Buy American?

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grannysoo

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While enjoying one of my favorite past-times yesterday (playing with the grand-daughter) I got to noticing where the playthings were built. From blowing bubbles (made in China), to the plastic play-set (made in China), to the tricycle (made in China), it appeared that we were supporting nothing but the Chinese people.

Now I know that they have to eat too, but I sure would rather the people in our country eat first......

I don't mean for this to be political, for it's not. It's just a matter of fact.

Our economy is in the tank, and looks like it's going to get worse before it even thinks about getting better. As some food for thought, I now look to see where a product if manufactured if I want to buy it. It's getting to the point where if I can't find something manufactured in the USA, I just won't buy it.

By doing this, you effectively eliminate 75% or so of any money that you want to spend, so you are now going to save money too.

Works for me.

If enough of us could get this attitude, perhaps we could manufacture something in our country other than debt instruments again. Sigh....
 
My father-in-law said he always trys to buy American. He got real mad when I doubted him. After all his brand new civic hybrid is made in Japan. His i-phone, made in China. TV made in Korea.

I did just buy a sandwich that was made here. It was good too.

Walt
 
Isn't that stimulus package have something in it about using American products for work contracted? My husband was talking about seeing it on 60 Minutes last night. He didn't think it would work. We have such a tremendous trade deficit with China... It's hard to find anything not made there anymore.
 
Granny we have to buy that "made in china" stuff...that's all we can afford. If it was made over here and we bought it we sure wouldn't have nothing left for food. :cry2: :cry2:
 
Well, if you want to buy a new winter coat and you have the following choices:

1. Buy American at 250 bucks from the local store in town
2. Buy a similar quality coat from Wal-Mart - produced in a foreign country for 85 bucks

Which one will the vast majority buy?

If a foreign country produces a tonne of high quality steel at 2000 bucks a tonne and it costs 3500 bucks for the same steel in the U.S. of A. - where is it going to be bought?

Buy American sounds good.

Heck - Buy "Insert Home Country" always sounds good.

But it shows a distinct lack of knowledge of the world and the world markets of today.

Anyone here ready to pay 10% to 200% more for an item bought in your home country? If you are I applaud you.

But you will not be in business for long.

And if you are an employee of that company you will soon be looking for work after the comapny goes broke.

I see it right here on this board.

Discussion on barbed wire to tools to clothing to equipment.

Folks always talking ABOUT WHERE TO BUY IT CHEAPER.

Heck it is no different than those who brag about a utility service guy or a veterinarian who they can get for a real cheap price - those guys go out of business sooner or later because WE drive them out.

Can't get anyone to dig post holes for 7 bucks an hour?

Well, how the heck does one feed a family on that?

And yes they can get an education - but someone has to dig those holes - and they still have to buy shoes for the family.

They sure will not buy American.

So I will repeat myself: Heck buy "Insert Home Country" always sounds good.

But it is not that simple today. If you think it is - then it is you that is the simpleton.

You can put borrowed money into a scheme to delay the inevitable - but sooner or later you will go broke buying American / Canadian / British - name your country - because Mrs. Joe Six Pack will always look for the cheapest way to feed, clothe and shelter her family - and no one can blame her - she has to do this.

And then what - borrow more money? Again? Another trillion dollars of stimulus?

Sooner or later someone has to pay the bill - and it will be far higher than you might think.

Cheers

Bez+
 
Txwalt":1vzr88xn said:
My father-in-law said he always trys to buy American. He got real mad when I doubted him. After all his brand new civic hybrid is made in Japan. His i-phone, made in China. TV made in Korea.

I did just buy a sandwich that was made here. It was good too.

Walt

My fence supplier was giving me static for buying a Nissan pickup which was way cheaper to buy, and I said why you harassing me when you are selling Ghallager fence chargers.
 
Bez is right, as usual. Unfortunate, but true. If I had an unlimited amount of disposable income, I'd buy American every time. But I don't. If I could, I'd buy everything from the Mom and Pop store in town. But I can't. It's just not that simple. The company I work for makes and distributes products that aren't even close to what you'd call a necessity so, in these tough times, people aren't buying. We've done everything we can to cut costs, but I know I'm an eyelash from being laid off, or worse. I gotta feed my family, too. All bets are off.
 
