Print

Welcome, Guest

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Zipper]

"So the next time you (we) see ourselfs in a mirror or window when just hanging out at home or when we are shopping...or become Unemployed  or Know Someone that is unemployed...again just give yourself (ourself) a Great Big Thanks...an attaboy...an attagirl...a big pat on the back...because there is no one else to BLAME but ________... ..."
 
Do you REALLY believe that?

Do you only buy products that are 100% made in the USA, all the time, every time, without fail? Probably not, because it's not always readily available when you need it, and sometimes, you just need to have it now. Like the product the dentist uses to fill your teeth. Is that made in America, and if it wasn't, would you refuse the dental work? Sometimes you just have to take what is provided for you.
 
So for one to blame one's self for not purchasing American-Made is like the perpetual guilt one feels for being a sinner. 

Here's an excellent website full of resources for American-made products.
http://www.americansworking.com/
 
Everyone should send this website to everyone on their email list.
 
 
 

[Puffin]

Todays Manufacturing and sales managers, are under enormous and unrelenting pressure to continously cut costs. Internal headcount cuts, and increased investments in productivity tools only take you so far.
Offshore sourcing is incrediblly enticing to any who make those decisions.
You might be surprised that wages are not the tipping point for these decisions, since any savings are largley offset by increased distribution costs such as transportation, IT order and tracking systems interfaces, customs and duties.
The real pot of gold  is in what is commonly called the burden rate. Those include benefits such as medical, retirement, vacations that are not payed since the workforce belongs to someone else. The other is the factory also are not yours, so there are capitol costs savings, plus utilities and upkeep, and tooling, taxes ect.
Those incentives, plus the fact that if your not doing it, you can be sure your competitor is. Who benefits? The consumer. So the enemy is us!!!! 
 
But it's not doom and gloom time. The United States is the world's largest manufacturer, at about 20-25% of the worlds total. That would be almost twice the size of #2 . Japan.

[Zipper]

Just for the sake of the argument....
 
We all want cheap. How many of us can simply pay more just to make a point? By the time we finish with the basics, mortgage, communications, utilities, transportation, insurance, gas, and food, there is so little left for  anything else for much of middle-class working America. Especially right now.
 
I can go to any grocery store in Meadville and see the exact same product listed at different prices in each store. If it's the exact same thing, where do you think I'm going to buy it? At the place that offers it at the lowest price.
 
And...
"We" are not always getting "cheap". Sometimes the manufacturers get it made cheap, but still charge us a hefty price when they can, so it's not always a big benefit to us. Meanwhile someone is stuffing their pockets, and it's not me.
 
A drop of water in the ocean...
Nike Shoes: "Nike's own promotional materials acknowledge that its labor costs for producing a pair of shoes are just $4.90 while the shoes retail for $150." (Just a quick Google for the source of that quote here: http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Boycotts/Nike_DontDoIt_GX.html )
 
It's widespread. My windshield wiper replacements were made in Mexico somewhere, but I still got charged plenty for them.
 
I completely agree with you to buy American when we can. But to offer up some more guilt, especially now, isn't going to fly here.
 
I really feel for those unemployed right now. I just had an emergency surgery, and thank God we were still insured because my husband has not been laid off. That's a whole other issue. I imagine many families are struggling with health issues and thinking about this whole national health care system proposal because of the current state of their unemployment, where had they been employed and insured, they would reject the very idea of the government taking over their health care.
 
Who's to blame?
 
Let's start with unions, and then go on to the government spending, greed, taxes, and talk about Clinton's trade agreements, and those who want the one-world-order.
 
We're not blind, just slowly but steadily being beat down.
 
I know your feathers are going to get ruffled here, so let's just agree to disagree, because quite franky it's a never-ending argument. Each side has it's bad and worse points, but the truth about "change" is it has to start at home.
 
For Thanksgiving, in addition to store-bought fixings, we had potatoes, corn, and onions that we harvested from our garden this fall. Next year we hope to do better.
 
 
 
 
 
 

[Zipper]

The truth is.... (now I sound like "Defender of the Truth")
 
The problems are multifaceted and corruption is at the head of all of it. The unions were needed at one time to protect workers from abuse. Like the child labor laws were put in place to protect the kids, and heck, the Constitution was written to protect all Americans from injustice and would-be corrupt people in power.
 
The Constitution was written by men of integrity.
 
Clinton's trade agreement opened the flood gates.
Does anyone remember when a US airplane flew too close to China's airspace (during the Clinton years) and was brought in and detained in China for a brief time? I can't recall when that was, and a Google search had brought up lots of other info, except that.
 
 
 
 

[E-L Man]

Whew!!!

[Zipper]

Hey I thought that we Agree to Disagree... ...

What Happened... ...Does Clinton ruffle your feathers... ...

I really don't like to argue politics anymore  ~like I used to.  For one thing, I can't retain the many facts/figures like I did when I was a young-un, and 2ndly I don't watch as closely as I used to either.  Too much going on these days. Or maybe with age I see how little of what I think really matters in the big picture.
 
And now....
Back to our regularly scheduled program....
MMC Buys the Mall.
 
 

[Puffin]

This from the Republican 1996 Presidential election platform:
 
"We should vigorously implement the North American Free Trade Agreement, while carefully monitoring its progress, to guarantee that its promised benefits and protections are realized by all American workers and consumers"
 
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/conventions/san.diego/facts/gop.platform/platform.all.shtml
 
There was also verbage about A Balanced Budget Ammendment, HealthCare reform, roll back Gov't regulations on the Financial Systems, and preserving and protecting Medicare and Social Security, promoting reform that will allow homebuying easier ect.
 
Of course these same promises have been part of both parties promises for years both before and after 1996. Another thing they have in common is how little they have accomplished .
So when the blame virus starts showing up here, it's usefull to google up each parties Elections platforms from the past to see what you actually voted for. If nothing else a sure cure for intermittant amnesia.