Ladies and gentlemen we are our own worst enemy. Our government elected by the people started exporting our industry to China. Now the chickens come home to rost. The one thing Chineese ARFs have done for us is increase the number of RC pilots and thus kept this hobby alive and vibrant. Face facts please, the number of RC pilots who have never built an RC model exceeds those who are pilots and have built model airplanes. Also those who did not get wings left the hobby or are still trying. I have flown with are three types and I must say it is not my opinion it is fact. I stopped building models from kits thirty years ago and never looked back and along the way I managed to build two 1/4 scale aircraft from plans but to my dissmay the cost of material exceeded the cost of an ARF of the same model of plane. Don't believe me price the cost of balsa wood and aircraft grade plywood. One of the planes I built from plans was an Ayrees SR-2 crop duster and on numerous occassions I was asked who makes the ARF. See what I mean. The advent of foamies and park flyers also spurred more people to enter the ranks but IMO these planes have nothing to do with model airplanes. I feel the same way about electrics but for each his own. Our hobby in the near furture is going to go flat line along with the economy when our currency becomes worthless. One last thing to think about is the advent of gasoline engines but this is not new because this is how we started way back in our history of model aviation.