Will you buy American made gifts this year? Every purchase you make can help create or eliminate a job!
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M$11 Answers
http://www.vermontmaple.org/maple-by-mail.html
Cabot Cheese in Vermont
http://www.cabotcheese.coop/
I cannot find a web address of the local ham but here's one that looks good and has many other choices besides ham
http://www.igourmet.com/ham.asp
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M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Extremely short, but extremely sweet answer. Next time bulk it up ;o)
And you might just get this same response =) +1.
Hey I agree XDS no need to bulk up though, I'm kind of getting sick of the longest-answer = the-best-answer thing! Even better for the environment than buying local is opting out of the whole capitalism thing and making your own gifts! As a photographer I have given photos many years and find that people appreciate it more than a new toaster.
If deciding between two gifts, one American made and one china made. I would likely chose the American made, not for the economy but for quality. In my own person experience American made products are of higher quality in most cases. I word that carefully as this is not always true.
The exception would be both products were of equal quality and the non-american product was FAR cheaper. I'm no millionaire, a significant price difference would sway my vote. In that case, a business that is producing low quality product no matter it's location has earned a failure in any economy.
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M$
This is is tricky situation. I think the question ignores the fact that many jobs exist and are created to market/sell these imported products.
What will happen to the stores like Walmart?
stanar, I have heard that when walmart moves to town many local economies have been crushed as it takes les workers to run a walmart than it would to run the regular mainstreet of a small town, entire small towns have become ghost towns when walmart moves in they offer no medical benefits and pay way less than the local mom and pop stores did. I saw this effect in my own rural town recently, it didn't become a ghost town but almost a dozen stores shut down these were local mom and pop stores where a lot of that money went back into the local economy, all the money going into a walmart leaves the local economy. there is a reason that the entire walton family is on the top of the list of worlds richest people, their personal wealth came directly out of the pockets of small town america.
http://digg.com/politics/China_recall_toy_factory_boss_hangs_himself_report
The man in charge of the lead paint fiasco hung himself because of the level of shame he brought himself, his family, and his country. What did the US banks that wrecked the world's economy, specifically Iceland, do? Begged for bailouts then gave themselves raises.
The environmental impact of the shipping puts jobs on the world market, packagers, shippers, distributors, inventory people. I'm sure some of those jobs went to Americans. You generally can't have both environmental purity and economic superiority.
Further, just because a product is assembled in US and gets that label doesn't mean it's materials were sourced from America. You can buy wool from Mexico and spend 3 seconds stitching it in El Paso to get the sticker and better sales.
If the product is good, we should support it regardless of its nationality. That's what capitalism is for. If we support a business because it's close to home, they will continue to make shoddy products because they can.
Ford Explorer Complaints
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M$
"You generally can't have both environmental purity and economic superiority." Call me an idealist but I do not see how this statement is true, in fact I think it is just the opposite, You can only have long term economic sustainability if you have an environmentally sustainable approach to producing and transporting products it is cheaper in the long run to not have the environmental impact of products being shipped halfway around the world when there are plenty of other companies in your own country making the same product, yeah you will save 50 cents in the short run but what about the untold costs of cleaning up the environment so we aren't living in a toxic world. The best way to reduce dependency on oil is to buy locally, most of the petroleum consumed is not from personal transportation it is from transporting products to massive chain stores like walmart in heavily polluting diesel trucks.
what you left out is other countries like Japan don't function the way we do, when your competitor has a government that looks out for its businesses you will have a hard time competing with that business model, that and citizens that will always remain loyal to their country because that is what is expected, America does not function that way, and it is a big reason we have such huge trade deficits, if we bought more locally when we can not only would it help our economy but it would also make it less likely to have to sell bonds that are too often bought by foreign interests.
And what you left out is the low quality product we produce because America also has purchasers that are too loyal. Here a few debates about poorly made American cars, for instance:
1, 2, 3.
Chevrolet Aveo counts as an American made product people will blindly buy because it's considered local.
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f186978/0
http://www.topix.com/forum/autos/chevrolet-aveo/TFGM7OPV170F41DE3
After replacing the engine at 20k miles at my own expense because it had slipped out of warranty by year, I switched over to Honda Civics. (But I guess Honda is American enough?)
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/autos/0711/gallery.2007_best_resale_value_top_10/2.html
So ultimately - buy good products, not simply because they're local.
3 weak arguments, I can imagine what you do for a living but I am sure someone overseas does it better. you are clueless about other nations industrial policies,
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-toyota-throttle29-2009nov29,0,5254584.story
I could look up the engine gum up story too.
you are one of those people that run around thinking you are hip and cool because you bought an import, even if you bought a Ford that was assembled in Mexico you will still have more domestic content than a Honda assembled in Ohio, Japanese cars are primarily assembled from Japanese suppliers, with the Germans not so much, you could also look up where Mitsubishi hid defects for over a decade, it was a scandal in Japan which really tells you something given their much closer government business relationship, but hardly reported in this country.
http://www.autosafety.org/safety-scandal-shames-mitsubishi
but hey at least they weren't American.
http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_wires/2006Jul21/0,4675,JapanToyotaRecall,00.html
this goes one, and this is an article that shows your mentality.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&refer=conews&tkr=F:US&sid=aTO4k0tg1iGY
even Toyota's president conceded that they have more quality problems than Consumers will tell you.
