Economics of racquetball

As I was doing some yard work today I looked down at my wheel barrow and saw the made in China symbol. As much as it irates me to purchase foreign goods it is almost impossible to make a minor purchase without it coming from a third world country. I am not going to rant and rave about fair trade practices but I am sure you know where I stand as an American. To my knowledge every racquet company has their racquets produced over seas in an Asian marketplace. Most quality issues in the past have been inferior in the manufacturing or quality control end. Lets face it the Chinese would make the racquets with asbestos if they could save money. In comes my argument,Penn balls were the leader in the industry when the balls were being produced in the good old USA. Ektelon has now grabbed a large part of their business due to the lack of durability and playability by watching their standards overseas. Most people know that if you are a serious player you have to cut your strings off when you get a new racquet because of the inferior stringing job and the trip in with temperature fluctuations that greatly effect the string bed.When talking about small items like headbands and balls I can see where it is hard to compete, but larger ticket items like racquets,sneakers and goggles could be cost competitive. New balance makes sneakers here cheaper than any other major sneaker manufacturer. They also successfully have a wide range of the types of sneakers that they offer. I have worn them for fifteen years(I have wide feet and they specialize in that)and find them hard to kill. The profit margin on a 200 dollar racquet must provide some wiggle room for profit if produced here,and quality control would be much easier to respond here than overseas. I do not blame any one company for these practices but I would love to see someone step up and help some Americans for a change. I guess I will keep playing the lottery since I do not have that kind of cash laying aqround,but if I do watch out Asia. A racquetfanatic racquet,I think I like the ring of that.