Hi,

I'm a label reader. If it's not made in a country that I support philosophically then no purchase is made.

I'm not an isolationist but 'charity begins at home'.

Yes, that indeed would be Something Completely Different. (And I don't mean to draw up any hints of Antioch-manufactured anti-personnel weapons, the Ministry of Silly Walks or Larches.) Wrt derailment: please create your own thread.

Oh. Sorry. I probably just drop it instead of start new thread. I would like to read serious thread about it but thread like that always become crazy and get locked.

Nothing to be sorry about. Wrt the level of seriousness of threads I think the OP sets the tone: if one puts forward ludicrous ideas (say blithely using nukes to mitigate grave environmental problems) then responses will be equally devoid of meaning.

Well. Ok I try it. Back on topic all!

Hi,

Actually national pride has eroded over the years. Nationalism can be a good thing and doesn't mean everything should be rejected by a protective action. As the saying goes 'Charity begins at home'. With unemployment around 15% nationwide in many places then to purchase something that is made in the U.S.A. will help everyone here. If you buy the same from China then you are helping their economy not ours. Simple!

You could look at the national BP boycott as an example, by that you are hurting local vendors therefore local economy. I still purchase gas and products from our local BP and will continue. That doesn't mean that I support the wrongs of the BP corporation. Just local people with families.

Now that I know 'Vise-Grips' are no longer made in the U.S.A. I will not buy that product any longer. At one point in time long ago 'Walmart' was a store that was supported. No longer. Look at the labels if you linger in a 'Walmart' store. Most are from 'China'. The other day my wife and I stopped at 'Christopher & Banks' to use a gift card that I gave her a while back. Every label I looked at 'Made in China'. Guess what? No more gift cards from there for me. Quality or not. Sadly I'm running out of places to purchase things made in the U.S.A.

Charity does begin at home!

If you for instance compare China with the USA then in terms of labor cost the ratio is 20:1. So when you buy something that was made in any LLCC then those people profit from it but the vendor profits more and hugely so. So yes it's simple but not simple the way you make it appear, with all due respect. BTW, even if you buy things made in the USA then how can you reasonably assure this does not only include final assembly, packaging or even only QA? How about raw material origin, processing, transport, recycling, power, packaging et cetera?..

Hi,

Sure, that's part of the problem. China labor vs U.S.A. Labor cost. Quality vs Quantity? Most of our supplies are generated or were created here but now with a global economy the influx of foreign material that is cheaper does factor in. Look at the electronics arena, we still lead in the silicon die area but most of the cutting is done in the far east because of labor costs. We could pick and choose but that will benefit no one.

No offense taken. I just feel we need to support our local suppliers and family business instead of all the big box or import spend-ways. We still have a good labor force here but it's dwindling as we become more of a service oriented society.

I was just at a garage sale this mourning and the lady had a nice new trail bike for sale. Inspection showed it was a brand name but made in China. I queried her about the item and she said all it needed was to have the brakes adjusted. Plus the de-railer was not working properly. I then set the brakes and showed here what was necessary to get the shift mechanism to work. She said that a new bike was purchased to replace this one since no one knew how to repair and that the shop told her it would cost $200. I gave her 5 minutes of my time and showed her where to lub the shift and mechanisms. Functional now! We are loosing in this race by not putting time or service into the items we now have. Talk about throw away society??

In my discussions with a lot of people throughout my ventures in garage sales and auctions most are out for this very reason. Bargain hunting and looking for good usable American made stuff. Might be old but still one man's treasure can be another's junk. Or vice verse!

Exactly the same thing's happened over here, Gary. That trend started the last time the Tories were in power: mining gone, the steel industry, engineering, all whittled down. And now they're hoping to build it back up again.

That's one way to see it. You could also say that it was a choice made by USA-based Brand X to offshore work to China and that would be equally valid. Except viewed that way it places the responsibility for causing domestic workforce redundance with the brand owner. Sure one can insist on buying domestic products only as a cure but if for whatever reasons a domestic brand decides to offshore work then imported foreign goods isn't the problem but rather how a company sees its markets / competition, right?


I agree strengthening your local economy is a Good Thing in more than one way. But it does require change. Because for what you get in return you'll also have to adapt (in some cases) to say less choice (seasons anyone?), having to wait (longer), higher prices, more time spent shopping or maybe more work (raw material being cheaper than processed goods).

Hi,

From a farming perspective here in the Midwest farmers are building more hoop houses and green houses to grow winter produce.

Locally we can support more than people are aware of. Sure we have become accustomed to having fresh produce in the middle of winter. I can remember having fresh fruits and some root crops in the middle of winter when living with my Grand-parents. Out of necessity my grandfather would select the best and store in a hill cellar by wrapping and insulation. The construction would prevent vermin or rodents from gaining access. But we would have fresh apples, pears in the middle of winter along with the root crops. Sure my grandmother would can everything else. Grandpa would salt pork for meat, bacon was sold. Any beef was from grandma's canning. We never went hungry but there are only so many ways to use salt pork.

One late fall before a winter frost for a test, I took the best green tomatoes in the garden. Wiped clean with a dry towel, placed in brown paper inside a brown paper bag. I then placed the bag in the darkest unheated room in the basement. These stayed in that room for about 6 weeks before I started taking them out. I would remove a couple, place them on the counter to ripe. The tomato was good but not as if off the vine ripe. I had tomato all winter through Feb. So it is possible to store without lose. Just a lot more work.

To bad people are loosing the art of survival because of today's convenience.

I hope our economy doesn't get that bad but if it does then we might have to learn things all over again in order to survive. In our area people are migrating back and things are really getting tough for some.

I pity the metro city people who won't have a thing but the Internet. Hope they can survive on that?
Things are a changin! There's that change word again! Hope you can eat that from the nanny government but that can't be to nourishing?