Buy American

boltman

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Dec 28, 2005
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Flint/Swartz Creek MI, Ported in Whitehall/Montagu
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Well what's everyone doing for their part in the USA economic come back, are you buying USA made products, Are you even aware of what you're buying? Do you even look, and Do you care about the quality that you buy?
We are trying hard to do are part, but.. there's only so much one can do, but even a little effort is better then none at all. Hell even my Fake Christmas tree is made in China, I'm so pissed, I bough it last year, until then I was buying american.. a real tree we cut down, only until I put the wood stove in though.. it's from North America too...
 
I try to buy American made if possable but more and more items you cannot find Made In the USA. I did buy a Sea Ray I think it is made in the USA
 
Well what's everyone doing for their part in the USA economic come back, are you buying USA made products, Are you even aware of what you're buying? Do you even look, and Do you care about the quality that you buy?
We are trying hard to do are part, but.. there's only so much one can do, but even a little effort is better then none at all. Hell even my Fake Christmas tree is made in China, I'm so pissed, I bough it last year, until then I was buying american.. a real tree we cut down, only until I put the wood stove in though.. it's from North America too...

There are some interesting thoughts in this article. MM

http://townhall.com/columnists/johnstossel/2011/11/02/the_stupidity_of_buy_american
 
I have to disagree with John Stassel, People are spending their hard earned money on junk...Cell phones...Toasters that don't last through the first breakfast... etc... and if they'd buy a quality american made item... it would last... i know I buy Taiwanese everyday, i wish I could get these parts made in America and help out about 5 american Families...but the lazy American machine shops and the American steel factories are asking too much for their parts...and so they lose...So I ask John Stassel if I give the taiwanese the parts to manufacture... how does the machine shop owner in America buy his next car when he's laying off most of his Employees....??? Hmmm
 
Boltman, I hear what you're saying, but buying American is getting harder and harder to do, and I hate to say it but in many cases we've done it to ourselves.

I had coffee today with a friend who is a fairly large furniture retailer. He just returned from a trip to China where he explored opening his own factory to make furniture for his business. He mentioned the name of a chair that's very popular in business offices today. He can buy them in the US new for close to a grand, used for $425, or if he orders a thousand of them used they're $375. He can build those same chairs in China for $65 a copy, then spend $20 to ship it to the US. So he has the chair here in his store at a total cost of under $100, not counting the cost of setting up a plant to build them.

You do the math. It wouldn't take long, paying a good wage in China ($100/week) to quality Chinese workers, to pay for the cost of setting up the factory.
 
Stossel is BS!!!! I am going to support my fellow Americans and their jobs every chance that I get!
 
Bought two new GMC SUVs in the past 13 months, ordered a new boat made in Nashville GA with an engine and drive made in Lexington TN, and if I can sell my house, purchase a brand new one built in Scottsdale, AZ.
 
the only way to buy american anymore is to collect antiques
 
I have to disagree with John Stassel, People are spending their hard earned money on junk...Cell phones...Toasters that don't last through the first breakfast... etc... and if they'd buy a quality american made item... it would last... i know I buy Taiwanese everyday, i wish I could get these parts made in America and help out about 5 american Families...but the lazy American machine shops and the American steel factories are asking too much for their parts...and so they lose...So I ask John Stassel if I give the taiwanese the parts to manufacture... how does the machine shop owner in America buy his next car when he's laying off most of his Employees....??? Hmmm

Stossel is BS!!!! I am going to support my fellow Americans and their jobs every chance that I get!

First one must understand we are moving from an industrial society to a information society and, you can swim upstream until your energy depleted body dies, but that train has left the station. I'm sure that a century ago farm families felt the same way about losing their agrarian way of life as more and more people left and went to work in the now industral cities. Something few Americans realize is that in the aftermath of WWII almost all manufacturing in the world was destroyed except for our USA. Most of Europe was bombed out, we know what happened in Japan, and China was a third world country. We had the ONLY manufacturing base in the world so most of us grew up with no manufacturing competition and that competition has grown steadily over our lives.

Jerry do you have something against your family? Why not buy everything you need from them "to support my" family "and their jobs every chance that I get!" Do you have something against your friends? Why not buy everything you need from them "to support my" friends "and their jobs every chance that I get!" Do you have something against your state? Why not buy everything you need from them "to support my" state "and their jobs every chance that I get!" IT DOES NOT WORK OUT VERY WELL. That is why. It is not efficient, so it costs too much.

We live in a global economy and you can grumble all you like about "American jobs" but they are not the same jobs as 50 years ago. We must do the following to be competitive and keep our status in the world or we will end up like the UK a worn out has been:

Reduce taxes on corporations to be the lowest of the top 15 producing nations.

Stop crony capitalism, No government money to private business other than purchases.

Eliminate the capital gains tax.

Greatly reduce regulation and stop competitors from using it to hold others out of the market.

