It's European invasion

Economic argument is a good but not the only one. And it may not be as straightforward. If we buy more of what some make now and keep buying it, what economic reason would they have to innovate? They would have more financial resources, but would they channel enough of them to R&D ? And what about those who do have motivation and knowledge but cannot establish themselves because of lack of funds?
It also appears that Europeans manage to make good sounding equipment at all price levels.

Question for us, as members of audiophile community, could be - what can we do to try and influence this unfortunate tendency in an effort to reverse it ? 

I see very little motivation for anything except making money, but even that stinks with some kind of begging tone, whether humble or aggressive or deceptive - doesn't matter - it's all begging.

trelja, could you elaborate on this "big change" ?

czarivey, they will hang you and we will be upset.

America is the land of immigrants, including Nazi.
But why don't we return to hi-fi?

US does appear to be in decline for now. Don't know about Canada.