One item at a time.

[Icymudpuppy]

If everyone does this, it should make a big difference.


A physics teacher in high school, once told the students that while one grasshoper on the railroad tracks wouldn't slow a train very much, a billion of them would . With that thought in mind, read the following, obviously written by a good American .





Good idea . . . one light bulb at a time . . . .

Check this out . I can verify this because I was in Lowes the other day for some reason and just for the heck of it I was looking at the hose attachments . They were all made in China . The next day I was in Ace Hardware and just for the heck of it I checked the hose attachments there . They were made in USA . Start looking .

In our current economic situation, every little thing we buy or do affects someone else - even their job . So, after reading this email, I think this lady is on the right track . Let's get behind her!

My grandson likes Hershey's candy . I noticed, though, that it is marked made in Mexico now . I do not buy it any more . My favorite toothpaste Colgate is made in Mexico now . I have switched to Crest . You have to read the labels on everything .

This past weekend I was at Kroger. (Can be true for any store.) I needed 60W light bulbs and Bounce dryer sheets . I was in the light bulb aisle, and right next to the GE brand I normally buy was an off brand labeled, "Everyday Value . " I picked up both types of bulbs and compared the stats - they were the same except for the price . The GE bulbs were more money than the Everyday Value brand but the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that GE was made in MEXICO and the Everyday Value brand was made in - get ready for this - the USA in a company in Cleveland , Ohio .

So throw out the myth that you cannot find products you use every day that are made right here .

So on to another aisle - Bounce Dryer Sheets . . . yep, you guessed it, Bounce cost more money and is made in Canada . The Everyday Value brand was less money and MADE IN THE USA! I did laundry yesterday and the dryer sheets performed just like the Bounce Free I have been using for years and at almost half the price!

My challenge to you is to start reading the labels when you shop for everyday things and see what you can find that is made in the USA - the job you save may be your own or your neighbors!

If you accept the challenge, pass this on to others in your address book so we can all start buying American, one light bulb at a time! Stop buying from overseas companies!

(We should have awakened a decade ago . . . . . . )

Let's get with the program . . . . help our fellow Americans keep their jobs and create more jobs here in the U . S . A .

 

[tmosley]

You shouldn't buy based on what country things are made in. Doing so creates an artificial subsidy, and supports the current corrupt system, even encouraging further corruption.

The US economy needs to fail, and hard, so we can get the government off of everyone's back. Once that monkey is off of our backs, the prices of the goods we make as well as the quality will improve so tremendously that it won't even take a jingoistic "Buy American" campaign to get people to by from American companies.

Your job for now should be to amass as much purchasing power as you can, to be turned to good use in America after the giant has fallen. that way, you will be investing in the USA, rather than the USSA.

 

[NewEnd]

Buy American.

 

[RCA]

Buy American is a fallacy.

Please read Economics in One Lesson.

In a nutshell, buying anything with dollars IS buying American because those dollars can only be spent here.

That being said, buy what increases your personal wealth or satisfaction and you'll be better off regardless of where the product was made.

 

[JordanL]

You shouldn't buy based on what country things are made in. Doing so creates an artificial subsidy, and supports the current corrupt system, even encouraging further corruption.

The US economy needs to fail, and hard, so we can get the government off of everyone's back. Once that monkey is off of our backs, the prices of the goods we make as well as the quality will improve so tremendously that it won't even take a jingoistic "Buy American" campaign to get people to by from American companies.

Your job for now should be to amass as much purchasing power as you can, to be turned to good use in America after the giant has fallen. that way, you will be investing in the USA, rather than the USSA.

Actually it shows how free market choice is only dependent on what people want.

If people desire American made products, then American made products can be sold at a premium.

This is simply more free markets stuff... you don't have to buy globally to follow the free market, if that's not what the free market wants.

(But yes, our current economy needs to fail.)

 

[tmosley]

Charging more for an American made product, means they can pay more taxes, and that means more power for the oppressors. This is not a good incentive. Let the market reflect how crappy our system is, rather than trying to prop it up buy introducing nationalism into the equation. The prop won't work.

