This issue has been bothering me for some time now, but it came to a head about a week ago. My F-250 needed ball joints so I went to my local NAPA and got a set. I drove home and looked at the boxes which said made in Taiwan. I got on the phone and the internet to find American made parts and the nearest Dana/Spicer distributor is 100 miles away in Seattle. I was willing to drive that far to get real Dana parts but after more time on the phone I was told that Dana/Spicer was bought out by a large multi-national firm and that I would not find American made ball joints. I am hoping I was just fed a line of "stuff" and this is not true. But in my recent experience it is getting harder and harder to find American made products, sometimes impossible, be it truck parts or garden tools.
The chrome wheels on my truck are about to the point where they can't be cleaned up anymore, due to salt, ect used in winter. I looked online and all the wheels I saw said "made in china". If I can't buy American wheels I will run these old ones till I can't find 16.5 tires anymore. Has anyone else had the same trouble? Where can we find American made parts??

 

I am going through the same problems as you. I have asked for parts, and when they partsmen brings me the box, the first thing I do is look for "Made in USA", and if its not on there, I don't buy. I am reduced to buying most my parts from a local mom and pop shop, most of his parts are old, I mean they've been sitting on the shelf for years, but most of his parts were still made in America then, so he has been getting my business.

 

Another case of Corporate America selling out for a buck.

Downright disgusting where this Country is heading.

 

The companies are heading where the investor wants them to head. Where things make the most profit. That is the American way. If the American worker were to start living a lifestyle that would allow them to exist on the wages that the Chinese do then the jobs would return to America. However we want our oh so wonderful lives to keep on at the level of opulence never before seen by the common person on this planet that we are willing to sacrifice the industrial future of our country. We need to cut back and buckle down in order to correct the trend.

 

It will be interesting to see what companies will survive this recession/depression because with times being this tough won't it encourage companies to have their products made in another country for cheaper labor. And I doubt that when it is all done with that they will bring there manufacturing back to America. So I suppose the amount of American made goods can only get smaller.

 

The "Strong Dollar" that Clinton got started is to blame.It simply costs too much to manufacture parts in America.

 

I have made a conscious effort within the past 6 months to support the team. I purchased a 2008 Stang GT Vert and a 2008 Expy EL Limited. I only buy California wine, American Beer, Kentucky/Tennessee Bourban and Russian Vodka (sorry).

On another Auto site someone was making a point that I agreed with. He was upset that he sees so many American Flags supporting our Troops stuck all over the Asian/ European cars in the US. I have decided to put my money where my mouth is and buy American.

 

It's important to buy american when you can, we need a strong manufacturing base. We also make some fine products. It is hard to buy american as it's hard to find our goods. I shop walmart and try to buy name brand, but that doesn't mean it's american made. Everything seems to be made in china these days. There's only a couple comunist countries left and we have to suport one.

 

A Toyota Tundra (75%+) is more "made in the USA" than your Mustang (65%).

We live in a global economy, get used to it. Even if your parts say made in the USA, they probably got the raw materials from China.

I guess I'll go grab my support our troops magnet off our Toyota Solara which is made within 150 miles of me by Americans who aren't getting laid off and with 80%+ domestic parts.

Mike

 

I noticed the "Made in Mexico" , "Assembled in the USA" all over the Mustang. That bothered me and I wish it was different. I have this picture in my head of the Asian/European Executive's sitting oversea's smiling at each other, enjoying what we have done to ourselves in regards to Banking, Manufacturing, Outsourcing, etc.,. I don't blame them, we welcomed them with open arms. I am as guilty as anyone, I have a 98 VW Diesel, "Made in Mexico". It also bothers me that the gas in my Ford's was "Made in Saudi Arabia". I don't have the answer's, but from now on I will do my best to support the US based Corporations where I can.

 

All countries are hurting in this recession, and by the looks of it we are doing better than most and are projected to recover first. The Asian/European CEOs are in hard times just like us.

The fact is that we are in a global economy. There is no going back. It's not always a bad thing. We don't want every polluting industry here. We get things really cheap because they can pay someone across the ocean much less to make it.

We still have our industry here. I work in a city that is at least 40% industry. Thier plants are filled with foreign workers on Visas. Even the places in the US are using foreign workers.

Oh and your gas was most likely "made" IE refined in the US and the crude probably came from domestic supply, Canada, Saudi Arabia, or Mexico, all allies. The people that actually produced the crude are probably American evil Big Oil companies.

