and to the sound of applause...

It was only a matter of time until the east would develop their technology and metallurgy en masse such that they could put out a pretty good product at a greatly discounted price and take away the market share. Most people will settle for good over great if they can see a huge value for money disparity. A $50 knife nowadays will do 95% of what a $350 knife will do, and so on. There just aren't enough of us aficionados around to provide the sort of business these traditional companies once enjoyed, and so since they didn't keep up with modern manufacturing trends (for whatever reason), they, like the big three automakers, cannot stay up with new production.

Quality doesn't equal expensive. If you can get close to what your contemporaries are doing and do so while passing on a huge savings to the consumer, you will overtake your competitors. Close being relative, most people who buy knives aren't terribly critical, and will buy really sharp junk because they can buy it with the change in their pocket. Since the vast majority don't rely on knives like they used to, it is a little foolhardy to expect them to spend double for something that, in their mind, is no better than what they bought at the flea market or Walmart.

You want a great knife? Go to a limited production/custom knife maker like Busse or Ontario or Benchmade. You want good, pick one out of hundreds of bulk knife makers these days.