Throw-away stuff from cheap labor countries has undermined more than manufacturing here. No more blue collar guys with troubleshooting skills earning a living working at a bench. Even guys like me who used to ride their bikes to the U-Test-Em machine at the local drug store--carrying a bag of tubes--can't do anything when the TV breaks but throw the old one out and go buy another one. (I still have an old 78RPM record player/console tube radio that picks up the BBC.)
I will say that when the first high-definition TVs like Cody's hit the market, I walked into Circuit City and was conscious of the fact that I felt like folks must have felt when they saw their first television: "There's little people in there!" So there is a benefit.
