Made in the USA

[lashburn1]

It makes for good press, but with nearly $500 Billion in annual sales, and nearly $120 Billion a year in gross income, $250 billion over 10 years is 20% of gross income....

That said...I shop at Walmart for some things...

I agree.....but , it's a start......and they need to start now

 

[Britboater]

We all need to support home made products, I for one hate anything Chinese made, it's always so poor in quality and it's just so much more satisfying buying a product that you know is made in your country.

It always amazes me though when products such as Apple, advertise designed the US but assembled in China. The worst case of Chinese made is below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18155293

 

[lashburn1]

We all need to support home made products, I for one hate anything Chinese made, it's always so poor in quality and it's just so much more satisfying buying a product that you know is made in your country.

It always amazes me though when products such as Apple, advertise designed the US but assembled in China. The worst case of Chinese made is below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18155293

Stuff is built in China to OUR desire...cheap.... and low $$ so we can Buy it at Target for $10
Chinese AND American workers assemble what is given to them by their Bosses to make..

When the Big 3 Auto Mfg were making crappy Cars in the 80's...it was not because the WORKERS on the line did not care, it was because Executives and Accountants overrode what Engineers spec'd... for Higher Profits and Lower retail ...

That said, I am all for purchasing American made products of American origin.....where possible...
The key here is , stop Buying $h*T you don't need from Chinese Outlet Stores (Target, Costco, Walmart) ...

They send Container Ships FULL of Crap we don't need every day....
Even the $10 stuff counts....

 

[Britboater]

I remember a very interesting programme a few years back regarding China and trading with the "West".
One particular event was the US buying steel pipe for the petrochemical industry from China. The government wanted to start making the pipe back home, somewhere in the Midwest I think, thus creating jobs.

The Chinese returned with, if you stop buying the pipe from us, we will stop buying all your chicken feet that you would normally throw away, thus cutting thousands of jobs and a multi million Dollar industry.

 

[Jump Right In]

I was going to make a general statement that China "owns" the US, but when I actually started to research it, I was surprised how little they actually owned in the grand scheme of things. Of the total debt of $16.8 trillion, China only owns about 7% of the US debt. Don't get me wrong, a $1 trillion dollars sounds like a lot of money (really quite hard to fathom how high the stack of hundreds would reach), but the following breakdown of the government debt was interesting...

China has actually decreased its holdings of U.S. debt over the past year, dropping from $1.31 trillion in June 2011 to $1.16 trillion a year later, according to the Treasury Department. Japan holds nearly as much, at$1.12 trillion.

Taken from this article... http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/10/12/chart-who-does-the-u-s-govt-owe-17-trillion-to/

 

[-klb-]

Yup. Much of the Obama issued debt is US funds that used to go into home loans and small business loans instead. After the housing bubble burst, and the extra scrutiny on lending, banks had fund balances without places to put them. In comes the governmental borrow it.

The question I have so how do we ever get small/medium businesses spun up to pre bubble levels, if the banks no longer have the funds in house to loan?

 

[Jump Right In]

Here I thought this site was just set up to help us with our jet boats, who da thunk we could end up solving the US debt crisis within a few short weeks

 

[Ronnie]

This string got me to look up an old story about the recently modernized sf bay bridge. The bottom line is that most of the new span was built in China (even though U.S. Steel has a plant less than 2 miles from my home and less than 25 from the Bay Bridge) because The deal with the Chinese company resulted in $400M in savings (presumably over what the best deal with a domestic company would have produced). I for got how much was spent on the project or with china specifically but do recall that the overall project was in the billions.

http://voices.yahoo.com/new-san-francisco-oakland-bay-bridge-was-made-china-12105403.html

 

[1rjclark]

I would like to see a poll of how important "Made in North America" (we will include our Canadian friends) is when purchasing something... especially when most of us are mod-oholics.
I always try to buy American. As a union plumber I work jobs that require American made supplies. Unfortunately there's not a lot of anything made in America anymore. The more stuff I can buy that's made in America the better. I will definetely pass up a cheaper price that's made in China for made in America

The Poll could include things like, not at all - lowest price always wins, yes as long as its within 10% of cost, etc. I am just curious as to how the group feels on the subject as its something I consider every time I buy a part for my boat.

