Buying American, is it important?

[crabjoe]

I gotta call you on this one Messick. Just based on the facts. You know people got lynched 50 years ago for the colour of their skin - right? The moral fabric a couple hundred years ago also allowed human beings to own other human beings...slaves. The Judeao / Christian tradition allows for this of course so there was no problem with this from a morality perspective.

I'd say the moral fabric of your society is better of today than it was 50 years ago.

As with everything, there are exceptions. There are things that are better now and are worse. The worst thing, in my opinion, is the break down of family. Neighbors also don't seem to want to help their fellow neighbors. These are a break down in our moral fabric.

As for slavery and lynchings, it still happens today. Even here in the US. I always see news articles about some millionaire enslaving hired help. Lynchings might not come in the form of hangings, but many people are hung out to dry.

In other parts of the world, like in Sudan, slavery is a fact of life. So are actual lynchings. Most of these people don't have a Judeao/Christian background either.

 

[ultrarunner]

America has always been diverse... and regional differences are just part of the fabric of America...

I still think quality... i.e. fitness for the use intended needs to be number 1 when buying... that said, I find American Quality is often very good and I will go out of my way to buy Products Made and or Assembled by American Labor.

NUMMI, the only Auto Plant remaining West of the Mississippi is in my Backyard... Fremont CA... I had no problem buying my last car, a Toyota, that was built there... Heck, they even let me come and watch my car being built and lots of the parts are American sourced...

Off Topic... a friend of mine had a lifelong dream of being a teacher... after teaching for 6 years and feeling more and more like a Police Officer... she is changing careers and joining the Oakland Police Department... Great Benefits, Retirement and sign-on bonuses for Women...

 

[mjncad]

I believe you are correct. If they beat us economically, it will make the military end of it much easier, or, unnecessary.

The noise you hear coming from Chairman Mao's grave is not that of him rolling over in it because China is turning into a hybrid Capitalist/Communist state; but laughter because China is beating us with cheap goods that we as a country are stupid enough buy.

Now if China would let their currency (Yuan) float on the currency market and have the majority of their industries meet the same safety and environmental standards as the US, Canada, Europe and Japan; then China's so called competitive edge would quickly disappear as their shoddily made products would be far more costly than the artificially low prices they are now.

And before someone says that Chinese factories are modern...yep, the ones the Chinese government wants you to see are. The vast majority are not I suspect. Remember, China is still a closed society for all intents and purposes.

 

[mjncad]

Oh it started well before even Bush 1. It was Lyndon Johnsons "better society" that started it.

It goes further back than that to FDR and his "New Deal" which set the USA on the ruinous path of welfare and an entitlement mentality. Had the "New Deal" expired ten years after it was started as an effort to jump start the economy out of the Depression, then more than likely we would have remained a self reliant country.

 

[mjncad]

If you want your children and grandchildren to compete and win, to enjoy life, to help our country grow and prosper then help ensure they become educated and skilled in tomorrow's knowledge and skills, not yesterdays. Our world is undergoing a tremendous transformation, and we either transform along with it, or we fail.

It saddens me to see my employer, one of the largest private employers in the US, struggle to hire native born US citizens who possess the skills and education we as a company need to compete and win ... here in the US. That's right, right here in the US. Most of the revenue our US employees generate comes from customers right here at home ... only a small portion of the product and services we produce in the US is exported. Which is not to say we aren't a global company ... we are very much so, with well over 100,000 employees outside the US -- producing for the global economy to include customers in the US.

From time to time I have the opportunity to participate in the hiring of young people for my company and I am amazed at the number of "kids" whose parents have paid good money for little Johnny or little Susie to get a college degree in a "soft skill" with little marketability outside of the education industry. As a nation, we need good teachers (and firefighters, and police, and Soldiers, and fill in the blank), and a great many more of them, but we also need millions of young people educated in information technology, the medical arts, the basic sciences, mathematics, and engineering. Those are the growth areas in tomorrow's economy.

Manufacturing, like agriculture before it, is headed towards relegation as a niche player in our economy ... and eventually, in the economies of China and India. Robots and other forms of automated manufacturing, more than cheap human labor, will be the big drivers in that shift.

Once upon a time, agriculture was the dominant force in any country's economy, then great superpowers arose because they controlled international trade, then, based on the Industrial Revolution, manufacturing took center stage and powered our nation's rise to superpower status.

Now, another significant transformation is underway .... we either get aboard or we get left behind.

Try getting a kid interested in going to college for Engineering, Computer Sciences, or Science in general when they know full well that these are some of the toughest areas of study to engage in; especially when they also know that so many IT and engineering jobs are being shipped overseas. Why bust your hump and go into debt when a job is not waiting for you?

When I was with the defunct Stearns-Roger engineering company and its successors, we generally did all the design and engineering projects in house. Then some were done 50-50 with India and other countries. Then some projects were done 1/3 in house and the other 2/3 overseas. All the client wanted was the hard part done...the process, and let the overseas partners do the detail work to wrap up the job.

The same thing happened in animation. Look at the junk on TV now, which is usually nothing more than a 1/2-hour commercial for some cheap toy. The US animation studio would do the storyboard and key-frames, and send all the mop up work to Korea. There is more true animation in a 50-year old Chuck Jones Looney Tune than in a modern toon.

 

[Builder]

no it all fits like a glove----Have you ever been to a tractor dealer meeting----if they ain't com--plane---ing they ain't breathing!!! to many sorry tractor dealers just like to many sorry teachers it depends on what pew your sitting in and how your first hand experience is to what opinion you develop---But since you brought it up-----Do many companies have Union people in their marketing department.I think not. Which department has the biggest cost and overhead where do most of those Penn State Grads work. Bet they don't work for $20,000.00. Coke-Cola spends more on advertizing and delivery than they do on corn syrup and water.and the guy doin the makin is earning to much money com--on. We have a broke system cause we want what we buy to be cheap---i mean least expensive---what we do to be high pay---- and the "other Feller" to do what i need done for nut--un. Are teachers spoiled heck yes---are tractor dealers spoiled--heck yes---is the tractor buying public spoiled----Heck N0!!!! They are always right remember they are the customer----they got what i want----M---O----N---E---Y!!!!!!!

Hey! I'm a Penn State grad and I've worked my tail off-better person for it, too.

How bout Loiusiana State grads? I hear they're even bigger complainers and they have a better football team.