Please buy American!

[Monacoach]

Just as stated earlier " businesses are in the game to make money not supply jobs"
Consumers are in the game to get the best bang for their dollar so it would be self destructive to pay more simply because the item is American made. Being Canadian, I don't hesitate to jump over the border and shop....... better deals south of the border........... does this hurt Canada? I don't care..... make things cheaper here and I will stay put......

[2Labs]

Originally Posted by Theberrys

Here Here !

Wake up people..... (moderator edit)

Next you'll be saying we should be buying these American Made Products at a Mom and Pop Store. Well if you want there useless son promoted and made wealthy over your head and not have any benifits to speak of, absolute min. vacation time, non paid overtime, with all the profits raked off into a private account than support your local Mom and Pop outfit. Thank god the one I worked for was bought out by a large company or I wouldn't have been ablet to retire..... ever..... But rest assured the Pop of the outfit got filthy rich while the rest of us got a new boss.

Dick

Hi Dick ... I am going to rebut your statement and suggest that consumers do look to and support their local businesses. I too have been a part of WAY too many corporate buyouts, and always got stuck with the short straw -- contrary to what you may read - sweat equity in a tech company does not equal riches!

After the last corporate buyout, the DW and I used all our savings to buy back part of the company that was just sold - a division that over years we had worked hard to build in revenues, customer trust and excellence.

It's been almost 6 years now, and we're still fighting an uphill battle competing against giants in the industry that have the ability to undercut pricing, provide marginal service and yet still sell their companies for billions.

We belong to many local business associations, groups, etc .. but time after time end users seem to be looking for the cheapest solution. Our local business association has a great tagline - "Support the businesses that Support Southbury" and I feel that is a great statement.

We support local business, local funds and provide a great rock-solid platform and service and we *KNOW* all our customers by name.

When you support a local business you're not helping another CEO to get another vacation home, luxury car or stock options - you're supporting a family in your community.

[gray ghost]

Originally Posted by Francesca

Products made/assembled in such territories as American Samoa qualify to be labeled as "America made", but those economies as more similar to China's than to ours in the United States.

Since the people of American Samoa, and the Northern Marianas are citizens of the US (just like the Puerto Ricans) I should think that they have every right to label goods produced there as being made in the US. Lots of Samoans serve in our military.

[baraff]

Originally Posted by Monacoach

Just as stated earlier " businesses are in the game to make money not supply jobs"
Consumers are in the game to get the best bang for their dollar so it would be self destructive to pay more simply because the item is American made. Being Canadian, I don't hesitate to jump over the border and shop....... better deals south of the border........... does this hurt Canada? I don't care..... make things cheaper here and I will stay put......

So....you would feel comfortable flying a Canadian flag made in China? I think you're missing the point of the OP's post.

[baraff]

Originally Posted by gray ghost

Since the people of American Samoa, and the Northern Marianas are citizens of the US (just like the Puerto Ricans) I should think that they have every right to label goods produced there as being made in the US. Lots of Samoans serve in our military.

Well said, Cliff!

[Lindsay Richards]

I bought Frozen Wild Alaska Flounder fillets at samsclub .. When I read the package at home, it said Caught in USA , Filleted and packaged in china .. what is up with that? Unless the processing ship was in Chinese waters.

I believe that these fish are caught in Alaskan waters and taken to a factory ship where they are processed (cleaned, frozen, packaged, and palatalized) all within hours of being caught. I believe Alaska Flounder is the species name of the fish. The question is was it good?

[Midniteoyl]

Originally Posted by gray ghost

Since the people of American Samoa, and the Northern Marianas are citizens of the US (just like the Puerto Ricans) I should think that they have every right to label goods produced there as being made in the US. Lots of Samoans serve in our military.

[RickO]

Originally Posted by 2Labs

When you support a local business you're not helping another CEO to get another vacation home, luxury car or stock options - you're supporting a family in your community.

Great post 2Labs.

Rick

[wanderso]

The china cost advantage is largely gone these days. Wages continue to climb rapidly and it only pencils out when shipped by boat to the US in large volumes. Vietnam is the new China. . Some is returning to the US, which is good news, but the infrastructure for supporting certain things is is gone at the moment. (tech manufacturing for example). Our purchasing power does have an impact, so I agree with the start of the thread. I do the same in supporting local small businesses. Target and others don't buy the local kids 4H animal and rarely participate in charity auctions and such.

Nothing against these larger stores, but buying USA, just as buying local does indeed make a difference.

[kalynzoo]

The initial post has been going around as an e-mail for years, verbatum. Although I completely agree with the concept of "buy American" I have a problem with a continuous e-mail chain being presented as fact.
JMHO

[Midniteoyl]

Jeezz.. I remember 'Made in Taiwan' was bad.. Or Singapore, or Korea...

[Midniteoyl]

Originally Posted by kalynzoo

The initial post has been going around as an e-mail for years, verbatum. Although I completely agree with the concept of "buy American" I have a problem with a continuous e-mail chain being presented as fact.
JMHO

https://www.google.com/search?q=I+DI...-a&channel=rcs

[Francesca]

Originally Posted by gray ghost

Since the people of American Samoa, and the Northern Marianas are citizens of the US (just like the Puerto Ricans) I should think that they have every right to label goods produced there as being made in the US. Lots of Samoans serve in our military.

Who said anything about Puerto Rico?

As for American Samoa:

Folks born in American Samoa are U.S. Nationals, but they're not American citizens unless at least one of their parents is already a U.S. citizen. It's also a completely different political and legal system, though they do send one representative to the U.S. House. Another difference between our systems: only those with Samoan ancestry are permitted to serve as legislators...AND Samoans pays NO U.S. federal income taxes.

And if anyone thinks that labor standards there, especially when it comes to wages, are anything at all like standards in the fifty States, I suggest a look at the wage numbers given for American Samoa at the following U.S. department of Labor's website: U.S. Department of Labor ? Wage and Hour Division (WHD) ? American Samoa

The point is, goods made/assembled there have no more to do with the U.S. economy than goods made/assembled in any other third world country. Those ARE some of the "jobs being done overseas" that everyone's so het up about, folks!

[gray ghost]

I was wrong about the citizenship, but being a US National is a far cry from being a foreigner. I brought up Puerto Rico because they are also a territory, are their own taxing authority, so residents do not pay federal income tax. There are many territories, they all have the right to place "Made in the USA" labels on goods manufactured in their territory. But since they also have citizens in our active military and reserve and national guard units located on their islands, I think that is entirely proper.