Nail, on head. And as a serial entrepenuer working with metal and machinery, I can promise you that western policy is very much built around protecting the blo

Nail, on head. And as a serial entrepenuer working with metal and machinery, I can promise you that western policy is very much built around protecting the bloated, monopolys and du-opoloys from inovation and competition. I built a thumb for my backhoe, from salvaged steel and ramdom used hydraulics, and it works great, I can grab and postion big rocks, and hold a tree at a convienient hight for bucking it up. Total cash cost, under $400, to by from the dealer would be close to $10000, close to which side of 10000?, not sure..... Full spanky new machine, ha!, grown men get moon eyed when they look at that old machine with its bucket and thumb. The real cost of wildly overpriced equipment is that it is a significant factor in rural devitalisation, with small land owners and farmers unable to earn or create what is nessescary for raising a family. And we are then loosing the skills needed to do many of the things that are fundamental to maintaining and building basic infrastructure in smaller jobs at acceptable prices, leading to further decline. The realy realy uggly part of this process, is that farm boys, having NO possibilty of staying in the country, signed up, and came back physicaly and/or damaged themselves, and now, for the most part, there is no remaing resevoir of humans, that are inclined to do things in trenches, of whatever variety. Its not called the military, industrial, complex, for nothing.