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Would you buy MADE IN THE USA if it were a more common option?

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Does MADE IN THE USA have a significant impact on your purchasing?

  • Yes, all other things being equal, I would prefer to buy American.

  • Yes, all other things being equal, I would prefer NOT to buy American.

  • No, there's always another factor that is more important / I don't care one way or another

Results are only viewable after voting.
Infohawk said:
Cool. Honest question though: What other consumer products does the US make here these days besides cars and food?
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You do know that the U.S. remains the number 1 manufacturing economy in the world, and that we produce about 50% more goods than China, right? Since China has more than threefold our population, I'd say that's an impressive manufacturing sector.

Another fact: we HAVE lost millions of manufacturing jobs over the past several decades, but off shoring jobs isn't the primary reason for it. It's that we have increased our productivity more so than any other country. Our manufacturing is less labor intensive than other economies, especially compared to countries like China.

- wolf
 
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airdata said:
Unfortunately...alot of things would be super expensive if they were made in USA.
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Mostly untrue statement. My father in law was an industrial engineer for GE for close to 40 years and managed several plants for GE Power Controls division. Labor costs were ~ 20 - 30% of the product input costs. You'd have thought they'd be much higher. So I'm not buying the argument that it is significantly cheaper to offshore when you factor in transport and shipping costs, plus costs to train a new workforce in the place where you relocate the plant.
 
brencat said:
Mostly untrue statement. My father in law was an industrial engineer for GE for close to 40 years and managed several plants for GE Power Controls division. Labor costs were ~ 20 - 30% of the product input costs. You'd have thought they'd be much higher. So I'm not buying the argument that it is significantly cheaper to offshore when you factor in transport and shipping costs, plus costs to train a new workforce in the place where you relocate the plant.
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I don't think you need to "buy" into the idea that making things oversees is cheaper. Companies full of people with more business savvy than yourself or your father-in-law have moved many manufacturing processes overseas and they wouldn't have done so if there wasn't a business case to support it.

America is still a giant with regards to manufacturing, but the process improvements has reduced the needed number of workers in a lot of sectors. But things that require a lot of manual/human labor it's often cheaper to build overseas even taking into account the shipping costs.
 
Even if you buy a US Car, a lot of it might be made in Japan, China, Mexico, and Canada. So I think if a Car is really made in the USA it should have to meet tougher standards to have a made in the USA sticker. It is more like assembled in America.

It is kind of like saying a Computer is Made in America because we assembled it here, whil actually every single part come from some other country.
 
dmw16 said:
This is just a silly suggestion. Steve Jobs' first obligation is to Apple's shareholders so why would they make a move that cuts margins just to make the products in America.

I work in a manufacturing facility and watch the way many of the unionized workers behave with regards to attitude and productivity and it makes me sick.

With that being said for most purchases I'll buy American if the quality is the same or better and price is within 10-15% depending on the cost of the purchase.

However I won't be American cars (that is to say Ford, GM, Chrysler) only because their products fall well short of the competition. However I'm strongly considering a BMW X3 for the wife's next car partially because it is 100% assembled in South Carolina.

When it comes to cars "American" is hard label to place anymore. Many American (ie Ford, et al) have a good portion of their supply chain and final assembly outside of the US and then manufactures like Toyota, Honda, and BMW do a lot of their assembly in the Southern part of the US. At this point cars like the Camry, X3, etc are just as (if not more) American than some of the "Detroit's" offerings.
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The bolded statement is the root of all that is wrong with america today.

the duty of Steve Jobs as a business owner and a leader in the community is to provide jobs and income for the local economy
 
sao123 said:
The bolded statement is the root of all that is wrong with america today.

the duty of Steve Jobs as a business owner and a leader in the community is to provide jobs and income for the local economy
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I disagree completely. A CEO's responsibility is first to his company and only second to his community and nation, excepting only times of war and great national crisis. It's the responsibility of our elected class to craft laws that benefit the nation, and the responsibility of business to maximize productivity within those laws.
 
sao123 said:
The bolded statement is the root of all that is wrong with america today.

the duty of Steve Jobs as a business owner and a leader in the community is to provide jobs and income for the local economy
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People don't start companies to provide jobs for people. They do it for the same exact reason you go to work each day, to make money.
 
People don't start companies to provide jobs for people. They do it for the same exact reason you go to work each day, to make money.
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I'm surprised this actually needs to be stated.

I work because it helps the company and is gud for teh community duuuurrrrrr
 
sao123 said:
The bolded statement is the root of all that is wrong with america today.

the duty of Steve Jobs as a business owner and a leader in the community is to provide jobs and income for the local economy
Click to expand...

I disagree.

Jobs' duty is to keep Apple successful and deliver value to his shareholders. In doing that he also keeps many people employed. If tomorrow they brought all their production to the US and cut their margins in half what do you think would happen?