I personally asked someone I knew about the Toyota engine Gum up issue, because he was raving about his Sienna, he said he took it to Toyota Carlsbad and they replaced the engine at 20,000 miles. but if this had been say a GM it would be what is wrong with American cars. the Japanese recognize what a large segment of our economy autos are and will protect theirs and also provide healthcare while our companies get stuck with the costs.
it should be noted that Honda has higher level of U.S. content and % of vehicles assembled here (Toyota assembles about a third) and less defects.
When you take the measures to sustain the environment you redirect resources that could be used to further build yourself. Multiple nations will see the path you are taking, not take the environmental steps, and outpace you. Therefore, no economic superiority. Most great societal advances came at an environmental cost, and I said nothing about sustainability.
However, the waste problem is a much simpler fix than you know. The Thermal Conversion Process turns any non-radioactive waste into natural gas, diesel fuel, purified water, and fertilizer minerals, with no toxic byproducts. So basically overseas countries are shipping us fuel, as soon as we implement this technology.
The original point still stands - do not buy American simply because it's local, you teach the makers we don't care about quality. Buy a product that is tested and good, and we'll get more of the same. Whether or not it is made in America is insignificant, as countries we buy from also buy from us in return.
I have these conversations all the time, aveo is actually a re-badged Dawoo, I was having this consevsation with a middle eastern guy in the gym today and he tells me he hates American cars, and wants a Lexus IS, then he goes on to tell me after I brought up the the sudden speed up issue and engine gum up issue that he had three hondas that were lemons, the last being an 04 Accord, but he thinks the way you do if this import brand is bad then I will just buy that import brand, if an American car is bad (even a rebadged Korean one) then I will just buy an import, my guess is when you bought the Aveo you probably knew that it was from overseas and when it went bad on you, you could then justify sending money overseas because it was defective, lets be honest here the people that are down on U.S. products think they are good workers and it is someone else. they are the same people that will tell you they are good drivers and others are bad drivers.
let them go through what we go through in this country, let others have unresticted access to Japan, let them pay for their own defense, lets see how when they have our cost structure and people that don't give a damn about the country, you watch what will happen is a model will get canceled and others will have a longer design life.
everyone out there can tell you a horror story about a defective car foreign or domestic, my late older brother died a quality death in an Honda Accord death trap.
a couple of Saturdays ago this woman pulls up to where I was parked in an Infinity G 37 and this car still has the dealer plate thing, meaning she has not gotten her California plates, yet and this car has a little smoke coming out the exhaust and is idling roughly, probably someone else bought that car and never had a problem and like her and you would not buy any domestic, I asked her about it and she had a snarky attitude because she seen me in a Ford.
I, personally, appreciate the reminder. It's so easy to forget. Thank you very much!
Here's a cool site for you:
http://www.madeinusaforever.com/
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M$
my own opinion
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M$
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Thanks
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M$
I moved up north shortly after 9/11 but my heart is still american.
The problem is there just are not that many quality products being actually manufactured IN the US anymore.
Cripts china must have more sweat shops than it does people.
Japan is the leading country in semi conductor and chip making, and now its starting to take over in the automotive arena too.
Whats a guy to do ?
Kind Regards,
@XDS
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M$
The reason is demand! Stores will only stock items that it's customers demand, everytime something swipes across the checkout, consider it a vote for that product. We are constantly voting with our purchases what to keep, if hte demand for locally made goods goes up, you will see stores stocking more of those products, walmart is not inherently evil, they just give the people what they want, when people started buying more organic yourgurt for example, walmart became the biggest seller of organic yogurt they just cater to the consumer trends. I think that usa stamp should be featured more prominently on american made products, I have never actually seen that stamp but it sure would make it easier.
jimmy d
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M$
Thanks for your input, I am not just saying this from a protectionist american point of view I really should have said should everyone in the world buy local products when available to ensure their own country's sustainability, rather than further relying on other countries, I really was thinking about it more from wondering is it worth buying a product from a country that has been known to use child labor and toxic lead paint among other hazardous materials, just because the product is 50 cents cheaper (I have a friend who works for homeland security and part of her job is to secretly go through walmart with a special meter that can detect lead paint on products, not sure why homeland security is in charge of htis when it should be the Environmental Protection Agency but anyway, she says it's just amazing the amount of products that are still on the market she has stopped buying chinese for the health hazards only, flower pots and anything that has a glaze or paint on it are the biggest culprits she tells me, but they don't worry about taking products off the shelves that are not made for children's hands like flower pots (what about the children and workers who made them). I am more concerned about the environmental impact of globalism, while globalism can be nice for other cultural reasons, (the spice trade probably helped introduce multicultural/religious tolerance especially in port cities) it does not appear to be the best thing for the environment, it takes a lot of energy to ship something 10,000 miles.
