Is it time to buy American again?

Question

The Chinese will not support us in sanctions against Iran. The Russians are threatening us. The French invest in Iran and many other nations with against whom we have sanctions. Isn't it time to say I am not supporting these countries that use my money against my interests? How many people are willing to take a pledge to not support China, France and Russia whenever possible?

Buy US made products whenever you can.

Teen: Of course you are free to buy whatever products you want. Just realize that there are additional costs associated with that inexpensive piece of plastic which was imported from China.

Jasmine: When I disagree with my government I stand up and say that. I disagree with foreign governments, the only opportunity I have to make a statement is through my spending. We are free to support or not support whomever we choose. The point is that you ARE making a choice when you purchase products. You ARE supporting an ideology. Which do you want to support?

Answer 1

Yes, good luck. Thanks to all of the "free trade" agreements made, we've shipped all of our manufacturing overseas. Ah, the price Americans are willing to pay to save a couple of dollars...they never think that it'll cost them their jobs.

Here's something that we do: Buy local, support your local small businesses. It might cost you a few more dollars, but you know for a fact that the money is helping someone in your community stay in business. We buy our homeowner's insurance from a broker a few blocks away, occasionally groceries from a small local market, haircuts, dentistry, post office, wine or beer, delivered pizza (*not* from a big chain like Domino's), restaurants (again, non-big chain like Fridays), local farm stands and anything else we can find. Don't support the "Wal-Mart-ization" of America.

The people running those small businesses live locally, and they put their money into a nicer, neater home, and back into the community themselves by providing jobs. Better for everyone, and your money isn't sent to some giant corporation that is bent on farming everything out to the cheapest supplier (read China, Mexico, etc...), and paying their employees the least they can get away with.

You help the local economy, support your community and create or keep jobs. Great for everyone.

Answer 2

I have never owned an American car and have owned almost only Japanese cars, except for one German and one Swedish car. I will say that I am closer now to buying American then I ever have been. To answer your question, I would say the American car companies are moving in the right direction. Paying more and more attention to quality and reliability. Building good small cars has always been a problem for America, but now we have the Ford Focus and the new Chevy Cobalt, both of which are some of the best American small cars ever built. They need to continue to keep getting lighter on their feet and quick to respond to new trends. DaimlerChrysler did a great job of this buy coming out with the Caliber. I seriously considered buying a Ford Focus though and I might have if there were not so many quality/reliabilty issues especially with the earlier models. One of the biggest things that drives people to Japanese cars is the perception that they are super-reliable and trouble free. The other is that they have high quality and high resale value. As long as American car companies keep working HARD to get better like they have been they will win Japanese-only buyers over. They need to keep striving for even better reliability and make their new cars reliable on launch, not 3 years after. That and they need to stop with the huge price cutting incentives and sales that kill the resale value of the used cars. Basically they need to keep doing what they are doing. Copy Japanese quality control methods. Be relentless in focusing on reliability and quality and make sure people know that. Build stuff in the United States and emphasize it in advertising when they do. If Honda can build the Civic profitably in the United States, then Ford can build the Focus here instead of in MEXICO. Overall I think they are on the right track, but there is more work to do and they are trying to hit a moving target so it is hard.

Answer 3

It's hard to imagine so many people who don't understand why we complain about our food not being hot enough, when so many are dying from hunger. Or why my brand of cola just went up in price, when so many die of thirst.
It's beyond comprehension to imagine a child with a couple automatic pistols walking into a school, and offing a few people before turning the weapon on themselves, but in other parts of the world, you become a rock star if you off an entire marketplace with a device wrapped around your waste, with visions of heaven and a family that celebrates and praises God, hoping the others are going to be as successful.
Which American products do we continue to purchase that will stop the madness? Which foreign ones?

Answer 4

Hello.
If you truly believe that's what you should do; go ahead and convince your family, friends and fellow Americans to do the same. Buying "home-grown" produce, and American products can boost your economy and bring your country to a higher status (in terms of money and "power") than it already is.
But, if you only trade with countries which agree with the USA then a problem is that you may find the world moving away from this monopoly you have on it.
Already, the UK is your biggest ally. This isn't out of friendship; infact most people in the UK totally disagree with the ideologies and politics of America. This is out of fear.
As somebody from a country outside of the USA, I personally find the approach you use (do not trade if you do not agree with our politics) quite terrifying. There is a huge influence that the USA has over the world - and anybody who does not conform to your values and your politics are shown in a "bad light", although in my eyes it is heroic to stand up against this American Imperialism.

Another thing - you pay taxes to the American Government presumably. Do you agree with everything they do? Your money is funding an illegal invasion as we speak. Why draw the line at different countries?

Answer 5

Hi Ken! I agree. I just wish there was a way to know if the made in the USA label doesn't mean it was made in places like the Mariana Islands in Chinese run sweat shops.
There is a pbs program by Bill Moyers called Capitol Crimes in which these loop holes are shown to exist. Unfortunately they didn't specify how to avoid this trap.

Answer 6

The only way we can fix our economy is through Tariffs. If we want to buy a Chinese Car here in America there is a 2 percent Tariff. If they want to guy an American Car there, there is a 20% tariff. Unilateral Free-Trade does not work. It never has and never will. All we do is destroy our middle class.

Answer 7

My wife and a few other members of my family go out of our way to purchase made in America products. It is a bit more expensive but, well worth the investment. What better investment than America and her workers?

Answer 8

US Products made with Chinese Labor?

Answer 9

Look, I'm all for buying American.. but to support America... not to piss off the rest of the world.

Answer 10

The whole world is buying American, and they have been since the early 80s, when Reagan put us on the map again.

That's one of the driving forces behind the success of the US dollar, the expansion of our economy, and the success of American business.

Apparently, the world agrees with you.