What exactly is wrong with our country? How is it we out source jobs buy foreign goods?

Question

andcomplain about our economy and do very little to support it? How long do people think we will remain on top? all superpowers fall but we can help to prolong it

Answer 1

i buy American
I'm union and proud

Answer 2

Here is my take on what has caused the loss of manufacturing jobs and the outsourcing. Unions.
I know a lot of people will be pissed, because they belong to some union or another, and that's fine. I just think that the unions squeezing every cent they could out of the automobile manufacturers and the steel mills and such, caused the imports to come in. Just because a company makes a product that has a good profit margin, does not mean the workers are entitled to all of the profits. The unions went from demanding safer working conditions and fair labor practices (which is a noble cause) to blackmailing the employers.
At the same time, the left wing wacko environmentalist were out protesting and marching in Washington because of the pollution from steel mills, and other manufacturing industries.
so, with the harassment thrown upon the manufacturing industry, why would they want to stay in business, or feel obligated to provide jobs to Americans. We will never learn to not bite the hand that feeds us.

And ALLEGRA is wrong. Wal Mart sell stuff cheaper because they sell more. Target, Kmart and wal mart all get their products from China. Wal mart buys more from the supplier, so they get more of a discount. It has nothing to do with child labor. All the big chains are full of crap from China. And so are the smaller chains, and so are the Mom and Pops that are still around.

And if anybody tells you they buy only Made in America, they are lying, or their house is bare.

The point about the unions, if you look at their history, was about safe working conditions, and eliminating child labor in the early days. Once they got their power, they started raping and blackmailing the corporations with demands for higher and higher wages and lifetime benifits after retirement ( one of the things causing Ford their troubles now).
And if you look at the vehicles being built today, the imports and previous import names are much higher quality that American made.
And, have you ever gone out to purchase an american made car?
I tried, I wanted a Chevy HHR. I looked at the base price, then started adding in the things I wanted. A radio, automatic transmission, air conditioning, and custom wheels. By the time I added it all up, it was nearly twice the base model price. Then when you go to their dealerships, they all act like vultures. I bought a vehicle from a foreign manufacturer name, that builds here in the states. Everything I wanted, a better warranty, treated like a human being at the dealer, and got a sincere handshake when it was all done, price, half of the Chevy.
The problems are more than just union, or made in china. I think the problem is that we all think we are worth more than the next next guy. If some person in china is making three dollars a day putting strings in shoes for me to buy, well, then good for them, it probably three dollars more than they would be making if we weren't here to buy them
And GOD bless Wal-Mart!!!!!!

Answer 3

Do you know why our manufacturing companies make so much better profits from overseas-outsourced work, or why Wal-Mart is able to sell some of its clothes for $2 less than the other major retailers? It's because we pay the people overseas essentially nothing - maybe $1 or $2, American money, a day - to make the crap. What our companies are doing - and people don't seem to grasp - is exploiting cheap foreign labor instead of keeping jobs here in the U.S., where they should be, and paying people living wages for their hard and indispensible work. (But, alas, paying employers living wages means less profit for the mansion owners of the company.)

And how can it be possible in the first place that anyone's work or bodily labor or time is rightfully _worth less_ in a country outside the U.S. when the ("colored") person produces the _same_ product or outcome? It's exploitation, however you look at it. Paying Mexican farm hands less than white is, plain and simple, race-based exploitation. It's not true that Chinese products are cheap quality because of "who makes them." They're cheap because the materials used by the American companies who own the workers are cheap. The junk would be just as poor-quality if it was made in the U.S. with the same crap materials.

And, as for the fact that Americans are so "stuff"-crazed they almost _never_ worry about being conscientious consumers - that would mean looking at labels before they buy things to see where they're made - well, it's because we're fools. The very least we can do, besides rebelling against the whole system, is refuse to shop at conglomerate superstores (i.e., Wal-Mart, Aldi's) and to buy American-made products as much as possible. They do cost a little bit more. It's because the people who make them have health insurance and don't live in some slums in Beijing.

