How in the world did made in America get to be a bad thing?

Question

Remember that walmart & every other store used to have nice labels that said Made in America? Those labels are gone. I understand that things are being made overseas but what happened to that whole Made in America pride thing?

FYI - I do understand that things are being made cheaper in other countries. I understand the "cost" issue. I want to know what happened to the "pride".And yes, I certainly understand quantity versus quality.

Answer 1

It more or less stated with the fast track trade agreement with China. Then came NAFTA. Do you remember the 1992 Presidential debates? Ross Perot said during one that if NAFTA and GATT was passed you'd here a giant sucking sound as jobs went to Mexico. Well that happened and lately those jobs have gone to China. One of the things that NAFTA and GATT did was remove tariffs. We had tariffs for 200 years. They protected our industries. What a tariff did was if it cost a company $1.00 to make a shoe here but $0.20 to make the same shoe overseas, there was a $0.80 tariff put on it. So it still cost the company $1.00. So it made more sense to make it here. Now it is more profitable to make it there. Another downside of these agreements is it turns our sovereignty over to the WTO when there are trade disputes. Take dolphin free tuna. It took the Humane Society 25 years to get the law passed for dolphin safe tuna. But with the trade agreements, Mexico sued us over the law. They said it was unfair to their tuna fishermen and WTO ruled for them. The same for the gasoline additive from Canada. These agreements can supercede our laws.
And are things really cheaper? If you look at the actual cost of all these trade agreements you'll see tha tin the long run things aren't cheaper. They have cost us our jobs and factories. If we had to ramp up production in case of war like we did in WWII, we are screwed. Most of our steel, electronics and fabrics, to name a few things, come from overseas. The uniforms for the Border Patrol are made in Mexico! We need to go back to tariffs and rebuild our industrial infrastructure. And bring jobs back home where they belong!
After John Walton died, the "Made In America" pride died too.

Answer 2

LOL, cause it's not about quality (or America) anymore, it's about cheap.

I remember the day when the "commies" were our biggest enemy, something to be wiped off the face of the earth.

Now the conservatives point to Wal Mart as a model in cost cutting and helping Americans to afford more things.

Yes, but we also take jobs from America and send them to the commies. Doesn't quite sound like progress, does it?

Answer 3

Things change over time. "For those of you who do not know, especially young people, I am compelled to inform you of the generally un-known truth that the word "Liberal" has a proud heritage and was originally a word that described men who were the political opposites of modern "Liberals." The word "Liberal" was forcibly stolen and corrupted by evil men who intentionally perverted the use and meaning of the word. In the long forgotten past, the word "Liberal" described honorable and principled men who held to a philosophy of government that advocated Constitutional Republicanism. Constitutional Republicanism is a type of government almost unknown to most of the world. America was originally a Constitutional Republic. A Constitutional Republic defined is characterized by a very small government with limits on its powers of taxation and whose other powers are strictly limited by rigorously enforced Constitutional edicts. But modern Liberals are nothing more and nothing less than Communists, Socialists and Dictators. Modern Liberals promote, advocate and enforce the centralization of all political power into an all powerful central government. The honorable old Liberals of the 19th century must be spinning in their graves over the outrageous corruption and modern use of the word "Liberal."

Answer 4

Hello. Big greedy unions wanted too much. Big greedy management wanted to pay citizens in unions less. Big Business government pushed for the Free Trade Bill, so big management, now supported by big business govt. got its way. All those great american company owners decided Making In America hurt their bottom line, and turned traitor by shipping themselves overseas.Without an American Union attached to them anymore.Unfortunately, not all the Unions were greedy, but all got the big shaft, big time.So now we have to put up with big bull to buy big bulk toilet paper in a big lie of a store that says it has big pride in american products yet sells none of them. But man, that chain is a big business all over USA now isn't it? Just about the only place left to find a job. Bet they pull up their tent stakes eventually, too. I think American Pride cost business too much, so they tossed it out completely.
Anyway that was a dismal answer, sorry, but that is just this forced-into-low-pay man's opinion...I never even got to have a Union to work in and now never will again.

Answer 5

When a company can have a product manufactured for 95% less that the cost it has to incur in USA, what is the logical choice for the shareholders of that company. The choice is make it cheap, sell it large.

Answer 6

America is not bad, it is only a choice for other people that a country is bad.

Answer 7

George Bush, Dick Cheney

Answer 8

it probly has something to do with the popularity of the item being sold, why have something on the market if theres no profit coming from it? make ur own.

Answer 9

What pride? It's the $$ that counts

Answer 10

It's called money. Outsourcing is cheap...so they make more of a profit.