Painting - Paint Flow Problems

Is it just me getting old, or is the paint nowadays just plain lousy quality compared to say, in the 70s and 80s?

I keep buying top-line paint from Kwal, DiamondVogel, SW, etc. but the stuff seems to roll on thin, and when I use oil-based enamal and brush it, all I get are brushmarks. Didn't used to be that way, and I'm using Chinese bristle brushes for the oil-paints tool. The paint just doesn't seem to flow like it used to.

YOUr right it doesn't. Ever since they took the lead out it went downhillnad came out with stricter VOC limits

Funny, I keep complaining that Ben Moore is too thick. Looks like pudding sometimes when I pour it into the tray. Good for walls but not so good for trim (latex that is). I can paint casing with minimal brushmarks only when using Floetrol and then I have to be very careful about drips. I have noticed that adding a sigificant amount of Floetrol reduces the sheen somewhat and may make the paint less resistant to damage.

I have to paint a couple of 8" wide doorway jambs. It's obvious that they were sprayed with latex because there are no marks whatsoever and light reflects very evenly. It's gong to be a challenge to duplicate this brushing with latex or even oil. I can see that one advantage of oil is that it's fairly easy to fix mistakes by sanding. On my first door casing I had terrible brush marks so I tried to sand them (and the drips) out and that was not a fun experience.

Yeah, most oil finish products are weak nowadays because of the VOC limitations. Ben. Moore's Satin Impervo used to be like pudding straight out of the can.