Made in the USA

[imwright1985]

Wow this thread is interesting, Alot of US made stuff is assembled here not completely made here, there are products that are made in the USA though you might not be able to get them at your LDS though since most of the US made items are peice parts except for some of the BP/W's. even alot of GM and Fords stuff is made in canada.

Ohh well I want a chinese made wetsuit with made in china stamped right at the butt for next time i get bumped by a Bull Shark (Ill leave it at that so it isnt too crude)

 

[scubadada]

Where's ScubaEconomic$Board when you need it?

 

[Garrobo]

One poster asks: "Why does it matter where it is made?" That sort of point of view is what has gotten us into the mess we are in today. I say: " BE A PATRIOT, BUY AMERICAN!!!"

 

[selo]

Are you arguing that Milton Friedman was not a patriot?

Patriotism has nothing to do with free trade vs protectionism. The former favors the average consumer, the latter favors special interests.

 

[Nemrod]

Are you arguing that Milton Friedman was not a patriot?

Patriotism has nothing to do with free trade vs protectionism. The former favors the average consumer, the latter favors special interests.

Yes but that is an incomplete analysis, having jobs and industry that is value added such as manufacturing is what built the middle class and with out jobs that pay good salaries, provide benefits and retirement and advancement and ultimately satisfaction then we become a people on government dole, sort of like now, with high unemployment, high debt and the BS promise of green jobs.

Protectionism has a role when foreign competitors practice product dumping to drive prices down to destroy competition, do not adhere to the same pay, benefits and environmental concerns, do not practice fair play and essentially copy and cheat their way to the top with essentially slave labor and government supported industry.

It is one thing to have a trade relationship with a partner and another to allow your country and it's industry and workers to be r----p-----ed by an unethical entity.

N

 

[gcbryan]

Yes but that is an incomplete analysis, having jobs and industry that is value added such as manufacturing is what built the middle class and with out jobs that pay good salaries, provide benefits and retirement and advancement and ultimately satisfaction then we become a people on government dole, sort of like now, with high unemployment, high debt and the BS promise of green jobs.

Protectionism has a role when foreign competitors practice product dumping to drive prices down to destroy competition, do not adhere to the same pay, benefits and environmental concerns, do not practice fair play and essentially copy and cheat their way to the top with essentially slave labor and government supported industry.

It is one thing to have a trade relationship with a partner and another to allow your country and it's industry and workers to be r----p-----ed by an unethical entity.

N

It doesn't work that way. First of all you can't protect industries where we are net importers but expect there to be no protection for our industries where we are net exporters.

Product dumping in the way you are using it is just when someone sells me a product for less than you will sell it to me.

These same arguments were used against Japan in the 60's. Their cost of living and wages are higher than ours are now and yet they are still competitive. As are we in industries where we can be competitive. They don't produce T-shirts either.

If you want to call anything that you don't understand or any practice that comes from any other country unethical go ahead but it's a cheap shot.

Of course you can find unfair practices in other countries and they can find them here as well.

We didn't worry too much about environmental concerns when we didn't have a pot to piss in either. Once people can feed themselves they become a little more concerned about those things.

Of course every country in the world isn't organized exactly as we are. It's just looking for a scapegoat to blame those things for every problem that we have.

Things have always be in a state of change and no one likes it at the time of course. Farmers were complaining about all of them not being able to stay on the farm but rather having to go to manufacturing jobs.

Now there's change again and people in larger numbers have to move from manufacturing. I'm sure you can imagine the complaints other countries had as the industrialized countries took over the world in the 1900's. Nothing stays the same.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

The simple truth is we have been steadily sold out my corporate interests since the 1950's.
After the war, more and more goods began to be imported into the US from other countries to stabilize their economies and get them on our side. Datsuns, Toyotas, Volkswagens,
Prices on these items was cheap compared to our stuff but the products were considered chinsy and cheaply built. Steadily though sales of imported stuff grew because of the value.
Corporate interests started seeing that they could get stuff made a lot cheaper overseas to give them an advantage over their competition. Once one guy did it they all had to do it to stay viable. Now virtually everything we use is made overseas.
One point I want to make.
How exactly is it green when cheap imported crap from China like hair dryers and other throw away products wind up in land fills. The stuff they used to make in the US years ago would outlast the junk they make today 5 to 1. I would gladly pay $50 or $75 for a really good hair dryer made in US if I knew it would last 15 years and you could buy parts for it when it did finally break down. The crap made in China now you can't even get parts for, when it breaks you throw the whole thing away and buy another one, and another one, and another one. I don't care that they're $14.95, it 's crap!!! And the sad part is we can't even buy a good one no matter how much we're willing to pay because they are no longer made here period, done, gone, finito.
Tell me how green is that.

How green is it when 5 times the crappy goods need to be produced in another country as opposed to what could be made of quality here once, and they have absolutely no restrictions on factory pollution and emissions. Remember the Olympics? they had to shut down the factories days before the games just so people could breathe. and see!
We legislated factories out of existence here but it's OK for China to produce 5 times more crappy goods than needs to be produced with no air pollution controls. Yeah, that's green. Guess what, the air eventually circulates all over the planet anyway. We're breathing their crap.
So go to Wal-Mart and buy up. That's what you wanted right, cheap.

