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Just heard about it. Crane Cams, one of the largest aftermarket camshaft producers has shut shop. What a bloody time, after being in business for over 50 years and making such a huge impact in the aftermarket industry, they're out of the fight.

I don't want to buy cores from the UK joints, bloody hell!!!

Yeah, far as I know. It feels like a global institution just upped and died right now honestly.

Nope, Crane was an American firm.

+1 for that. I hope that its the US that re-emerges more strongly as the global control factor in Finance, because if China gets a strong foothold in that, the planet is bloody doomed. Somebody needs to keep those boys in check.

Its not going to happen. N.Korea is vastly different from the South, and China is an emerging Economic superpower. What we need to do is to bring them into the Global Community, so that we can use Intellectual Property Laws with China, and find a way to make the Chinese abide by them. Plenty of reputable companies have been badly hurt by the lack of accountability to do with these firms(TRUST Japan closed up because of just this)

The poor copies, PISS poor I might add, bring the original product into disrepute.

As I said, if they would just somehow go away, things would be better.

Thats the plot to the fallout series of games btw.

From a South African point of view, I'd say that the problem has been caused by american banks lending out more than they could afford. And people spending thier money on things they couldn't afford. Thus resulting in a global credit crunch.
We are somewhat insulated down here, and things aren't as bad as in the states and europe, because for the most part, although our bank charges are astronomical, the bank service has been pretty good, in that most south africans don't live off too much credit.
We don't buy that much stuff that we can't afford.

To me there's a difference between having the money to buy a new car and having the money to afford a new car. I think people all over the world are learning that the hard way.
The only people that aren't hurt by this credit crunch are the super rich, the folks who buy yaughts and $40k choppard watches and all.

The only reason I can see that China is becoming a super power is because they appeal to accountants and finance people, because they can do things cheaper. Problems with quality can be easily covered up with enough money put into PR; advertising and branding.

It ultimately comes down to what Mille is trying to do. If we all keep trying to support the products we know are good, and thier quality is superior then we should do our best to buy thier products...when we can afford them.

But I think on a larger corprate scale, chineese products are very much here to stay. If a company has to buy a thousand PCs they're going to go with the cheapest deal, they won't worry if three hundred of them are faulty, because they'll just replace them in another few years.

Things aren't made to last anymore.

China ripping off designs and intellectual properties is what pisses me off. I've always been one of the types that believes in giving credit where credit is due. I don't like piracy (which the southeast Asian sector has running rampant) or bootlegged auto parts... or even counterfeit cars! I am not a thief, and I don't like it when thieves ruin legitimate businesses. I may be a little bias (I'm willing to bet that most Gaians pirate music and movies), since I'm a published writer and also a photographer (therefore I believe in copyright and not stealing other people's work)... but as arrogant as it may sound, I believe that my bias is for the good and honorable side.