Why Buy American?

[Xaiver]

Something else I wanted to add, since we're on the topic....

Isn't it ironic that the unique, customized, hand-made stuff is now mostly limited to the wealthy, whereas say, 50-100 years ago, it was the other way around. Now everyone has the same everything, it's practically identical, except the wealthy, who go to each individual store and get exactly what they want. I suppose that they always did that, but so did the not-wealthy... It's almost like we've just added another bar of seperation between the rich and the poor. Way to go Americans!....

Anyone else have a White ProctorSilex drip coffee maker? Sweet! Me too!........

 

[Cowboy Cru]

Who even knows what is "American" anymore... toyotas are made in the US and chevy's in Mexico, yet one is AMURRCN and one is FURRN.

With juice, I would put the difference on material rather than nationality: organic flavorings will be better than artificial chemicals, whether they come from the US or China or Azerbaijan. I have used (artificial) flavorings from domestic and foreign sources, and have not had a problem yet. Granted, I am only one man.

America is made great by capitalism, right? That is what the most nationalistic people I know say, anyway. Offer a quality product at the lowest price, and I will buy it. I do not care where it comes from or how it was made. If patriotism saves me money, than I am as patriotic as any man. My KGO's work perfectly and my face is still intact... then again, I am buying a Chinese product from a guy in Indiana, so it is the best of both worlds

Ditto everything!

 

[TheSneakerHoarder]

Some of us like to keep the money in our country...I'd gladly pay more for domestically made products (and do).

Every little bit helps--not just e-cig stuff, but all of it.

*Proud to buy American

 

[Cowboy Cru]

It really is unfortunate the way things have become. I don't think any of us truly want it this way. However, with a wife, two kids, and a mortage now, I have been forced to become more and more a "sales" chaser than ever before. I still like decent quality, but, like so many people I have complained about in the past, I look at the price first and brand second. I have been forced to be less of a "fan boy." And I will admit I have become a statistc now. I have so much going on in my personal life that I have really given up on trying to help "change the world." It is what it will be in my book. I am only one man, and not the man to change anything! Call me lazy if you want to, but when it comes to this topic that doesn't faze me in the least. I hate to say, that although I DO buy all my stuff from U.S. vendors, I RARELY buy from any of my local vendors. Why? Not because I do not want to stimulate my city, but simply because first and foremost I do not like their products and/or they are way overpriced! I could either buy a mod locally for 50 bucks or pay 30 bucks for the same mod from someone a few states away with free shipping and reliable CS. Or, I simply do not like the taste or performance of their juice. So, I guess that means I will be stimulating Maryland instead of Missouri. Just the way it is. Companies need to realize that people do not mind buying everything over the internet anymore with all that entails. So, they need to come up with a better product or charge less or both in some cases, or risk going out of business. Sad but true, but thats why I will NEVER own my own business. Statistics prove that the big guys run the show now. So let them run it and don't worry about something you will never change. I hate to say this, but being selfish sometimes is about the only thing you have control of.

 

[Pappy]

Anyone else have a White ProctorSilex drip coffee maker? Sweet! Me too!........

LOL!

 

[SpringzVz]

Whether or not it's your city you make purchases in is of no biggie to me. I just try to buy within the USA. While I just said that let me say to all of our Euro and Asian friends as well that I encourage you to buy close to your home as well.
Alot of us live in cities we are not proud of because of economic or geographical challenges and that is ok Some of us were lucky to find great places to live and thrive and I consider myself one of them

Cowboy I do want you to think on this one thing. You do have the ability to change the world. The world can be as small as you, you and your family or the whole thing. Thats the part that is up to you

 

[Xaiver]

