When I was a kid, European bikes had the cachet of quality. Asian bikes were cheap crap. American bikes were tanks. There was probably some truth to that in a broad sense. But the quality of Asian imports improved and America began making some better machines. Some of the Euro manufacturers suffered a decline in quality at the same time as they increased production to meet demand in a growing US market, so it all evened out. Now you can buy a very nice machine or a POS manufactured all over the globe so there's little practical reason the care specifically about the origin. I can appreciate the sentiment of those who want to 'shop locally' on a global scale, but I wouldn't personally make that a prime consideration for a purchase such as a bike.