The way CA parcels land I can grow about 3 strawberries...

 

I really don't understand the philosophy of buying only American products.
We need other countries to buy our products, so why wouldn't we buy theirs?
I guarantee that if every other country boycotted American goods in retaliation for America buying only American goods, we would beg for unemployment figures as "low" as they are now.

I am willing to give it a try, though. As a matter of fact, I am only going to buy "Pennsylvanian" so that the workers in PA can have more job security. I am sick and tired of my money going to those thugs in say, Indiana. No matter that they have a long standing tradition of building fine RVs in Indiana, and in fact that the majority of RV's made in America are made in Indiana. No, my money is staying right here in PA. I'll get one from the ONE Pennsylvanian RV manufacturer instead of choosing the best value from the 30 manufacturers in Indiana.
It is ok that I don't find exactly what I want for the price I want to spend.
By golly, all my money is staying right here and supporting Pennsylvanians.

 

A couple months ago; there was a show on tv about GM. One of the segments was about auto sales in China. I'm not sure if I nodded off and started dreaming; but I'm pretty sure they said that China purchased more Buicks that year than USA did.

I doubt the UAW would want to boycott China.

 

"However, it should be noted that the Buick label is carried on vehicles that didn’t originate as Buicks. Instead, the Buick name has been applied to Daewoo vehicles, developed through GM’s venture in South Korea."

 

You're posting this using a computer that has a motherboard with a processor, chipset, power management ICs, ADCs and other miscellaneous IP that very likely have many components of the design sourced to India, Korea, and\or Japan. You'd be surprised to learn that even though many products of the semiconductor industry are manufactured here in the United States, the actual design (often called RTL) is often done overseas. Simply by posting this, you've already fallen short of your goal.

 

Exactly why protectionism is a bad thing.

Mike

 

You cant do it,...............We sold our entire non military manufacturing base off to China, outside of whats left of domestic car mfg., all we make here anymore is big macs.

 

Wrong. I work in a mostly industrial area. They are always looking for work but nobody wants to work for $10/hour.


Mike

 

Here is an interesting point of view accompanied by some facts:

Oakland Tribune (AP) Online


I just read another AP article in my hometown paper this morning, but can't find it online yet.
If I have to, I'll scan it and post it. Interesting take on the manufacturing industry in the States vs. overseas.
Makes very good sense, assuming the facts are true.
I am at work, I'll get it later this evening when I get home.

 

While I won't claim that there are no sweatshops in existence in these countries, I would like to point out that a lot of attention has been brought to the 'problem' of slave labor and wages. The fact is that in third world countries (TWC's), the cost of living is much, much lower than what we require. You cannot reasonably expect a compnay to pay workers in a TWC the same wages that they would pay American workers. It would decimate their fragile economies. Think of everyone in your neighborhood winning the lottery in the same week. Inflation would kill your profits.

Most companies in TWC's pay the workers much better wages than what they would get otherwise. If that wage is $1/ day, chances are it is a lot more than what they were getting before. It takes decades to raise the level of the economy in those places to the level of ours. Theoretically, eventually, their economy will achieve a level that requires them to make as much money as we make, and then the trend will be to move back to the United States, where the companies will be able to hire American workers cheaper than the peope in the TWC's, who are now living better than we are. (far-fetched, I know)

Another point here is that service based economies get a bashing everytime we read about products being made over seas. Since the economy is a global one, we all have a part in building products. Here is a new term for you: the servitization of products.
Service economy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (the wikipedia disclaimer: I know that it is not the best source of material in an argument because anyone can change or write whatever they want, but it is a good place to start)

Service and product go hand-in-hand. I look at things like construction: While they are providing a service to the customer (building a new kitchen, for example) they are also manufacturing something. The example in the link above shows how IBM is both service and product oriented. They both build the computers and service them as well. The numbers illustrated inthe percentage of service vs product based economy can be misleading.

 

Just a quick clarification to inject into the discussion. Taiwan is NOT a TWC or slave-labor country. Their political system may not be perfect, but they do enjoy a fairly high standard of living--one that has much improved since I lived there for 3 years in the early '80s.

Jason

 

Here we go........

Does the United States make anything anymore? - Examiner.com


It is commonly accepted in economics circles that the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 tipped the US over the edge of being in a depression into the abyss of The Great Depression.

 

I meant to say "china" made products......mainly because we know how they are cheaters and steal their ideas from us and then sell it back to us for much less.
I access the internet using someone else'e computer.
Example of buying an american made product.....I just bought a "old" used axe made in usa. This is how u keep from buying "china".

 

Buying an "old" used axe doesn't even justify your buy american reasoning. Look around your house, it has foreign made all thru it whether you like it or not.

 

Arent a lot of the prostitutes coming in from various Asian countries,and dont many of you here consider California( where much of our Marijuana is grown) to be almost a foreign country itself?