Mike

 

Ford and the UAW recieved an award last year for using 75% of american made parts. Know one wants to hear that global economy crap when you go to walmaart and 90% of the goods are made over sea's. I'm not saying were not in a global economy, but there is for sure a trade inbalance. It wouldn't be bad if there was a 50/50 split, but our manufacturing base is eroding away as china's is growing. There's not much we can do about it, because we need products and if the products we need are only made available from over sea;s, we have to buy it. We don't have a choice in a lot of case's. I'm not going to get into the toyota debate, as you all know how I feel by now. Reguardless where the cars are made, tokoyo gets the profits. In my opinion, if your not part of the solution, your part of the problem. However, it's a free country , you can buy what ever you want. I would just like to see more american made goods available to us in the stores. NAFTA may work out well for other countries, I'm just not so sure it's doing much for us. We may feed the world, but it would be nice to cloth them as well. Is there even a TV still made in america? Companies are even out sourcing thier 1-800 numbers to india. You can't even call to ask a question about a product without the call going through india. They won't even hire an american to answer the phone. China is becomming the new japan, but unlike japan, china is no allie. I'm afraid will one day reap what we sow.

 

Thats because we are having to dig deeper for less pure iron. All the "good" stuff was used up during WW2

Theres alot more "American" cars made here than you think.

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD>US-Assembled Cars </TD><TD>Percent US/Canada content </TD><TD>Name </TD><TD>Corporate Profits </TD></TR><TR><TD>Ford Econoline </TD><TD>95% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Lincoln LS (production ended April 2006) </TD><TD>90% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Ford Escape </TD><TD>90% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Mercury Mariner </TD><TD>90% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Ford Ranger </TD><TD>90% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Cadillac DTS </TD><TD>90% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra </TD><TD>90% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Mazda Tribute (Ford) </TD><TD>90% </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD></TR><TR><TD>Mazda B-Series (Ford) </TD><TD>90% </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD></TR><TR><TD>Lincoln Town Car </TD><TD>85% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Mercury Mountaineer </TD><TD>85% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Ford F-Series </TD><TD>85% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon, </TD><TD>85% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Buick Rainer, GMC Envoy, Chevrolet TrailBlazer </TD><TD>85% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Isuzu Ascender (GM) </TD><TD>85% </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD></TR><TR><TD>Dodge Viper </TD><TD>85% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Isuzu i-Series (GM) </TD><TD>85% </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD></TR><TR><TD>Toyota Sienna </TD><TD>85% </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD></TR><TR><TD>Dodge Grand Caravan – SWB </TD><TD>83% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Chrysler Town & Country – SWB </TD><TD>82% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Chrysler Sebring convertible </TD><TD>82% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Jeep Wrangler </TD><TD>82% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Ford Five Hundred </TD><TD>80% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Ford Expedition </TD><TD>80% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Ford Explorer </TD><TD>80% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Ford Freestyle </TD><TD>80% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Lincoln Mark LT </TD><TD>80% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Cadillac CTS </TD><TD>80% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Pontiac Solstice </TD><TD>80% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Chevrolet Corvette, Cadillac XLR </TD><TD>80% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Chevrolet Malibu, Pontiac G6 </TD><TD>80% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Cadillac SRX </TD><TD>80% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Dodge Caravan – SWB </TD><TD>80% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Toyota Camry </TD><TD>80% </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD></TR><TR><TD>Toyota Tundra </TD><TD>80% </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD></TR><TR><TD>Dodge Durango </TD><TD>79% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Dodge Stratus </TD><TD>78% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Mitsubishi Raider (Dodge) </TD><TD>78% </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD></TR><TR><TD>Dodge Dakota </TD><TD>77% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Chrysler Sebring </TD><TD>77% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Jeep Commander </TD><TD>76% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Mercury Montego </TD><TD>75% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Chevrolet Uplander, Pontiac Montana SV6, Saturn Relay </TD><TD>75% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Chevrolet Cobalt </TD><TD>75% </TD><TD>USA </TD><TD>USA </TD></TR><TR><TD>Honda Ridgeline </TD><TD>75% </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD></TR><TR><TD>Honda Pilot </TD><TD>75% </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD></TR><TR><TD>Toyota Avalon </TD><TD>75% </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD></TR><TR><TD>Toyota Corolla </TD><TD>75% </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD><TD>JAPAN </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

I understand that there are certain parts that almost have to be imported. Even the older American trucks were that way. The 83-94 IDI's glowplugs were made in Beru Germany.
The inertial fuel shutoff switches on the 85-96 Fseries were made in England.

Those parts don't bother me, but like the Chevy Aveo's trannies are Chinese. I just hate being handed an alternator that says made in china on it, and in less than a month its already burned out.

 

Ok buddy, you want to be part of the "solution"? Quit your job and go work in a textile mill. Or a paper mill, or a place that makes metal drums, or pizzas. I have several places in mind that I doubt most people would want to work. Oh, I also know of a local call center if you want that.

So all you have to do is quit whatever you're doing now, and sign up to work at one of these places. That way you can be sure that some manufactoring is staying in the USA.

That's my challenge to you.

Mike