To correct the situation you first have to see how we got here. The first company to exploit cheap labor at the expense of US jobs did so to increase their competitive position regarding sales price and profit margin. Other companies followed and now they are back to where they started. None have the advantage of cheap labor anymore. We just lost jobs. The way it should have been accomplished would have been through capital process improvement but now our manufacturing base in these areas is gone.

We now suffer from and manufacturing position that allows us to "not" exploit the economy of scale. We are now the little man in many manufacturing areas and have to enter back in under conditions dictated by such. If we even can get back to what got us to where we were.

Edited for "not"
 
Well, I'll fight Bez here a bit. For the majority he is right. But I am one of those stupid US-loving buggers who has too much cash :p. Actually, I don't spend much money on big items, but when I do, it's typically American-made. Costs to much in the long run to keep replacing junky Oriental products that break down just after the warranty period.

On the subject, if anyone knows of a good winter jacket made in the USA, let me know. Should replace my Carhartt at some point, which was assembled in Mexico with US pieces. Can be a big company or a local one. Open to ideas. If not, I may just get another Mexico/US Carhartt. :cowboy:
 
The calves I'm offering tomorrow will possibly be in a Korean restaurant in 5 months.
So, the door has to swing both ways. If it does, I'll take my chances. What other choice is there?
 
Bez is right. A majority of people will buy the cheaper item. I do try to buy Made In USA, but it is really hard to do that when you can NOT find anything with the USA label anymore.
I did find some dog collars marked China and others marked USA. China was $3.25 and the USA were $6.59. I spent more and bought USA. Wish I could do that more often.
Went to buy some bath towels. Choice was Pakistan, India, Indonisia and somewhere else. Was a hard choice. The brand I bought years ago were all USA, but now India. :x
Please tell me where I can buy Made In USA products and I will buy them. If it means dropping subscriptions to magazines, not buying splurge items then so be it, but I would rather have my hard earned money stay here then go to support some other country.
 
Part of the problem is that we in the US have a disposable attitude..so we will just buy a "cheap" something made in china and replace it....even our american labels usually are assembled or made from parts from another country. I know when I buy boots or food, we buy the best and it is usually not made in china, infact I am making a point to buy produce grown in the USA. Ever notice in the western movies, the ladies always bought the finest materials to make their clothes, because it was few and far inbetween and it needed to last. No one will be buying anything if they don't have jobs...so I say buy US products & keep some $ here. sorry for the rant.
 
john250":2qmx3qw4 said:
The calves I'm offering tomorrow will possibly be in a Korean restaurant in 5 months.
So, the door has to swing both ways. If it does, I'll take my chances. What other choice is there?

I don't think we have much to worry about our cattle futures. These should head South as the unemployed try to eat other forms of cheaper protein. I don't think the global market as a whole is any better than ours for the most part.

I was told once not to stress about things you expect to happen. I maybe wrong. If I am, that would be a good thing.
 
donnaIL":37hlc10w said:
Part of the problem is that we in the US have a disposable attitude..so we will just buy a "cheap" something made in china and replace it....even our american labels usually are assembled or made from parts from another country. I know when I buy boots or food, we buy the best and it is usually not made in china, infact I am making a point to buy produce grown in the USA. Ever notice in the western movies, the ladies always bought the finest materials to make their clothes, because it was few and far inbetween and it needed to last. No one will be buying anything if they don't have jobs...so I say buy US products & keep some $ here. sorry for the rant.

Good Post. It comes down to supply and demand. Manufacturing loves volume.
 
A lot of things aren't even made in the U.S. anymore, so you don't have the option of buying American. So many companies are outsourcing to other countries because it is cheaper. Its all about the money, people don't think about the long term effects. The American workers are suffering because they are losing work and the Chinese, etc. workers are suffering because they don't get paid squat. Also, a lot of these countries don't have the same regulations we do regarding manufacturing which is why there are problems with lead paint in toys, etc. I think the best approach is to just buy local when you can. Sometimes you just don't have a choice.
 