Our economy will remain on top as long as fool consumers keep shopping at Wal-Mart and not checking their clothes and toy and furniture and electronics tags, give all their money to oil companies so they can tool around in their SUVs, and as long as no one minds we take advantage of other nations so that the Waltons can remain in fifth place or so on Forbes' lists of the world's richest people.

Answer 4

well first of all if we buy a foreign good, there is a good possibility that the $$ might stay in the US. Let's take a look at a Toyota Camry, a Japanese car that is very popular here in the US. Camrys that are sold in teh US are made in the US. Thus, it is US-made and goes toward America's GDP. THe only thing that leaves the country is profits that go back to Toyota HQ in Japan.

Personally, I think that the idea that all these jobs are being outsourced is an overreaction. If it was that big a problem, we would have a much higher unemployment rate than the current rate between 3-4%.

Answer 5

I don't think outsourcing jobs will bring us down as a nation any faster than will a collective disrespect for business.

The belief that a business has any purpose other than to profit is not rational and not healthy.

As consumers, the onus is on us to provide an environment where business can thrive. Using our buying power to purchase is what drives business decisions; using our political vote to elect certain political candidates who do or don't understand business determines whether business and citizens are at peace with one another.

We can't buy junk, elect politicians who punish businesses for populist appeals, sit on juries that award billions of their dollars to rainmakers, and allow unions to keep labour overpriced while expecting to maintain a group of domestic businesses that are responsive to our demands.

Businesses will do what it takes to survive and compete. If we make it impossible to survive here, they will go elsewhere. How can we blame them?

Read the papers and see what how topics like profit, sales, big oil, big retail, private property, et al are discussed and you'll find we do not treat business well at all. When we vote to ban smoking in 'public' places and elect grandstanders who ban certain cooking oils, it is a sign that we and our elected officials think we know how to run businesses better than the owners.

If we smarten us as consumers, vote like rational economists, and rethink what a business is, we'll fix problems we probably didn't even know we had and we'll have no problem keeping business here at home.

Thanks for the question!

Answer 6

go to Michigan... you'll see what it does...

the thing I don't get is... all those people that preach patriotism and America first... many of them support Republicans that are doing everything they can to push jobs overseas as fast as possible... they blame "unions" or whatever for a "bad business environment"... BUT that's still NO excuse for you to move overseas... at all...

liberal professors may be some of the few that are talking about it... until that factory closes in town... then they care... it's a little late to cry about it then though...

and the sad thing is... you can't tell by product names anymore... I've seen several Fords made in Mexico and several hondas made in the US... so what is "American" anymore...

Answer 7

I just asked a similar question the other day and was surprised at the negative responses I got.

Funny how the vast majority of people I hear complaining about job outsourcing all drive foreign cars...and they're almost all college professors, so money isn't an issue. WTF?!?

Merry Christmas to you.

Answer 8

You people mistakenly assume that corporations that may be based in America, are American and have some sort of loyalty to the USA, they don't, they are multi-national, they are above the level of individual nations, they are concerned with one thing: profit, we should tax the **** out of them, we owe them nothing.

And to the indivual above that says "it's the unions" etc, I used to work as a moldmaker in a number of NON-union job shops (there isn't a moldmakers union AFAIK), and they STILL closed down tooling in the USA and moved to production in China, Portugal etc.. It has NOTHING to do with unions, they will go wherever they can as long as it makes more profit.

Answer 9

go here to find American made goods.
g is correct i live in Michigan and even the wal-mart where i live is failing.big lots,stillys,bills,farmer jack all closed due to the auto companies failing.i don't just blame people not buying American it is also the lying accountants.like at delphi and enron.

Answer 10

We are getting selfish and want more and more. We fight for better pay and all the benefits and the companys can't afford it .So they move their manufacturing out of this country and that leaves us with no jobs,and can only purchase from other country's because of the prices

Answer 11

Wehre have you been? this has been going on for years. Corporations gets tax breaks if they move them out of the country!!!

Evil will reign when good men do nothing..... americans are doing nothing.

Its time to fight.