 

[1rjclark]

I would like to see a poll of how important "Made in North America" (we will include our Canadian friends) is when purchasing something... especially when most of us are mod-oholics
Remember who got you a 40 hr work week, holidays, over time, and a safe working environment. UNIONS!!! Did we Americans forget what a livable wage is? Due to the economical crisis big companies are able to fire( lay off) then rehire somebody to do more work at a cheaper wage. Unions are only as strong as it's members. If you don't go to your union meetings and vote then you have no say in the betterment of your union. I proudly pay my dues, go to all my union meeting. With out unions the corporations would be running us in the ground. I'm a proud local 342 plumber and I challenge any scab ass in the pipe trades to bring they're best apprentice to the pipe trades apprentice competition. From Australia, Canada, to the US wev've show you how to lay some pipe!

The Poll could include things like, not at all - lowest price always wins, yes as long as its within 10% of cost, etc. I am just curious as to how the group feels on the subject as its something I consider every time I buy a part for my boat.

 

[1rjclark]

I'm a die hard local 342 union member! For all you union haters out there....... When you're grilling those steaks & ribs on Labor Day. Remember who brought you the weekend, a 40 hour work week, OT, all the blood sweat and tears, bloody Thursday , and of course the homestead steel mill. So for all you scabs you know what you can do!

 

[1rjclark]

Stuff is built in China to OUR desire...cheap.... and low $$ so we can Buy it at Target for $10
Chinese AND American workers assemble what is given to them by their Bosses to make..

When the Big 3 Auto Mfg were making crappy Cars in the 80's...it was not because the WORKERS on the line did not care, it was because Executives and Accountants overrode what Engineers spec'd... for Higher Profits and Lower retail ...

That said, I am all for purchasing American made products of American origin.....where possible...
The key here is , stop Buying $h*T you don't need from Chinese Outlet Stores (Target, Costco, Walmart) ...

They send Container Ships FULL of Crap we don't need every day....
Even the $10 stuff counts....

Thank you!

 

[Volffas]

I'm a die hard local 342 union member! For all you union haters out there....... When you're grilling those steaks & ribs on Labor Day. Remember who brought you the weekend, a 40 hour work week, OT, all the blood sweat and tears, bloody Thursday , and of course the homestead steel mill. So for all you scabs you know what you can do!

Do you consider anyone who is not in a union a scab?

 

[Rigger]

Seriously - just curious - what are "scabs"? Or I guess maybe I should ask how did the term come about?

 

[0627Devildog]

It makes for good press, but with nearly $500 Billion in annual sales, and nearly $120 Billion a year in gross income, $250 billion over 10 years is 20% of gross income....

That said...I shop at Walmart for some things...

Yeah, show me some other big box bringing manufacturing back to the US. I shop there quite often, as they are the only game in the small town the lake house is near. The quality of the staff there is NOT great, but the products/produce I go there for are just fine.

 

[0627Devildog]

I'm a die hard local 342 union member! For all you union haters out there....... When you're grilling those steaks & ribs on Labor Day. Remember who brought you the weekend, a 40 hour work week, OT, all the blood sweat and tears, bloody Thursday , and of course the homestead steel mill. So for all you scabs you know what you can do!

Yeah, and while all you UNION thugs are sitting on your 15th coffee break after your 4th nap of the day, just before standing around in a circle jerk of 15 guys watching the new guy dig a hole (all while earning time and a half). . . . YOU remember that your FREEDOM to to organize this ridiculously unstable economic anomaly was brought to you by THE UNITED STATES MILITARY.

 

[Julian]

Oh for a 40 hour work week....what is that?

 

[Volffas]

Oh for a 40 hour work week....what is that?

I agree.... The only people working 40 hour work weeks are unions, university employees and people working for the government.

 

[jawsf16]

I am in a union for the airlines, and work for the government. A forty hour week in either job would be a vacation...

 

[1rjclark]

Yeah, and while all you UNION thugs are sitting on your 15th coffee break after your 4th nap of the day, just before standing around in a circle jerk of 15 guys watching the new guy dig a hole (all while earning time and a half). . . . YOU remember that your the FREEDOM to to organize this ridiculously unstable economic anomaly was brought to you by THE UNITED STATES MILITARY.

Ignorance is bliss. I'll tell you what for all the military men and women and they're families, THANK YOU for yor service and sacrafices. We all have our opinions! On a more positive not the UA ( united association of plumbers,steam fitters, welders, and HVAC )offers a VIP ( veterans in piping program) to train our vets and give them a career .We take pride in our craft as well as our country!