Made in the USA?

[Myhairygrundle]

Not sure where else to put this.

I went to get me some new Red Wing work boots and discovered they were made in China. The sign in front of the store said "Red Wing Shoes Made in the USA."

What a lie. I asked the salesman if he had any lace up boots that were not touched by a communist chinaman. He showed me the 2 he had that were labeled "Made in the USA" and I got some.

I thought Red Wing was a good ol American Company, but they have outsourced some of their production to China. That stinks. Same goes for Wolverine and Georgia Boot Company.

I found these sights later...

http://www.buyamericanmart.com/index.html

http://www.usstuff.com/shoes.htm


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[fuckmyass]

I feel ya. I was in NYC years ago and picked up an "american flag" magnet, I turned it over to get the price and it said "made in china" I put it back and didn't buy it.

I really don't give a fuck where shit is made, because the US can't make shit right, but there was just something about the flag being made in china.

[sknight]

For the most part, USA made goods aren't too great, but there are notable exceptions that unfortunately have to bear the brunt of the Big Three's beancounting in trying to make a product.

In high end bicycles, I ride Turner Bikes because he is truly one of the last boutique builders out there to continue US manufacturing, while most of the competition has moved to Taiwan and China. The problem with those is that they're seeing that people will still buy and don't care where it's made, so they can manufacture for less than 25% of the price in someone else's factory that doesn't care about getting it exactly right and is looking to make hidden changes to maximize profit, so they increase their profit margins by charging the prices domestic builders would. Sure, you pay for a Turner, but the quality and durability is unparallelled, along with the customer service you can't get from one of those huge companies with overseas manufacturing. Basically, by the time they find out there's a problem with the product, they have a container with 1,000 frames on its way here and they can't do anything about it. Lose a season's worth of sales, or sell them and deal with the failures? Happens a lot.

[Three Hole Puncher]

I once had a pocket knife, on the side it said, The American Knife Company- Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Stamped on the blade... Made in China.

[bethm1b]

I was watching some friggin show where they showed all these shipping containers that came from China and were being used as housing and other shit because they ship so much shit here and we send nothing back. When will the people here wake up to the fact that our country is being sold out?

[sknight]

Stop buying everything and anything and manufacturing will come back here...or will it?

[thelord68]

American-made guitars have always been the high-water mark, but are significantly more expensive. Japanese made ones were next followed by Korean made.

[BCH]

Chippewa Boots are made in the USA. They're also $180 a pair. They are comfy though :)

[abudabit]

Why worry about American made? Our unemployment is below 5%.

[thelord68]

Of the last 4 cars I've owned, the two 'Japanese' ones (both Honda), were built in US factories from a majority of US sourced parts, while one of the two 'American' ones was built in Canada with Mexican parts (returned via lemon law), and the other was assembled in the US from foreign parts.

[sknight]

Engineering and execution both play significant roles.

[Beeman99]

get used to it, China is going to be the main supplier of damn near everything mainly due to the low cost of labour there, and their lax workplace codes. The one thing that we do have going for us is that the slanty eye bastards are unsure of their food supply these days, so they are starting to import a ton of ag products from Canada and the USA. They are the worlds biggest trade partner, and unfortunetly we are going to have to get used to it.

[ih8Uboo-boo]

Why worry about American made? Our unemployment is below 5%.

because some people still feel that manufatcuring jobs are vital to our economy when in reality, they are not...

[Sinn Fein]

I got a pair of Dunham boots and they are made by some savages somewhere. They're nice boots though. Back in the day, they were made here like everything else.

[sknight]

because some people still feel that manufatcuring jobs are vital to our economy when in reality, they are not...
Some people worry about quality considering much of what's made through outsourced methods aren't as high in quality as the domestically made predecessors. One day we might see comparable quality, but not just yet.

[nataskaos]

Of the last 4 cars I've owned, the two 'Japanese' ones (both Honda), were built in US factories from a majority of US sourced parts, while one of the two 'American' ones was built in Canada with Mexican parts (returned via lemon law), and the other was assembled in the US from foreign parts.


this is an argument I've been having on another board for a couple of weeks now.
my honda element was made in marysville, ohio. they employ a ton of people there.
my mom's dodge was made in mexico and canada, but to he, it's anmerican company because an american ceo is running the joint. she can't get through her head that not one single american had anything to do with her car, aside from the sales team.

honda and toyota employ several members of my family. that's american enough of a company for me.

[ih8Uboo-boo]

Some people worry about quality considering much of what's made through outsourced methods aren't as high in quality as the domestically made predecessors. One day we might see comparable quality, but not just yet.

I was referring more to the fact that everyone seems to focus on the "loss" of manufacturing jobs, when its fairly evident that our economy is shifting away from manufacturing and becoming one that is service driven.

Nothing will change if people continue to buy the "low quality" products.

[sued]

Boy Scout uniforms are being made in Vietnam! American Flags are for the most part made overseas.

We really messed up by allowing foreign trade to take all of our manufacturing industries but we Americans want everything cheaply so we sold ourselves out. Thank your local Walmart for providing you with every foriegn made product you could want at the price you wanted to buy it. This is the cost of buying so inexpensively.

