Column – Help save jobs: Buy American, shop local
January 31, 2013 at 6:00 pm in Alexandria Echo Press
Let’s help save American jobs; let’s start consciously shopping for products “Made in U.S.A.” Continue Reading
Column – Help save jobs: Buy American, shop local
9 Comments
“…join me in this new pursuit…”
Welcome aboard. Some of us have been doing this for YEARS!
The most depressing example I’ve seen is Harley Davidson apparel.
I’m hard pressed to fing anything not made in CHINA!!
Good Lord HD. I ride a Harley for a reason. I have pride in my ride. A classic American company. I was willing to pay extra for the privilege of riding my Harley. Why on God’s Green Earth would you not think I’d be willing to pay extra for the clothes too? It’s downright shameful to look inside a leather Harley jacket and see the “Made in China” label.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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Dennis ought to take a college economics course. Were he to do so, he would learn that trade among countries increases overall wealth for everyone. Economic isolationism, which is what he advocates, is simply not a good idea. International trade is a good thing. It’s not just the “evil” corporations who benefit. We all do.
The consumer ought to spend his money in exchange for “value.” If you buy junk, you get junk. There is an old saying that’s as true today as it ever was, “penny-wise, pound foolish.”
But if you find that the best value for your money is an imported product, you ought to buy it. The auto industry is the perfect example. Forty years ago, Ford could peddle a piece of junk like the Maverick, or GM could sell you a Chevy Vega, because they were still the beneficiaries of unfounded bias toward Japanese cars. If we had blindly followed the “Buy American” credo, we would still be driving these atrociites while the rest of the world drove superior cars like Toyotas and Hondas.
That foreign competition forced domestic auto makers to build a better product. That is the inevitable result of competition. And it’s like that with every consumer product in the marketplace. Buy for value, not for where a product is made. Prosperity comes from innovation and competition, not from economic isolation.
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That’s all well and good.
And that’s why neither I or Dennis were recommending that this be instituted as a governmental mandate. (Which I believe would have a detrimental effect on world trade.)
But if anyone chooses to buy American for their own reasons (be that the final decision after a long and grueling search for the best quality item, pride in our own country, or out of caution of avoiding lead in children’s toys) I’d bet there would be an American worker somewhere who would like to say “Thank You”.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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It’s more than “well and good;” it’s how capitalism works.
If you want to buy a product because it’s made in America and that gives you a good feeling, I won’t tell you not to. If that gives you a good feeling, then you have gotten the product and the good feeling for your money. That’s fine; you’re free to do that in a free market economy.
But sentiments such as those expressed in Dahlman’s latest column suggest that it’s one patriotic duty to buy local or only buy American. It is not. And I don’t want people to be misled by that. This kind of thinking does lead to trade barriers, and then you’ll have a lot more folks saying, “thanks a lot for taking away my job.”
We live in a global economy. That’s reality. But we have the good fortune to live in the United States of America where people are still free to create and be rewarded for their efforts. For now. The real threat to our prosperity is not the importation of foreign goods; it’s the burden government regulation puts on those who have an entrepenurial spirit. It’s the threat of lawsuits in an out of control tort system that threaten free enterprise. It’s the demonizing of those who seek wealth, as practiced by the Obama-ites.
When we call on people to “just buy American,” we’re pretty much throwing in the towel. We’re saying that we can’t compete and we need to shut out the competition in order to survive. Well, I won’t accept that. We’re still the beacon of liberty and opportunity in this world. When we shy away from global competition, you might as well take down that statue in New York harbor and lock the doors.
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The good point is that Both Honda and Toyota are both Made In America and in most cases contain more components made in America than either Ford, Chevy or Chrysler.
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A friend of mine presented an interesting take on buying American. He said,” Buy American and support union labor which in turn supports the Obama administration which tears down America”.
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Do me a favor Smartie …. tell your friend that only 11.9% of the jobs in the US are union with only 6.9% being in the private sector.
And for Amos … I feel the same way about my Arctic Cat apparell and my Columbia jackets.
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I actually buy American made products whenever I can even if they cost a little more. I just thought it was an interesting take on labor unions. My friend was referring to durable goods manufacturing. It would be interesting to know how many union employees make an extra effort to buy American.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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I also buy American whenever possible, will look for the Made in USA label when looking to buy something. Makes no difference if it’s Union or Not, but have seen better quality from non union. My second choice is Mexico. I cringe if I have no choice but the China label. I Will not buy any furniture product made in China. It’s that import that brought the destructive ash borer here. I never buy any food product packaged in China, that includes food, treats my pets.
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