Welcome to NexusFi: the best trading community on the planet, with over 150,000 members Sign Up Now for Free
Genuine reviews from real traders, not fake reviews from stealth vendors
Quality education from leading professional traders
We are a friendly, helpful, and positive community
We do not tolerate rude behavior, trolling, or vendors advertising in posts
We are here to help, just let us know what you need
You'll need to register in order to view the content of the threads and start contributing to our community. It's free for basic access, or support us by becoming an Elite Member -- see if you qualify for a discount below.
-- Big Mike, Site Administrator
(If you already have an account, login at the top of the page)
I can definitely remember a long period of time when I was growing up how the "Made in the USA" label was very important. My family tried to buy USA products, it was a discussion all the time in the household.
These days, I try to buy American when possible. For example, I recently purchased sets of sheets for my bed and as gifts for family members from a company that advertises "Made in America", and with the purchase was a nice letter with the company history, group photo of employees, etc.
When I shop on Amazon, I will favor purchases with products Made in America whenever possible.
But outside of this tiny, tiny sliver, it is really almost impossible to find anything Made in America, much less buy it.
If I was Jeff Bezos (Amazon) I would have a new search filter on the left menu for "Made in America" or some other distinction to make it easier to Buy American. The real issue is, of course, that there are basically no products actually Made in America any longer. So it isn't simply a personal choice, but a practical one of availability.
In the case of the sheets I purchased, the quality is simply amazing. Best sheets I've ever had for sure And by far the most expensive.
But when I try to Buy American with other purchases, say for example a car, the results have been poor. I've owned: (4) Chrysler, (6) GM, (2) Ford, (2) Toyota vehicles, and by far the best ones were the Toyota's.
The vehicles were (year approximated from memory, my first car was 20 years ago):
Chrysler
95 Pontiac Firebird, 98 Dodge Ram, 01 Dodge Durango, 12 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland [current vehicle]
While I do really love my new vehicle (2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland 4x4), the fact is that Daimler is who designed the vehicle.
In the category of food, I always buy organic and always buy local when possible, and absolutely always from the US. It is sick the amount of food we import from China (all the pre-processed stuff).
In the category of electronics, it is impossible to Buy American. You can buy American designed computers, but that is almost a given. Apple, AMD, Intel, Dell, HP - American designed but manufactured elsewhere. When you move to other categories like televisions, cameras, phones, it is very much non-American.
Anyway, I write this post simply to see if there will be any discussion about it. How many people actually try to Buy American? vs how many people go to Wal Mart to buy cheap imported crap?
mmm, frozen fish farm sticks... when I lived in Beijing/Tianjin I was always shocked to see the fish vats along the monorail, squeezed up next to the nuke and coal plants, full of black water and fish roids.... mmm,,,
A lot of the foreign cars sold here are actually made here. Not sure if that counts as Made In the USA or not but at least Americans got paid for putting them together.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Have to watch out for deceptive labeling... the frozen highliner fish sold here says product of Canada on the box while the fish is from Chinese fish farms, it's only battered and boxed here....
Funny thing with that story: "The Made in the USA tag carries real value --- in China. People in China will pay more if it is Made in USA."
For clothing, it is next to impossible to find things Made in America in any kind of mall or retailer. But I did find a few companies on the web, like this:
True but ask those guys if they appreciate that job? My guess is they do.
I want made in America to be both ubiquitous and be made with well paying jobs, but US manufactures are going to go where they can get products made for less money. We have a legion of rules, regulations and laws, many of which are totally unconstitutional that burden business with costs not directly related to research, production and marketing.
Add to this the complex and destructive tax system we have and you have a perfect storm for the decline of US manufacturing.
There are many things governments should do but being in the business of deciding whats best for business is not one of them. And neither is being paid by business to do what business wants. That's the worst of all worlds.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
The Made in the USA hugo boss knock offs I was buying the wang fu jing market were so incredible, absolutely amazing quality, for three wears. I still can't figure out how the products could look so indecipherable from the real thing, amazing replicas, and then fall apart so quickly. For five bucks a shirt you could get five to twenty wears out of them before they were toast, on a per wear basis perhaps it works out to the same cost as buying the real thing.....
You can have a legion of laws or just one law, whatever the case, you will never compete in a race to the bottom with the Chinese. I was surrounded by US chemical and paint plants that had relocated to China where dumping raw effluent is status quo and encouraged for those who make their guanxi payments to the local communists.
There are absolutely no environmental laws or considerations, and you have a slave labour apartheid, one billion of their population is under an apartheid. When South Africa was under scrutiny the US and most other developed countries placed trade embargoes against the country. Long gone are those days. today's leaders, the real government, the mega global corporations, could care less about the social agenda. Rights, who needs em....
And by far the most expensive.