 

[gcbryan]

The simple truth is we have been steadily sold out my corporate interests since the 1950's.
After the war, more and more goods began to be imported into the US from other countries to stabilize their economies and get them on our side. Datsuns, Toyotas, Volkswagens,
Prices on these items was cheap compared to our stuff but the products were considered chinsy and cheaply built. Steadily though sales of imported stuff grew because of the value.
Corporate interests started seeing that they could get stuff made a lot cheaper overseas to give them an advantage over their competition. Once one guy did it they all had to do it to stay viable. Now virtually everything we use is made overseas.
One point I want to make.
How exactly is it green when cheap imported crap from China like hair dryers and other throw away products wind up in land fills. The stuff they used to make in the US years ago would outlast the junk they make today 5 to 1. I would gladly pay $50 or $75 for a really good hair dryer made in US if I knew it would last 15 years and you could buy parts for it when it did finally break down. The crap made in China now you can't even get parts for, when it breaks you throw the whole thing away and buy another one, and another one, and another one. I don't care that they're $14.95, it 's crap!!! And the sad part is we can't even buy a good one no matter how much we're willing top pay because they are no longer made, done, gone, finito.
Tell me how green is that.

How green is it when 5 times the crappy goods need to be produced in another country as opposed to what could be made of quality here once, and they have absolutely no restrictions on factory pollution and emissions. Remember the Olympics? they had to shut down the factories days before the games just so people could breathe. and see!
We legislated factories out of existence here but it's OK for China to produce 5 times more crappy goods than needs to be produced with no air pollution controls. Yeah, that's green. Guess what, the air eventually circulates all over the planet anyway. We're breathing their crap.
So go to Wal-Mart and buy up. That's what you wanted right, cheap.

You don't have to go to Wal-Mart. I don't. They don't carry the things I want.

You can get a good hair dryer in the price range that you mentioned and above at any Beauty Supply store. Whether it's made in the US or not I don't know. There's nothing special about an American worker sitting on a assembly line putting together a hair dryer. If it's a good design and it's selling for $75 and up it will be a good hair dryer regardless of where it's assembled.

Global trade has nothing to do with buying crap. That's your choice. If you quite buying crap you can eliminate China from your list of things to worry about for now anyway. I don't seem to have this problem at all.

 

[D_B]

I want to buy the the best product for the price I can afford to pay ... if two products are pretty equally matched, then I would pick the one made here over the one made elsewhere .. there is a little bit of fudge factor to this rule but that does not mean that I choose "here" over "there" every time.

As someone mentioned something like this ... why should I support shoddy or inferior workmanship to prop up a company, just for the fact that "it's made here" ?


The companies that invest in new technology to make their products are the one that will be turning better and lower cost ones ... A lot of our manufacturing base is getting old and dated


The companies tell the manufacturers of their products how good to make them , if they want $14 dollar hair dryers, then that's what they get, if they tell them to build to a higher quality, then that's what they will get, doesnt matter so much where it's built .. it matters to what standard they are built to

 

[mike_s]

One poster asks: "Why does it matter where it is made?" That sort of point of view is what has gotten us into the mess we are in today. I say: " BE A PATRIOT, BUY AMERICAN!!!"

The simple truth is we have been steadily sold out my corporate interests since the 1950's.
After the war, more and more goods began to be imported into the US from other countries to stabilize their economies and get them on our side. Datsuns, Toyotas, Volkswagens,
Prices on these items was cheap compared to our stuff but the products were considered chinsy and cheaply built. Steadily though sales of imported stuff grew because of the value.
Corporate interests started seeing that they could get stuff made a lot cheaper overseas to give them an advantage over their competition. Once one guy did it they all had to do it to stay viable. Now virtually everything we use is made overseas.
One point I want to make.
How exactly is it green when cheap imported crap from China like hair dryers and other throw away products wind up in land fills. The stuff they used to make in the US years ago would outlast the junk they make today 5 to 1. I would gladly pay $50 or $75 for a really good hair dryer made in US if I knew it would last 15 years and you could buy parts for it when it did finally break down. The crap made in China now you can't even get parts for, when it breaks you throw the whole thing away and buy another one, and another one, and another one. I don't care that they're $14.95, it 's crap!!! And the sad part is we can't even buy a good one no matter how much we're willing top pay because they are no longer made, done, gone, finito.
Tell me how green is that.

How green is it when 5 times the crappy goods need to be produced in another country as opposed to what could be made of quality here once, and they have absolutely no restrictions on factory pollution and emissions. Remember the Olympics? they had to shut down the factories days before the games just so people could breathe. and see!
We legislated factories out of existence here but it's OK for China to produce 5 times more crappy goods than needs to be produced with no air pollution controls. Yeah, that's green. Guess what, the air eventually circulates all over the planet anyway. We're breathing their crap.
So go to Wal-Mart and buy up. That's what you wanted right, cheap.

I love it when people get on the internet and yell at others who didn't buy something American....

and post it from their computer they bought which was made in Taiwan.

D'oh!