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Buy American?
wonderwhoits
Member Posts: 128
So Im one of those people dating a waitress and I basically rent out space at my local diner where she works. (meaning im there, A LOT) I just put a deposit down on an order for a Honda FIt that has to come straight from Japan and will be purchasing it sometime in late December. Well I just couldn't contain my excitement and decided to tell my girlfriend, who told pretty much everybody else in our little metro-detroit area diner.
So naturally, inside of 3 minutes, someone comes up to me because they "need to have a little talk."
Of course they were referring to their need to say their piece, which I would have to sit though and tolerate, as to why I should buy American. Fair enough. But I had been dealing with "Buy American" lectures from co-workers and my family in my search for a new car over the past couple of months- and I had lots of ammo saved up. So when they finished I pretty much unloaded on them as gently as I could.
If I was looking for a truck, it would unquestionably be all about Ford and Chevy. But I'm not- and buying American isn't always right for everyone as everyone has different needs. I'm looking for afuel-sipping small car and it just happens that all the best of those are foreign. I don't see why I should have to buy an inferior product for the sake of an ism. What's more American than that?
Granted, buying American would help America unquestionably. Which brings me to my second problem with the mantra. Why aren't we encouraging foreigners to buy American? Why do Americans have to bare the burden of our faltering auto industry all alone? There's an entire world market out there we can lecture to about Buying American.
Why isn't the "Buy America" crowd clamoring to start correcting the trade defecit? Why isn't the "Buy America" crowd calling for the UAW to make more concessions? God forbid Big 3 auto workers only get $25 an hour like in non-union Toyota plants down in Kentucky. How can anyone survive on that?
Why is the "Buy American" crowd telling me I should vote for McCain- even AFTER he pulled out of this state in EMBARASSMENT. They go spouting off the rhetoric about how giving tax cuts to the rich will save us lowly poor folk from starvation... but they forget that McCain has shown himself unwilling to help the auto industry time and time again.
When I reminded them of this and threw in that Obama is the one who wants to bail out the auto industry, who wants to begin correcting the trade defecit, they pretty much got mad and stormed off.
I think Im gonna have to park my new Fit around the block from the diner to keep it safe from the crazies.
Comments
I felt this way when I bought my last car and spent a fortune on an American car. It has turned out to be a real lemon/money pit.
Now I'm thinking American companies have a responsibly to produce cars that work and are designed for there customers, and the only leverage I have is to buy something else. American companies, as much as it pains me to say, have fallen well behind the curve.
The Irony is, this is exactly what the McCain crowd has "really" been saying for years. In a free market economy; only the successful survive. To bad they didn't have the intellect and the concern to use the Government to regulate these company's, and try and produce cars that would truly be competitive and not just eye candy.
American car companies are not designing cars to attack foreign markets, and this is the real problem you raise. They have been designed to survive (get buy) in a market that is being attacked on all sides buy foreign competitors.
The amount of patriotism and loyalty the republican have shown in creating this situation is staggering. Can anyone say Greed! Then they sit around in disbelief when democrats want to tax the rich.
I agree OP.
union workers need to concede.
ahem.
-I will subtlety invade your psyche-
Translation.....The American middle class needs to concede.
Good luck with that M8
I think American car companies have factories in loads of foriegn countries.
They are designing cars for foreign markets and are generally very successful in this area.
They aren't exporting cars designed for Americans to foreign countries in any big way, but they are getting regular income from the factories they own that sell the cars they have designed for foreigners, paid foreigners to build, and then sold to those same foreigners for a profit.
However this is a global recession that comes right after the worlds greatest energy crisis. The auto industry is in crisis all around the world.
I like Japanese cars. I used to buy German, but now I prefer Japanese.
Okay I am one of those people who say " buy american!" ,"put our people back to work! " . I refuse to shop at walmart, I drive farther to avoid it. I try to buy as much from small home town businesses when at all possible because I know how important it is to keep money in our community. The money spent in your own community gets spent in your own community , it is reinvested there, which makes your community a better place to live, it is when you send all of your money elsewhere that your community goes to poo.
I do believe that people have a responsibility to reinvest in their communities. I do not think that communities should be looking for the government to save them after they decided to send all their money out of the country, no if you want to invest in the japanese economy instead of your own you can expect them to be doing better off that your community simply because you gave them the money to do so.
If you choose to buy all foreign products, do not be suprised when your community does not have th money to fix the roads, build new schools, and you get layed off from work, because every purchase in this country determines that future. We as Americans do have that responsiblity, no one is going to do it for us. Instead of just buying something because it is cheaper, try to look out for those in your community as well.
I think something needs to be done in this country to make american products more competitve in our market. The US is known as the "shoppers of the world" every country out there knows they can come sell their crap here and we will buy it instead of our own, the result of this is we have put our friends, family, and neighbors out of work by our buying choices. I do think that instead of raising taxes on american income we should raise import taxes making american products competitve again. And while there are bad american cars there are also good ones. Though I think we as americans should raise our standards and speak up about the products we want from american companies.