It really is unfortunate the way things have become. I don't think any of us truly want it this way. However, with a wife, two kids, and a mortage now, I have been forced to become more and more a "sales" chaser than ever before. I still like decent quality, but, like so many people I have complained about in the past, I look at the price first and brand second. I have been forced to be less of a "fan boy." And I will admit I have become a statistc now. I have so much going on in my personal life that I have really given up on trying to help "change the world." It is what it will be in my book. I am only one man, and not the man to change anything! Call me lazy if you want to, but when it comes to this topic that doesn't faze me in the least. I hate to say, that although I DO buy all my stuff from U.S. vendors, I RARELY buy from any of my local vendors. Why? Not because I do not want to stimulate my city, but simply because first and foremost I do not like their products and/or they are way overpriced! I could either buy a mod locally for 50 bucks or pay 30 bucks for the same mod from someone a few states away with free shipping and reliable CS. Or, I simply do not like the taste or performance of their juice. So, I guess that means I will be stimulating Maryland instead of Missouri. Just the way it is. Companies need to realize that people do not mind buying everything over the internet anymore with all that entails. So, they need to come up with a better product or charge less or both in some cases, or risk going out of business. Sad but true, but thats why I will NEVER own my own business. Statistics prove that the big guys run the show now. So let them run it and don't worry about something you will never change. I hate to say this, but being selfish sometimes is about the only thing you have control of.

While I can appreciate your point of view, I think that a lot of the reason that we stoop to Wal-mart style shopping is because of cultural pressure. You've got a wife and 2 kids, probably a dog and a cat or some furry friend of some sort (Or a bird, I suppose...or an iguana...maybe you're a hedgehog kind of guy) and there's a line that we, as americans, seem to forget about. Need and Want. I don't live in an apartment with my girl and our son and 2 cats because I -want- to, I -want- a big house with lots of rooms and a garage to build junk. That's not reasonable in our budget though.

No, we didn't -need- the cats either, and in fact probably shouldn't have them, but I got them for her because she wanted something to talk to other than the baby.

I'm not saying that you don't need a mortgage and a house and 3 cars. I imagine that there's some reason to need those things, but I feel that a lot of that is pressure from society. For us to feel successful, we need to have 2 working adults in the household, a big house, 2-4 cars, a boat, ATVs...blah blah blah.

 

[Xaiver]

.....Cowboy I do want you to think on this one thing. You do have the ability to change the world. The world can be as small as you, you and your family or the whole thing. Thats the part that is up to you

And, you need to start watching Dr Who while you're at it.

 

[SpringzVz]

I actually had to wiki that LMAO

External links
Doctor Who at the BBC

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a Time Lord—a time travelling, humanoid alien with two hearts known as the Doctor. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, which stands for Time and Relative Dimension(s) in Space—a sentient, telepathic time machine that flies through time and space. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, a common sight in 1963, when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, the Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilisations, help ordinary people, and right wrongs.

 

[Xaiver]

I actually had to wiki that LMAO

External links
Doctor Who at the BBC

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a Time Lord—a time travelling, humanoid alien with two hearts known as the Doctor. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, which stands for Time and Relative Dimension(s) in Space—a sentient, telepathic time machine that flies through time and space. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, a common sight in 1963, when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, the Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilisations, help ordinary people, and right wrongs.

You've never heard of Dr Who?! What planet do you live on?!

If you've got Netflix, it's on there. The old series ended in the 80s(?) and they started fresh in like '05, and it's Awwweeeesssoooommmmeeee.. Go watch it. Do it now!

 

[Cowboy Cru]

Netflix! What's that? Can I tune that in on my indoor/outdoor antenna? Lol. May have to get on the roof and swing it in the right direction! Lol.

 

[Dj Xy]

What is buying americain these days, even if something is made here, the raw materials probably were not.
Also if you eat chocolate, or drink coffee, those come from south America.

 

[Absintheur]

Unless you live like Ted Kaczynski you buy and use products from China everyday, some more obvious than others. I collect knives among other things but I do buy from US vendors rather than buying direct. This way the biggest chuck of the money I am spending does stay in this country both in the sellers profits and in the importation taxes and duties collected.

The Chinese are capable of turning out very high quality goods...it all comes down to what the end user specifies. If the end user specs things out using junk materials the product is going to be junk, if the spec out using high quality parts then the product will likely be very nice.

You really want to support your community stay the hell out of the wally worlds and support local business owners.

