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There is now a trend I notice. Does this help lessen reliance on overseas economies? Do you notice the products are made better, last better or are of better quality? The reality still seems to be we depend on a lot of cheaply made products in developing countries like China that many still say is a trend that won't go away any time soon.
It's simple economics. Look around and assess what's happened in this country over the past twenty years. Do you suppose it's coincidence that so many are out of work, those working are making the same they did ten years ago and that CEOS are making 237 times more than the average American otherwise? This country has done it to itself by allowing most of our manufacturing to go overseas AND actually support it so much. So yes in the end, Buying American is perhaps a really good idea if the average American can pause to reflect a bit. Follow the money, if you spend it on something made here... it stays here most likely.
Globalization itself won't change no. Corporations are always going to look for the cheapest workers no matter the country. The only thing that changes it which country that may be.
There is now a trend I notice. Does this help lessen reliance on overseas economies? Do you notice the products are made better, last better or are of better quality? The reality still seems to be we depend on a lot of cheaply made products in developing countries like China that many still say is a trend that won't go away any time soon.
It’s not about a country per se, but the intention of the manufacturer. Apple assembles high-end, high-margin products in China and other companies could do the same—if they found an economic benefit. Most products in China are made to be cheap and disposable because most American consumers want quantity over quality.
U.S. products in general are made better and last longer—but they are far more expensive. For example, my favorite Made in the USA product is All Clad (Cookware, Cutlery, Fry Pans, Sauce Pans, Hard Anodized, Electrics, Cooking Tools, and more - All-Clad). If you love to cook, their products give you amazing results. But $150 is a lot of money for a frying pan. Especially when you can go to Wal-Mart and buy a whole set for that. On the other hand they last forever and pay for themselves over time.
Made-in-the-USA furniture is worlds better than most of the imported stuff sold here in the US. Not all imported stuff is bad. There are still quality furniture makers all over the world. But when big brands are importing furniture from China vs some of the smaller companies making it here in the US...the quality difference is obvious.
It used to be that cars made made by Japan but produced in North America used to be always well good above American cars (Toyota vs Ford) but American cars have caught up recently in quality.
There is now a trend I notice. Does this help lessen reliance on overseas economies?
It helps lessen reliance on countries that don't especially like us (China is just the start), and it helps Americans get good jobs. When Americans have good jobs and we "buy American", here's what happens:
-Crime decreases because more people see that their lives have upward prospects.
-Taxes and/or federal deficit spending decrease(s) because less people have to mooch off of welfare programs.
-Gas prices decrease because we're not funding the increased petro-fuel demand of third-world countries. (Don't kid yourself. Between the high prices we pay for gas due to the demand we have funded in third-world countries by shipping all of our manufacturing over there, and the lower prices we pay for their junk as as result, we spend the same amount of money on gas and goods as we would if gas was cheaper and goods more expensive because we kept our manufacturing here in America. The difference is that we hate high gas prices and "Made In China"... and we would feel much better about low gas prices and "Made in the USA".)
-Families have a stronger structure because they can be funded by one parent making a good salary rather than two parents both making meager salaries. When one parent makes a good enough salary, the other can stay at home and run the house while the breadwinner works.
-Blight decreases as moribund factories and business buildings come back to life, and people can actually afford to beautify their property.
-Homeownership increases, promoting neighborhood stability as well as fairer distribution of wealth (money and property).
-Higher prices for American-made goods won't matter because people will have higher salaries that enable them to afford this stuff.
-People will stop looking hypocritical. I really love how these liberals trumpet about better-paying jobs, environmental regulations, OSHA, MSDS, human rights, etc... and then they support exactly what they don't want to see in America by buying cheap junk made overseas in countries with slave-labor wages, smoggy air due to lack of environmental regulations, no OSHA, no MSDS, and terrible human rights records.
My personal experience has been that "made in USA" items are a better quality 99% of the time. I always attempt to buy anything I need from a "made in USA" item, but in many cases there is nothing available so you're stuck going for an imported item.
If I cannot find a USA made product, I'll always look for an item made in Germany, Japan, Canada or some other country where quality is still generally important.
I recently purchased a vacuum cleaner. After doing much research, I ended up with a Miele vacuum. It's German made and clearly a quality product compared to many of the others I looked at.
Years ago I was looking for a bench grinder and absolutey could not find one that was made in the USA. Even looking at Milwaukee, Craftsman etc..., nothing was available that was made in the USA. I finally ended up buying one that was made in Taiwan. It still works, but you can just look at it and see the quality isn't really there.
One real strange exception that happened a few years ago involved a piece of furniture we needed. We were looking at a low and wide TV stand to go under out wall mounted TV. We had looked at a number of furniture stores and came across this absolutely beautiful and very well constructed piece that was absolutely perfect in style and function for our needs. I was absolutey amazed when we had them load it into my blazer and I noticed on the box "made in China". It's one of the best constructed and best looking pieces of furniture I've ever seen and it was manufactured in China....a rare exception for sure.
It's kind of demoralizing to walk through the stores these days if you have "made in USA" on your mind. We've literally sold out soul in order to save a couple bucks on much of the junk thats on the shelves of most stores. It looks all shiny and nice, and breaks or stops working after a year or two. We send it to the land fill and buy another one....nice business model huh ? Keeps the landfills going that's for sure.
That being said, we actually have no one to blame but ourselves. If we would demand and buy quality, but buy less stuff, we'd all be better off once retailers realized the junk was staying on their shelves and not selling. But instead, we like to buy lots of junk to fill out homes and storage units and continue replacing substandard items with new ones (no better quality than the old ones) at breakneck speed !
Stuff made in USA, Canada, Germany, England, & Japan are all good.
Mexico, China, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, & India is no good.
Depends on what you're looking for. At one time the best 9 dollar artificial foot was made in India. South Korea makes many fine products. Patron is probably the best tequila and it's from mexico, as well as many American cars. Vietnam most likely produced the pepper you put on your eggs this morning and the cashews you snacked on during the football game. The hard drive in the computer you used to make your post is probably from Thailand.
It used to be that cars made made by Japan but produced in North America used to be always well good above American cars (Toyota vs Ford) but American cars have caught up recently in quality.
I'm not sure how you're reaching that conclusion but I would challenge your statement based on my somewhat extensive experience. For nearly a two year period I rented cars while working on a long term consulting project driving 1,300 miles per week. The difference in quality and handling between American designed cars and those from Japan, South Korea and Germany were sometimes shocking.
American designed cars, particularly Fords have oodles of bells and whistles but so much of those are clugey and don't function as expected that it fails to serve as an advantage. Gas mileage, dashboard layout and road handling were all way better for the foreign designed cars. Just recently I had the occasion to rent a Toyota Prius followed a few weeks later by the allegedly equivalent Ford C-Max, it wasn't even close in terms of fuel efficiency. Plus the sight lines for the Ford were awful and the seats were remarkably uncomfortable - it was embarrassing.
And as for the original post, I don't buy American or Chinese or Mexican - I buy based on quality and price. Buying American made products under the guise of being patriotic is naive, a true free market economy demands that its participants spend their money intelligently. Considering that our economic principles are supposed to be part of what makes our country great it wouldn't be hard to make a strong argument that "Made in the U.S.A." is unpatriotic because it threatens to undermine our economy.
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