I was doing some research on World War II lately and ran across a advertisement in a 1944 publication for keeping inflation down. The program had the catch phrase 'Use it up, wear it out. Make it do or do without.'

The bottom line was to make stuff last since the US was fighting a war that the War Department was planning on fighting until 1951 and the US was going to need all the assets it could lay its' hands on.

It reminded me of the attitude of a lot of folks that drive Mercedes. We don't mind paying top dollar for the quality, but the quality had better be there and we expect to get our monies worth out of it.

But one thing that comes with knowing quality when you see it is that you notice when it starts to slip.