 

[Done Deal DR]

I always find the irony funny when people complain about the economy, losing jobs, housing market etc, when really the only answer is to spend money that stays in America whenever possible. We need to get over the fact that most products will be more expensive due to minimum wages and all of the additional costs associated with running a business in the US versus overseas. This doesn't mean the product is necessarily overpriced, it means it costs more to make a product here then it does overseas. This race to the bottom pricing structure is caused by people not being willing to pay for this difference in cost, which then forced corporations to move manufacturing overseas and in turn people lose their jobs and possibly homes. Then on the flip side people will complain that they don't make enough money. Pot meet Kettle.

It's a cycle, and we have to be willing to spend more money on quality US made goods when possible in order to stimulate our economy, increase jobs, increase pay, which then in turns increases home values and quality of life. IMO, if you don't at least try to prefer to buy American, you don't have the right to complain about these issues because you aren't doing your part.

There is middle ground though. Take for instance the US companies that sell Chinese PV's. There is money being made in the US and that is an acceptable middle ground if you can't afford or aren't willing to save for an American made item. Ordering direct from China on the other hand is all bad, US money goes straight to China.

I do not however agree on the OP's take on quality, I don't think there is much to back that up. Sure there are bad products everywhere, but in general I think American made products offer up much better engineering and quality. I'm sure I could name hundreds of items ranging from cars and car parts to motorcycles to home goods to random personal items like clothing, etc where this is the case but I'd rather hear from the OP on where you think the lack of quality is?

PS - I'm not here to say that everything has to be American made. Hell, this situation and been in progress long enough that there is a good deal of items that flat out aren't made here anymore. Also nearly all electronics (TV's, PC's, phones, tablets, etc) are made overseas. That's just the way it is. I'm just saying the few things we do make any more, we need to at least try to support when its a quality product, and not just say it is overpriced or too expensive compared to slave labor products overseas - that's not a fair comparison. The day we can compare to those wages the US will be a 3rd world country and/or we will have been completely surpassed in all markets.

 

[thinkingaboutit]

The day we can compare to those wages the US will be a 3rd world country and/or we will have been completely surpassed in all markets.

Our country isn't that far from there. We just like to pretend we aren't. Maybe not third world, but we certainly aren't the leaders in much beyond attitude anymore.

 

[Done Deal DR]

Our country isn't that far from there. We just like to pretend we aren't. Maybe not third world, but we certainly aren't the leaders in much beyond attitude anymore.

We certainly aren't the leaders in really anything anymore. There was a nice rant on HBO's "The Newsroom" a few weeks back that was great and really talks about this subject well. However as a manufacturer we are now so low it's sad. We still produce some extremely high quality items that deserve to be credited and purchased when possible - if we aren't willing to do that it is certainly going to get a lot worse. I don't know about other people but I don't want to make .25 cents an hour or the equivalent in inflated currency.

 

[Done Deal DR]

About the only field in which we manufacture that we are still doing fairly well on a large scale is automotive.

 

[cerver7]

We certainly aren't the leaders in really anything anymore. There was a nice rant on HBO's "The Newsroom" a few weeks back that was great and really talks about this subject well. However as a manufacturer we are now so low it's sad. We still produce some extremely high quality items that deserve to be credited and purchased when possible - if we aren't willing to do that it is certainly going to get a lot worse. I don't know about other people but I don't want to make .25 cents an hour or the equivalent in inflated currency.

We do good fast food and junk food. That is why we be fat . Maybe just me lol

 

[Done Deal DR]

That's true.

 

[muriarte]

Although the "slave labor" happens, It´s not always like that.

I´m mexican and work at an industrial plant and we do quality inspection and handle scrap material for a mexican worldwide company called Nemak. Nemak manufactures around 80% of the motor blocks and cylinder heads in the world and they have 14 plants around the world, 3 of them in the US. Well, they wanted us to provide the service we provide here in their Alabama plant; I went and investigated all related costs, insurance, minimum wages, uniform costs, etc. And we would have to pay 18 USD/hour, to provide exactly the same service we provide here, and here in Mexico we pay around 4USD/hour. And we are the company that gives the highest wages around.

The difference comes down to living costs, a coke cost 0.25, a kilo of avocados 2.9 USD, a lettuce costs 0.25 etc... If I go to work in the USA with the money I make here, I would be considered dirt poor, while here I´m middle class.