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Then you go to the store, realizing how much stuff you would buy that comes from factories in China.

Stop buying it.

You're right. I'm an hypocrite who wants to buy that stuff. However, I don't want it from china. I want it manufactured here. While we have our share of shit product, a lot of the best stuff I own comes from America (note: I'm not an american citizen, though I live there. It's a recent thing. So there's no patriotism involved). It's more expensive for sure, but over the long term, I end up spending less money because Its not made to be replaced every 2 months to make money on volume from razor thin margins.

My backpack is from http://www.tombihn.com/FAQS.ht... and it's fantastic.

My dining table isn't from Ikea. It's from GeekChic, and it's fucking awesome. http://geekchichq.com/#categor...

I have a Subzero fridge (though I wouldn't have paid for that, condo came with it). They last quite a bit longer than the shit alternatives. A lot of cheaper brands made in the west do too.

And so on and so forth. A lot of those things are expensive, but you can give them to your children once you die so they don't have to spend 3 times the amount of money over their lives to buy the same shit.

I buy a lot of board games. Those are often manufactured in China. It sucks. They're poorly made, just to cut cost. I wish I could buy premium versions, that are more expensive, made here, but that will actually last. That I won't have to be afraid of dropping one of the plastic components and have it break.

But nope. The McDonald generation wants cheap shit everything. And because of scale, I don't even have the OPTION to buy the premium stuff that doesn't come from China. When I do, I pick that.

well I am sure he could afford the 10-15k a Sultan http://www.geekchichq.com/furniture/sultan/

First Picture on the page. Not that you were going to pay for one anyway.

Get some first hand experience with carpentry and build yourself one.

And if you insist on something looking roughly similar, here is the size info.

I appreciate that they actually define what they mean by "Heirloom Quality". It's not a throwaway bit of marketing trash; solid hardwood instead of the usual veneer over plywood, plus construction that can hold together dry fitted isn't cheap. My father bought a table meeting the same specs (though not a gaming table, just a nice dining table) and it ran a few thousand dollars (not sure on exact price). The construction tolerances for dry fitted integrity would be even tighter for a table with this many connected and mobile parts. The cost of the "desirable" hardwoods that they use in the Sultan is *way* higher than you'd expect. They're probably overcharging a bit, but even mass produced I doubt you'd see something like the Sultan for less than $5K.

In furniture, Heirloom Quality has a pretty specific meaning. It would take years of carpentry expreience to make a tqable like that at that quality level.

They define what they mean:
http://www.geekchichq.com/Theory_Conjecture/Heirloom_Quality/Heirloom_Quality.html

Seriously, you sound like a non geek making fun of USB 3.

Games are not that expensive.

Savage Worlds: 10 bucks for the main book.
DnD 4e retail 34.00 The first Players Handbook in 1978 was 20 bucks. Calculate inflation into that
In 1995, Computer games where 30/40 bucks.
Ticket to ride, 40 bucks: The is the price of equivalent quality board games in the 1980s.

Gaming is not becoming more expensive If anything, it's cheaper.