Their shareholders would expect them to start making cuts to get margins back which means eliminating jobs, reducing benefits, etc. The shareholders aren't going to look at their lower value and say "well at least he's doing a nice thing for his community."

If you think otherwise you're living in fantasy land.
 
woolfe9999 said:
You do know that the U.S. remains the number 1 manufacturing economy in the world, and that we produce about 50% more goods than China, right? Since China has more than threefold our population, I'd say that's an impressive manufacturing sector.

Another fact: we HAVE lost millions of manufacturing jobs over the past several decades, but off shoring jobs isn't the primary reason for it. It's that we have increased our productivity more so than any other country. Our manufacturing is less labor intensive than other economies, especially compared to countries like China.

- wolf
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OK, like which consumer products? Most people on P&N are not talking going to buy a GE turbine or Boeing plane.
 
I already buy US when possible, and am willing to pay a little extra if need be. If there was a campaign and prices got even lower, hell yeah I'd buy even more.

The only reasons I ever buy a foreign made product nowadays are
1. It's the only option
2. It's blatantly better than the other options
3. The price difference is so great as to render the US product not worth it.
 
dmw16 said:
I disagree.

Jobs' duty is to keep Apple successful and deliver value to his shareholders. In doing that he also keeps many people employed. If tomorrow they brought all their production to the US and cut their margins in half what do you think would happen?

Their shareholders would expect them to start making cuts to get margins back which means eliminating jobs, reducing benefits, etc. The shareholders aren't going to look at their lower value and say "well at least he's doing a nice thing for his community."

If you think otherwise you're living in fantasy land.
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That's an issue with capitalism, not an issue with hiring Americans. The costs of slavesourcing don't show up in the product and has no relevance to the shareholders. Here's an idea-- institute an unemployment insurance fee on all products manufactured in countries with low wages that Americans can't compete with, and use that money to cover the unemployment benefits we keep extending.
 
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woolfe9999 said:
You do know that the U.S. remains the number 1 manufacturing economy in the world, and that we produce about 50% more goods than China, right? Since China has more than threefold our population, I'd say that's an impressive manufacturing sector.

Another fact: we HAVE lost millions of manufacturing jobs over the past several decades, but off shoring jobs isn't the primary reason for it. It's that we have increased our productivity more so than any other country. Our manufacturing is less labor intensive than other economies, especially compared to countries like China.

- wolf
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Do you have a reference for that? Not disputing it, but I would love to see if this is ACTUALLY the case. Obama did make the observation in one of the State of the Union addresses that automation/efficiency has been a key instrument in the rising unemployment rate... I would would just like to see some hard-ish numbers backing it up...
 
I want the ability to purchase 100% made in the USA products using either Lincoln greenbacks or Kennedy silver certificates.
 
I realized today I should boycott local businesses. Why should I use debt to support local businesses when the locality voted for a mayor who's cutting our pay again?

But of course I'm still going to buy American, just not from this county.
 
irishScott said:
? Lots of common stuff is made in America (ie: Scott brand toilet paper and some brands of colgate toothpaste), just read the labels.
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Are you saying some toilet paper and toothpaste is made in China? It's pretty amazing if the low cost of labor is worth shipping all this way.
 
allthatisman said:
Do you have a reference for that? Not disputing it, but I would love to see if this is ACTUALLY the case. Obama did make the observation in one of the State of the Union addresses that automation/efficiency has been a key instrument in the rising unemployment rate... I would would just like to see some hard-ish numbers backing it up...
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Well it depends on how you track it but the USA definitely wins handily based on revenue of sales. China outputs more volume of goods, but they are a lot cheaper than US goods.

quick google to backup the claim:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41349653/ns/business-us_business/
 
allthatisman said:
Do you have a reference for that? Not disputing it, but I would love to see if this is ACTUALLY the case. Obama did make the observation in one of the State of the Union addresses that automation/efficiency has been a key instrument in the rising unemployment rate... I would would just like to see some hard-ish numbers backing it up...
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Which assertion do you wanted sourced? That the U.S. is the number 1 manufacturing economy, that our decline in jobs is principally due to increased productivety, or both?

For the first proposition, there are probably 100 places you can find the stats on the web, to wit:

http://investing.curiouscatblog.net/2008/09/23/top-manufacturing-countries-in-2007/

I think some people on P&N need to look at that, among other sources, and educate themselves. To listen to half the people around here, you'd think we don't manufacture much of anything in America any more. It's generally a bunch of nonsense and exaggerations meant to support protectionist policies.

So far as increasing productivety causing most of the job loss in the manufacturing sector, that too is all over the place. Example:

http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/03/increases-in-productivity-have-caused.html

Beyond that, it's just common sense. China manfufactures only 2/3's of what the U.S. manufactures, yet it employs nearly 10x as many people in its manufacturing sector. What does that tell you?

- wolf
 
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