RCA is right. Any money that goes into the hands of foreigners is either saved (which means the goods we got were "free", as no production or goods were exchanged for them), or spent on American goods, directly or indirectly (even if they spend the money on other foreign goods, the dollars have to eventually make their way back here--if they don't, again, we just received "free" goods). Foreign savings of dollars is what has driven our industrial base away by allowing us to enjoy a similar standard of living to our fathers without actually producing anything as they did. So long as foreigners continue to save dollars, we can never revive our industrial base. That is the beginning and the end of the problem.

Of course, if the Fed didn't take advantage of the situation by printing money, our standards of living would be much higher, as our money supply would have gone down, and we would have had major price deflation, while continuing to produce as our fathers did, or probably better. Monetary policy could have short circuited this crisis, but they chose the easy path, which is the path of the welfare recipient. Just sitting on the couch, pretending that he is earning the goods he buys with his welfare cards.

 

[Pericles]

It gets complicated real fast - Crest vs. Colgate for example. I switched from Crest because it is owned by P & G, who support gun control candidates, and other left wing causes that I don't like - not even addressing the Glen Beck boycott.

So, I go with Colgate .... pending more information that would change me to yet another brand

 

[moostraks]

It's a great idea and one we have embarked on as well. For those who want our economy to collapse, I err on the side of keeping folks employed rather than giving them a reason to expand welfare roles and providing them with more people interested in government jobs as they clearly seem intent on expanding their snitch programs rather than allowing a collapse to occur.

I will also choose local (to me) products when they are competing with other US companies. A little bit of extra time and it is well worth it imo.

 

[Working Poor]

I am going to buy what is cheapest on things like dish soaps and things. If I put it in my body though I want the best I can afford. I do think that most of the foods I buy originate in the USA except olive oil, coffee, chocolate, salt and some spices. I would buy hemp toilet paper but I haven't found any yet.

 

[MelissaWV]

Please note that a great deal of cardio-, endo-, and neuro- vascular implants which are used during surgery are manufactured or assembled in Mexico. You might want to add that to your living will. "Do not use anything to save my life that was not assembled/manufactured in the USA."

Of course, a lot of those companies are based in the USA, and employ a large number of American workers for other tasks, but the final product is not made within the country. There are US offices for the companies you mentioned, for instance, and if you swap to the other company then those people will lose their jobs, too. You can buy Crest, or you can buy Colgate, but please be intelligent and realize that a collapse of either company would cost US jobs, so it's not the only reason one should switch.

The best thing one can do is buy local foods whenever possible, and (like WorkingPoor said) spend the money when it's most vital and directly impacts your well-being.

Just my $0.02.

 

[hotbrownsauce]

It is a free market for a reason, do thy will... just understand what your doing.

Most if not all of us have America and our freedoms in our hearts. We want to make our lives better by increasing our wealth and donate that extra wealth to charities to help those less fortunate (as we once did).

Buying American does seem to help our economy in one sense. Even though it was pointed out that products in dollars will almost inevitably be spent back here. But however, since our dollar is the reserve currency and many other countries use our dollars, technically we may not ever see those dollars again if other countries buy and sell through dollars. But because of an imbalance of how many dollars going out and coming in we do see dollars being loaned to us instead of buying our products because they are so expensive compared to their prices. We have some of the best technologies in America yet our prices are higher than China. This fly's in the face of reason. Technology is created to make jobs less expensive, easier and obsolete.

This leaves us close to square one. Should we buy American? If we were to all buy American we would help prop up our broken system of irrational economics. What would this do? This would cause all of us to be worse off and much more poor due to the higher prices. Much of the money that we spend on American products would be squandered through taxes that go to unproductive bureaucratic government jobs. If we were to buy American then we should know we would be lowering our living standards, even though our living standards are inflated anyway by the Asian countries that give our government money and that in turn our government spends that money and it is placed back in our pockets to buy more Asian goods.

It would be more productive of us to learn, and spread our knowledge to others. But before you spread your knowledge you must have a good understanding of the arguments so you can defend your stance and convince others it is the only rational way to confront the economic problems in our country. I see all to often people proclaiming to know all about a subject just for me to throw them a curve ball and point out some flaws. I think if we want to accomplish the goals we want we need to have a very good understanding of the issues at hand.