I look at my friend in Malta who makes cutting edge furniture designs and I wonder why do we have so very little options in our store? All of our furniture (even the new stuff) looks like it came out of grandmas attic! There is so much room for opportunities for American jobs creating cutting edge designs but people just don't think about it. I would like to see more people thinking for themselves again and start doing for themselves again.
Our country was made strong by "doers" . people who worked hard to create their own futures, and many from all over the world come here to do exactly that. It seems like many americans these days have gotten too lazy to think. they actually go out put in job applications and then wait for something to happen.. I could not even imagine ever doing that, I did not get where I am at now by waiting for anything to happen ever. No, when I worked for someone else, I got there by telling them I would do the very best job I could, I told them that what I didn't know I was willing to learn, and that I would work hard. I never had to wait for a call They knew from my interview that I was who they wanted for the job because I told them I was... I worked 3 jobs at one time, and when I wasn't working for someone else I was getting my own thing going, so that I would not have to work for someone else forever.
I could never understand the concept of going to work comming home going to work comming home.. and never taking control of your life and creating your own destiny. That is allowing others to control your life. If you think American products are shitty DO something about it, write the manufacturer a letter stating exactly what you want from them, enough people do it they will get the messege.
Now I do disagree with McCain on Americas worker being the best in the world. American workers are lazy! yup lazy. It is all about "what can you do for me " rather than "What I can do for you" . The workers in many other nations will work for anything, here we have to have benefits, workmans comp, vacations, higher pay. We demand that we treat our workers better, but we don't give more work to show for our employers efforts. If we want to be treated better than other workers we have to do the work it takes to make our products sell.
Most people hate their jobs. Why? because they are only doing them to pay bills. Most just "take what they can get" rather than Do something they enjoy. IF you like the work you are in, it will make you work harder. No not everyone will be able to do that, but a large percentage of this country very well could if they tried. It is now easier than ever to start your own business, If you have a computer and internet you do not need to have a "storefront" you can work from home if you wish. We need to stop teaching our kids to be "obedient" and " conformists" instead teach them how to think and do for themselves.
All of these things are the reason why our economy blows, and we have massive unemployment, If we aren't making the quality products in America that America needs it is because we are lazy. Instead of just accepting this and buying foreign , take it upon yourself to help fix the problem, because unless we take this on ourselves and quit expecting everyone else to do it for us, our economy will only get worse not better. America was built on our ingenuity and hard work, unless we get that back it will go to poo. Yes we have to do this, because noone else will do it for us, every country out there would love for us to just keep buying their crap to make their country strong and let us buy ourselves right into the sewer. Only "we the people" have the power to stop this.
Actually, I think you do agree with John McCain on this. God forbid we should ever have a strong middle class and have a society worth living in. And of course all American workers, except you, are lazy. If they weren't it would be unspeakable to treat them as though they were inhuman as you left them behind.
Actually, I think you do agree with John McCain on this. God forbid we should ever have a strong middle class and have a society worth living in. And of course all American workers, except you, are lazy. If they weren't it would be unspeakable to treat them as though they were inhuman as you left them behind.
I never said all American workers are lazy, just the majority of them.
I do not agree with MCcain that we have the best workforce in the world, far from it. And you missed the whole point in all of this. DID I come from wealth? DID my parents ever provide me with anything? HELL NO! I had my own apartment at 15, I was working at a pizza place and throwing keg parties to pay the bills. I had a friend co sign for my apartment so that I could even have a place to live. I lived off of whatever I ate at work. I graduated highschool, and through hard work received college scholarships, I worked mutliple jobs while putting myself through college.
I did not speak to my family for 11 years, I did not have any help from anyone during this time other than the scholarships that I worked for. After school I worked 3 jobs to get ahead, working that much you don;t have time to spend money and you can actually save up quite a bit of it. I started my business with that money I saved. The whole point is that people are expecting everything to be handed to them rather than put forth the effort it takes to do it themselves, we all have the same playing field, we just have to go out there and get what we want. Who is treating anyone as inhuman? We all work for a living. We just shouldn;t sit back and wait for someone to bring us an opportunity, if you can't find one, make one yourself.
I believe that some countries do things better.
That I benefit from not having to drink British beer.
That I benefit from not having to drive a British car, and not only that, but the rest of Britain does too.
I believe if I want to launch Satelittes, that it helps if I have a free trade agreement with Russia. If they have a free market to sell their goods in return for a free market for me to get my satelittes launched that is of benefit to me and to my people. It makes us all richer.
I believe that around the world there are centres of excellence that it benefits me to have access to.
I also believe that in my country we have many world centres of excellence of our own. That the rest of the world can benefit from. That the more open our borders are to trade the stronger we are. Individually. Nationally and globally.
If your car industry fails, most likely it will go into a period of state run life support as job loss on that scale is a political no no.
If it doesn't manage to fix itself, eventually it will close down.