MM
 
Stossel is BS!!!! I am going to support my fellow Americans and their jobs every chance that I get!

iagree.gif
 
I have to disagree with John Stassel, People are spending their hard earned money on junk...Cell phones...Toasters that don't last through the first breakfast... etc... and if they'd buy a quality american made item... it would last... i know I buy Taiwanese everyday, i wish I could get these parts made in America and help out about 5 american Families...but the lazy American machine shops and the American steel factories are asking too much for their parts...and so they lose...So I ask John Stassel if I give the taiwanese the parts to manufacture... how does the machine shop owner in America buy his next car when he's laying off most of his Employees....??? Hmmm

iagree.gif
 
F China! Manufacturing is still needed and quality manufacturing is what we need! We can not control quality from half way across the world, with a culture of people we don't understand. Will we need to pay more for an American product? Yes! But i'd rather pay more, bring down unemployment and improve the global view of my countryas a leader in both technology and manufacturing. I agree it is a global economy. If the world wants to buy crap, let them. If they want to buy quality product, then buy from America! The Chinese are a closed society. I am not saying we should become a closed society like China. Should we continue importing well engineered quality products from other countries (i.e germany)? Absolutely we should. But China, No friggin way! All take and no give! Let them ship their lead filled toys and poisonous dog food elsewhere!
 
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That Stassel article is garbage...
 
F China! Manufacturing is still needed and quality manufacturing is what we need! We can not control quality from half way across the world, with a culture of people we don't understand. Will we need to pay more for an American product? Yes! But i'd rather pay more, bring down unemployment and improve the global view of my countryas a leader in both technology and manufacturing. I agree it is a global economy. If the world wants to buy crap, let them. If they want to buy quality product, then buy from America! The Chinese are a closed society. I am not saying we should become a closed society like China. Should we continue importing well engineered quality products from other countries (i.e germany)? Absolutely we should. But China, No friggin way! All take and no give! Let them ship their lead filled toys and poisonous dog food elsewhere!

iagree.gif
 
Mike – Hogwash!!! First, everyone inthe room knows the WWII story so I don't know why you are trying to dazzle us with your knowledge of history. The reality is that things have changed and capital is going to flow to where the cheapest labor can be found. That also means that when you buy those products, your wealth is being transferred. The statements about why don't you buy everything from your own family or state, etc. are also academic hogwash. The reality is that none of that nonsense is even possible. There are very few things that you can buy that are made in America and that is not going to change any day soon. You go ahead and buy all of the cheap Chinese junk manufactured on the backs of people working for slave labor wages that you want. When I have the opportunity to buy products that help our people and our economy,that is what I am going to choose to do. My home is not furnished with cheap Chinese junk and, it is not going to be. As just one example, we needed a sofa table so we purchased a wrought iron base made by a local artisan. The beveled glass top was made by a local glass shop. So, instead of buying several pieces of cheap crap, we chose to use our money to buy one quality piece and the decision helped to employ small business people. You tell me what is wrong with that. Would you rather buy a bunch of crap from China and pay unemployment benefits, etc. to the people that you have put out of work?


We indeed have become an information society. We tell the McDonald's clerk how many cheeseburgers that we want to buy to fatten our kids up so that they can be on medications by the time that they are eight years old. We then stick them in front of the TV so that their little brains can be bombarded with all of the ads for the things that they “must” have in order to be accepted into our society.


You have all kinds of bright ideas about how to make America competitive again which is great, but, the fact is that we cannot compete against slave labor wages. Go ahead and reduce the corporate tax to zero if you want to. How does that help? You said that it is a global economy. Goodyear, for example ,has a lot of their tires manufactured in China for sale in the US and other countries around the world. So, now you reduce their tax to zero so that they can sell their tires cheaper. And so, now you have lost a tax base to help pay the benefits for people that are out of work. And, you have made it less expensive for people in other countries to buy Goodyear tires. So, now Goodyear has more money to build more plants in China so that we can transfer more wealth to China. Great.


I'm not saying that we should be a protectionist society. I'm just saying that when possible, I want to support American jobs whenever I can. There are a whole lot people in this country that cannot find their a$$ with both hands let alone be an IT genius. I would much rather see those people employed than sucking off the government teet. It appears to me that you are just running your mouth to try to make everyone believe that you are some sort of know it all with all of the answers. I agree that there are a lot of government induced issues that should be addressed to help our businesses become more competitive. I, however, don't make the rules. I just try to do the best that I can based on what the reality is. And, that is to try to support my fellow Americans.

Just what is it that you are doing to support business in America?
 
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I bought a new Tahoe this year for my wife that was built in Texas. Sure, it had some imported content but the majority was US. Just bought a bunch of American Olean floor tile that was made in the USA, prehung door, Vanity Cabinet, a bunch of drywall all made in the USA for my bathroom remodel. Just replaced all the windows in my home with windows made Made the USA and paid a local Small Business owner to install them.

I buy American Made whenever I can. As has been posted before, many things simply cannot be found unless imported. I have always had a habit of looking at all the selections and buying the Made in USA version (if it exists) even it it costs a couple bucks more.
 
So now I should buy a Norcold instead of the Isotherm! Thanks JerryS....Mike.
 
Mike, I made that decision before this thread was started. And, I made that decision based on what I saw on the Norcold company website.
You obviously saw that I posted their statement: "Quality, integrity and reliability are built into each unit proudly made in America by an American-owned company"
 
Mike, I made that decision before this thread was started. And, I made that decision based on what I saw on the Norcold company website.
You obviously saw that I posted their statement: "Quality, integrity and reliability are built into each unit proudly made in America by an American-owned company"

Yep!
 

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