Good idea and when there is a choice, i prefer buying the national products...but what to do when the foreign company is on the US territories and made american people work... I buy or not ( we are in the same situation in France... ) ?.
Here is the crux of that site (and BTW, it is a very great site).
Take gasoline for example. Sure they are American owned and operated companies, but the end sale goes, in more cases than not, to a foreign entity, so yes you are buying gas from an American company, but the odds are that the oil it took to produce the gas came from the Middle East, South America, Africa, etc. Sure some oil is still extracted here in US soil, by American companies, but very little of it from what I understand makes it to our gas tanks....
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Computers manufactured by companies such as IBM, Compaq and millions of others are by far the most popular with about 70 million machines in use worldwide. Macintosh fans note that cockroaches are far more numerous than humans and that numbers alone do not denote a higher life form. -NY Times 1991
Here is the crux of that site (and BTW, it is a very great site).
Take gasoline for example. Sure they are American owned and operated companies, but the end sale goes, in more cases than not, to a foreign entity, so yes you are buying gas from an American company, but the odds are that the oil it took to produce the gas came from the Middle East, South America, Africa, etc. Sure some oil is still extracted here in US soil, by American companies, but very little of it from what I understand makes it to our gas tanks....
I looked up the second most traded commodity in the world-coffee. The site has Starbucks listed as American. Yes, truly a homegrown corporation, however the product in your cup is not American. Coffee beans come from overseas to be roasted here.
Read between the lines on that website and when given the choice, it always feels better to buy the national product.
I am North American (Canadian). I agree with concept of buying locally, but I believe we also need to produce locally. It's time to put a stop to major manufacturers moving the labour force overseas because it's cheaper. Apparently cheaper seems to equate to deadly. Totally shocked today...Cadbury is recalling products due to melamine. CADBURY! Most every child in North America loves and eats chocolate (me included as older child). Would rather pay more for product and be assured it is safe. We, in North America, have much higher production standards. Stock market has tanked, economy is in ruins, job layoffs are at an all time high. Bring it all back home!!
If the statement "Would rather pay more for product and be assured it is safe. We, in North America, have much higher production standards." were accurate, we would never had lost the jobs in the first place.
This has been proven by Wal-Mart every day of the year since they abandoned their "Buy American" program (or promotion) back in 1997.
These can be interesting and somewhat thought provoking discussions for many reasons, but I am always somewhat surprised at what seems to be a general lack of understanding of how the free market works.
As I've heard stated in the past, capitalism sucks but nothing else comes close to it in producing the best quality products at the most competitive prices, while producing a profit for those bold enough to take the risk with their own money (or borrowed).
A rational buyer will take the time to become informed as to the quality of a product (as it fits his/her needs) and determine whether or not the price constitutes a good value, relative to other similar products on the market.
To purchase an inferior product at a higher price for any reason is irrational, and thereby tends to subsidize substandard production methods, protecting the weak until the ultimate day of reckoning comes. (And it will come.)
National, state, and local government taxes and regulations (labor laws as well) do have a significant impact on business decisions, and rational capitalists will naturally tend to gravitate toward regions where the cost of business operations are lower. (The Southeast has experienced quite a bit of growth over the last 15-20 years due to the lower costs of living associated with the region.)
While I am proud to own many American made products (4 Fords counting tractor and boat), a 35 year old Airstream and Snapper lawnmower, and a 54 year old Shopsmith, I did not purchase them because they were made in America but because they were the best products available to meet my needs. (I own many other American made products, too many to count.)
Our economy has has been the envy of the world for the last 50 years because of free market principles, not in spite of them.
And it is the competition of the market place which maintains that position, not government subsidies or nativist sentiments.
Given our current economic issues, I am appalled that many (perhaps most) of our elected officials do not understand these basic principles.
OK. I'm having a tough time trying to figure out which one is American. Is it the Chevy pick up made in Canada? Or how about the Toyota Camry made in Kentucky?
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AIR 22749
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OK. I'm having a tough time trying to figure out which one is American. Is it the Chevy pick up made in Canada? Or how about the Toyota Camry made in Kentucky?
tough choice.
GM - US company built in N. America
TOYOTA - foreign company but built with US workers
i consider Canadians to be family :-)
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Ricky
give life. kidney & pancreas transplant 9/9/06
Ingrid - my unofficial '"World's Oldest Airstreamer"
January 1909 - October 2008 R.I.P.
I noticed that automobiles were conspicuously absent from the site's listings. I have a Toyota Tundra manufactured in Indiana and now a Nissan Titan manufactured in Canton, OH. The Titan has a Dana 44 differential. Dana, BTW is a Toledo OH company, but it's likely that the axle was manufactured at their plant in India. Ford Ranger Trucks are assembled in St. Paul MN, and use Mazda transmissions manufactured in Mexico (or at least they did at one time). Jeep is currently owned (at least in part) by Daimler, perhaps soon to be a GM marque. Dodge trucks may soon belong to Nissan.
Herein lies the problem... what exactly does "buying American" mean these days?
Roger
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AIR 2053 “A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.” Robert Heinlein 2006 Bigfoot 25B25RQ towed by a 2001 Born Free 23RK moho
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