If it closes down that will create a gap in the market, and Honda will open a factory in Detroit. The unions won't be invited. Taxation will have to be very much reduced. They will buy the site cheap and be able to make better cars for less using the exact same people, new mangement and ultra-modernised equipment.
In the long term it will re-balance itself. Jobs will be offered at an affordable wage and people willing for the work will take it in a format that is profitable.
That's the long term. In the short term there will be misery. The car industry is always in state of flux. I think area's like Detroit need commercial diversification or a very upwardly mobile workforce.
'Now I do disagree with McCain on Americas worker being the best in the world. American workers are lazy! yup lazy. It is all about "what can you do for me " rather than "What I can do for you" . The workers in many other nations will work for anything, here we have to have benefits, workmans comp, vacations, higher pay. We demand that we treat our workers better, but we don't give more work to show for our employers efforts. If we want to be treated better than other workers we have to do the work it takes to make our products sell.'
WTF? Lazy? LAZY???
Do you know who has the highest productivity per worker of any industrialized nation? Yes, that would be the USA. Do you know which industrialized nation's workers work the most number of hours per week? Yes, that would be the USA.
Lazy? Wow. that's crazy talk.
LOL if you would have worked with some of the people I have you would realize how lazy they are! lol
Sleeping on the job? yes hiding from the boss ? yes playing games when your supposed to be working? yes... yes americans do all of these things lol
Actually, I think you do agree with John McCain on this. God forbid we should ever have a strong middle class and have a society worth living in. And of course all American workers, except you, are lazy. If they weren't it would be unspeakable to treat them as though they were inhuman as you left them behind.
I never said all American workers are lazy, just the majority of them.
I do not agree with MCcain that we have the best workforce in the world, far from it. And you missed the whole point in all of this. DID I come from wealth? DID my parents ever provide me with anything? HELL NO! I had my own apartment at 15, I was working at a pizza place and throwing keg parties to pay the bills. I had a friend co sign for my apartment so that I could even have a place to live. I lived off of whatever I ate at work. I graduated highschool, and through hard work received college scholarships, I worked mutliple jobs while putting myself through college.
I did not speak to my family for 11 years, I did not have any help from anyone during this time other than the scholarships that I worked for. After school I worked 3 jobs to get ahead, working that much you don;t have time to spend money and you can actually save up quite a bit of it. I started my business with that money I saved. The whole point is that people are expecting everything to be handed to them rather than put forth the effort it takes to do it themselves, we all have the same playing field, we just have to go out there and get what we want. Who is treating anyone as inhuman? We all work for a living. We just shouldn;t sit back and wait for someone to bring us an opportunity, if you can't find one, make one yourself.
And my point is a society based only on people that are capable of doing that is not sustainable.
@Tuor
Considering that most workers don't come from "industrialised nations", yes it does.
If you pick and choose your leagues carefully enough, you will always find yourself at the top of them.
American Workers certainly work longer hours than most Europeans.
I think the EU only allows for 35 hour weeks. (Not all member countries have signed up to this).
However there are still European, Asian and Middle Eastern Nations that are more productive than the U.S. man for man. Your statistics are feel good statistics only. America is No.7 for example on Wikipedia's list.
On a personal note, I never saw any sign of hard work during my time in Silicon Valley. Plenty of long hours...sure. But no work. Long hours at work in business class or hotel rooms or taking meetings at the local Duke Nukem bar. Off to the canteen again...
The Mexican farm hands looked like they new about hard work.
Why would you buy an overpriced gass guzzling American car when you can buy a small compact Asian or European one.
No one buys american cars here, only asian and european.
It's american cars makers fault for not building small and economic models fast enough. It was a strategic blunder.
And buy what you want.
I have nothing against americans companies btw, I buy US products when I need them and lots of books I buy come from amazon in the US, written by american writers.
Intel and Microsoft FTW.
Everyone is not capable and we already have things in place to help those that are not capable, the problem here is that the capable are abusing these things as well, and depleting the resources for those that actually need them. Not everyone who recieves help needs it, and that needs to be stopped so that there is more help available for those that actually need it. Laziness is not a reason to need help, disability is, becoming ill is, a large scale disaster is. Sitting on your tail waiting for stuff to happen and watching your life go down the shitter because you don;t get up and take ahold of your life is not.
What can Americans do these days? When this country was founded, Americans knew how to grow their own food , make their own clothes, build their own furniture... they could actually DO things. Do I know how to do all of these things and more? YES! Should all Americans know how to do for themselves ? YES! I built my computer not because I took classes on it, I just taught myself. Half the kids these days don;t even know how to cook for themselves and it is sad. What the hell are we teaching our kids? They do not even have basic survival skills.
It is not just a matter of being " creative" it is a matter of survival, when we forget how to do all things and rely solely on mass produced crap we lose all ability to do for ourselves. It simply amazes me how many people do not even know how to do basic things these days, and don't even bother trying. They don't even want to think for themselves, they think they should sit on their tails and have everything handed to them and that will be the ruin of our country. We need to get our people back to doing again and thinking for themselves again and that in itself will create jobs, and a happier community.