[ih8Uboo-boo]

Why Are We Losing Manufacturing Jobs?
by Russell Roberts

Politicians like to blame the loss of manufacturing jobs on the nefarious schemes of foreigners to steal American jobs and lower our standard of living. The real answer lies closer to home. And surprisingly, the shrinking of the manufacturing sector is actually a sign of America's economic health.

Consider how long this has been going on. In 1950, about a third of the work force was in manufacturing. For five decades, that percentage has fallen steadily. Today, manufacturing jobs are only 12% of the workforce. A trend that lasts fifty years isn't a trend. It's a tidal wave. And reversing that trend will mean understanding its source.

Globalization is part of the cause. But the driving force behind the changes of the last half-century is the incredible productivity and innovation of the manufacturing sector. Take a look at the automobile industry. Fewer people work in that sector but they're able to make a lot more cars. That's happening all over America, in any industry where you can use machines and know-how to make people more productive.

That transformation has meant hardship for some manufacturing workers and their employers. But overall it's been good for America—it's played a key role in the enormous growth in our standard of living. Our cars and refrigerators and washing machines and televisions last longer, work better and require less maintenance than they used to. And the average American worker can earn the money to buy those goods in a fraction of the time it took back in 1950. That frees up the resources to create the companies and the products we couldn't have dreamed of in 1950—new medicines, computers, cell phones and all the things we enjoy now but didn't have back then. And that's how we've been able to more than double the overall number of jobs in America in the last 50 years.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, our standard of living does not depend on manufacturing employment.

Manufacturers and their unions will tell us otherwise. But the only way we can revitalize manufacturing employment is put up some kind of barrier to innovation and competition. That will only serve to make the rest of us poorer.

Link (http://www.invisibleheart.com/Iheart/EconomyManufacturing.html)

[abudabit]

Boy Scout uniforms are being made in Vietnam! American Flags are for the most part made overseas.

We really messed up by allowing foreign trade to take all of our manufacturing industries but we Americans want everything cheaply so we sold ourselves out. Thank your local Walmart for providing you with every foriegn made product you could want at the price you wanted to buy it. This is the cost of buying so inexpensively.

I get to buy inexpensive merchandise and work with computers instead of in a factory, please explain how this is a problem. I don't know why making shoes is your dream job, seems like a shitty line of work to me.

[Myhairygrundle]

I don't have anything against the squinch-eyes, but it seems strange that some products that we consider "American" are made elsewhere.

I will pay extra for a product that an American worker made. But I do understand that consumers need the best products at the lowest cost. When you have a family, you need the most bang for your buck.

I have tried my best to find work pants and shirts that are made here. Carhartt still has some things made in the USA.

In the next few months, I am going to get a new truck and pretty much decided on the Nissan Titan. They have moved their HQ to Nashville and the trucks are more American than the big 3's coming from Canada and Mexico.


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[abudabit]

Clothes haven't been American made since we outlawed sweat shops, with the exception of denim and a few other advanced weaves.

[grail]

We have lost significant manufacturing jobs in the US. It's not just the manufacture of consumer goods either, it's also the manufacture of raw materials and secondary products. My home town is a good example of this. Most of the well paying jobs, ones where the standard of living would allow you to buy anything including the foreign stuff, have moved or have been eliminated. This has also created the condition where trained, skilled workers and engineers have to move from away from the area just to make some type of living. I could have stayed but most likely I would be in some sort of lower paying service industry with shitty hours, and with either an uncomfortable or unsafe workplace.

Where the US is still leading is in innovation and engineering. German engineering stinks, overthought pieces of crap. Japanese engineering is too regimented with no real innovation. Many companies (e.g. not Dell) are starting to realize that outsourcing when it comes to critical quality is not an option. In my opinion, manufacturing jobs are absolutely necessary to the well being of the US economy. The question comes in is how do we make a widget that's not only affordable to manufacture here but to sell at a profitable margin.

[Myhairygrundle]

Buy some Callahan Brake Pads.

[grail]

"I can get a good look at a steak by sticking my hand up a bull's ass or I can take the butcher's word for it."

[THE FEZ MAN]

if you want to work in a factory, knock your sox off, but that aint for me. i watch every thing i can on how shit is made. for someone like me a job like some of those would be tourture, i dont care were the shit is made as long as its well made enough to suit my pourpus, tools are a great example, i love harbor freight air die grinders, there 9.99 each and made in china, i can buy one for each size tool i have, so i spent 100$ on 10 tools, one snap-on die grinder is 150$ and i have to change the bit every time, and use the tool exclusively. there for wereing out the tool faster than i would using a differnt one with each bit. so the moral of the story? why work in a factory (the only "real" job someone with my edjucaton can get) when i can do something else that i enjoy. (fixing fourghn cars)

[BCH]

The bottom line really is you can't pay american workers an over-inflated salary for doing menial labor. That's just another form of welfare. Forcing companies to over pay for un-skilled labor is injurious to the economy.

[ih8Uboo-boo]

The bottom line really is you can't pay american workers an over-inflated salary for doing menial labor. That's just another form of welfare. Forcing companies to over pay for un-skilled labor is injurious to the economy.

Exactly.

There's nothing wrong with working in a factory for a living today, but the fact of the matter is that the manufacturing industry is nowhere as important to our economy as it was 30 to 40 years ago. Back then, it was vital for our economy, now it is not.

That is just a fact of economic growth.