled people go to make more money. A little xenophobia is way too long overdue.

No, I think we DO need to get all xenophobic. Not because a few bad apples spoil it for all the responsible businessmen, rather, because I just received my Chamber of Commerce monthly magazine which shows business people from my own state kneeling in front of a line of Chinese executives in front of their extensive facilities in a facility we financed. They accompanying article speaks to how hard working and affable those peculiar people are and how we shouldn't, as a nation, erect barriers to trade which will hurt the Chamber's members "back home."

The US Chamber of Commerce is an organization dedicated to buying and selling as much as possible as cheaply as possible, even when it's from a Marxist communist country that our military geniuses in Washington insist is the reason we need to reinforce our defenses and fight goofy-assed wars to contain.

I've been a builder for 40 years and a citizen for 56 and have watched this ridiculous procession long enough. Are we simply powerless to stop the march of gluttonous profiteers in Texas and Georgia who are content to sell our nation out? Is the future of the homebuilding industry in the hands of Dan Ryan?

Perhaps Fine Homebuilding could become a forum for an honest reevaluation of our industry and our trades? We could, perhaps, rename it... Pretty Good Homebuilding, or... OK By Me Homebuilding. After all, this is, apparently, a matter of money and markets and shouldn't we try and be a "Big Tent" to attract the most customers to the circus?

I'm ashamed of what we've done to ourselves and would like to engage with others who believe that America isn't just a place where unprincipled people go to make more money. A little xenophobia is way too long overdue.

The sticker concept is a good idea. But it is inevitable that someone will soon determine that the only people ACTUALLY qualified to apply the sticker must be LEED certified, licensed, bonded, monomaniacs from Texas who have served honorably in the military and are vegetarian. The "someone" I refer to will, no doubt, represent the "green" sticker industry and will eventually succeed in acquiring the sticker franchise because his Uncle Otto is high up in the Salt Lake mafia.

I built my first "passive solar" home 40 years ago. It faced south and had way too much glass. We didn't know any better back then. My neighbor has studied and studied and bought all the books and become a green building expert of late. He just built himself a custom home. It faces south and has far too much glass. Just turning a building south and putting far too much glass in it doesn't make it "green" or "solar." Both terms have been hijacked for money by businesses and industries. They are, in essence, meaningless. If the stuff all over your green building is PVC then it doesn't much matter that's it's green.

I just inspected a "green" subdivision in Charlottesville. The "green" roofs have dried up and died - completely dead, all of them - over the summer. It's a work in progress I guess. I'm sorry, what was the question? Oh, yeah, house stickers. It's a good idea; can I get to be a certified, licensed sticker-applicator before everybody else if I slip a few thousand to Uncle Otto, cause that's how it's done here in Dixie.