I resent buying "made in China" the worst. They learned the lesson of corporate greed and expoitation from the West too well. There has been expose after expose about the horrid working conditions s much their labor force is exposed to. China is the country that put toxins in pet food ingredients and BABY FORMULA for Pete's sake, for a few more bucks. They had to shut down factories for months to try and clear up the smog in Beijing for the Olympics. Gee, I wonder if any of the working stiffs employed at those factories got paid for their P.R. layoff time??

Pick up a package of shrimp, tilapia, much frozen seafood. "Product of China". I put it down and walk away because I don't even want to speculate what corners were cut or how horrid the production scenario was that brought it halfway around the world at that price.
 
Ok everyone is talking about the American worker. Consumer - consumers are benefiting from the products that we can buy for cheap prices. We have never before been able to buy so many things as cheap as we can now. I heard somewhere that most Americans are actually self employed, the politicians are falling for the liberal media hype about how many workers are losing their jobs, - and workers to them usually means organized labor like unions. There has just been some legislation signed that will strengthen the competitive edge for organized labor. The average consumer is just strengthening their competitive edge by buying cheap foreign made products because the manufacturing industry is so unfairly tilted to over-paid low skilled union labor that makes products priced above market value so those American made products are lossing the competitiveness. So it is unfair to blame Americans for wanting disposable products but rather a good portion of American workers have been getting over-paid for completely un-skilled labor that a monkey could do. Consumers are the big winners here and jobs are not lost, they are transferred to higher paying tech jobs and consumer services.
 
donnaIL":oc1bq3iw said:
Part of the problem is that we in the US have a disposable attitude..so we will just buy a "cheap" something made in china and replace it....even our american labels usually are assembled or made from parts from another country. I know when I buy boots or food, we buy the best and it is usually not made in china, infact I am making a point to buy produce grown in the USA. Ever notice in the western movies, the ladies always bought the finest materials to make their clothes, because it was few and far inbetween and it needed to last. No one will be buying anything if they don't have jobs...so I say buy US products & keep some $ here. sorry for the rant.
Cheap or expensive makes no difference. Manufacturing calls it planed obsolescence. US auto manufactures took this to the extreme. Between the low quality and the high labor well you can see what happened.
Some of the older folks on here may remember when every one talked about products made in Japan. The products were considered junk. This is no longer true. Japaneese products are now considered to be of acceptable quality. This may also happen with China.
The US must maintain quality and reduce production costs if it is to ever get out of debt or at least not increase it any more.
Somehow we must switch from being a consumer nation and become a productive nation. I have no dought that we are in for some very tough times ahead.
 
Bez has a good point, however that's not the entire reason to not support a broad movement to "Buy American". Someione early in the thread (can't quote them, the computer won't let me go that early in the topic review) mentioned the 60 Minutes article about this topic. I would suggest watching it. The danger of creating a strong Buy American movement is this: start cutting other counties out of the pie, we get cut out of their pie. They interviewed an executive from Caterpillar - much of their business is export. Countries buy Cat because of the quality of that American product, but if push came to shove they don't need it, the competition will do. Companies like Cat lose their export market, Americans lose jobs. Isolationist attitudes will only hurt us, we are too global now whether you like it or not.

That being said, I try to buy local when I can, quality when I can afford it. We need a truck, it will be an American model. We need a chainsaw, it will be Stihl (German). I go where I believe the quality is. The only place I become a Buy American snob is ag products. No good reason, just something I've noticed about my buying habits.

To relate a story - on a recent trip to Europe I ate steak at a restaurant. Argentina has done the same marketing there as our Angus friends have done in the U.S. - advertise it as Argentinian, charge more as the perception of increased quality warrants it. Just about killed me to eat a South American steak (which was good by the way) in Germany after admiring all the Fleckviehs. I asked several people at our table why Argentina (all non-ag people). They claimed the way they raised it made it healthier and tastier. No one could outline that raising process. They also all agreed on the fact that Americans have an obesity issue because of the hormones we use in meat production.

It was educational being exposed to another country's food propaganda.

Remember folks the door swings both ways.
 
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