If people want to buy cheap price/quality stuff from China, let them do it. No one is holding a gun to their head and forcing them to buy it. It is their money they are spending, they should be allowed to spend it as they see fit. On the other hand, if we ban those goods, leaving only American or the goods of other nations available, we ARE using force to influence how people spend their money. We ARE removing the freedom of choice. It may help the producers whose products are on the "approved" list, but in the end, it harms the consumers because it destroys their freedom to choose where they spend their money. What exactly is "Freedom" if not the right to choose?
Regarding sending China our money, this is a GOOD thing. At the rate our government is debasing our currency, it is to OUR advantage to be trading less valuable dollars for their goods. The faster our currency flows out of our country, the better! It delays the inevitable price increases that ALWAYS accompany the inflation and debasement of currency. What will get us into trouble is if China (and numerous other Asian countries) ever decides to unload all that currency on the global market... Then we will face the danger of runaway inflation and a general collapse of our monetary system. A fiat currency is only worth something as long as the holders of the currency have confidence in the currency to keep its value. As soon as people lose faith in it as a store of value, they will start dumping it in favor of anything they think will hold value: gold and other precious metals, real estate, etc,... If all those countries holding massive dollar reserves suddenly decide that the Euro is a better store of value, then we are in serious trouble!
Once currency dumping starts, the market gets flooded with currency and that only hastens the increase in prices. If nothing is done to check it, it can easily sprial into hyperinflation. This is exactly what happened in Germany in the years between WWI and WWII. In April of 1919, The exchange rate for German Marks was 12 Marks to one American dollar. By December of 1923, four years later, the exchange rate was 4.2 BILLION Marks to one American dollar!!
By 1922, the German banks were printing individual bills worth One Billion Marks EACH!! The money obviously became worthless as a store of value. People would burn it in their woodburning stoves because the bundles of paper money needed to buy firewood would burn longer than the wood the money could buy. The end result is that the society was reduced to barter, an extremely cumbersome method of economic exchange.
I rant and rave about inflation all the time because I think it is the most serious problem facing our country right now, even more so than the "War on Terror". After all, you gotta pay your soldiers or they tend to lose their motivation to fight
War is not good for the economy, it consumes the overall wealth of a society. The so called "Trade Imbalance" is not a root problem, it is a symptom. It has two sources, inefficient producers here and inflation. Both of those lead to higher prices for good produced here. So if left to chose, most consumers will choose the cheaper imports even if they have somewhat less quality. Inflation is theft, pure and simple. Our government inflates like crazy. This leading by example has devastating affects on our society. It promotes overt consumption and penalizes savings and thrift. It promotes short sightedness when making investment and business decisions. It centralizes wealth in the hands of the inflators which creates a trough feeding style of economy where everyone lines up to get the slop (new money) first while the getting is good and late comers get shafted. It consumes to the true capital wealth structure of our society and lowers the standard of living for everyone. It is the erosion of the very foundation of our society right out from under us. So even if we could fight and "win" the War on Terror, the consequences for our society are dire. IF the Chinese try to rise up to challenge us in the future economically or militarily, we will be in a world of hurt.
So buy Chinese, lots and lots! At least that way, real value is coming our way in the form of goods of ever increasing quality in return for currency of ever decreasing value! The net effect for them is a transfer of wealth from them to us! As we inflate, the dollars they are trying to use to build up their military become more and more worthless. If you really despise the Chinese, this is the BEST way to bring their government to its knees without having to fire a shot. This is the best way to bring about any chance for real reform in their society. So shop Wal-Mart! Most of that money never even leaves the country. Even for them, the cost of labor is one of the largest pieces of their overall expenses. So all those clerks, managers, shipping employees, etc,... benefit when you shop there
The money that does make it back to China only loses its value to their detriment.
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Cool 250cc sport tourer in there, too.
HD was junk for a long time.
Nice story to read... http://www.chinaroad.org/
It'll probably be 8 years before I'm in financial shape to buy another motorcycle and it'll be a touring, sport touring, or standard bike most likely. I don't know yet cause that's a long time. 
