Let the games begin! (
and maintain a clear path to the exits) Please all, let's keep it civil. These are, after all, only opinions :wink:
I support anyone's decision to purchase only American products, but overall I tend to agree with Poncho. First, I don't believe that "Buy American" is going to save a company that otherwise might be headed for failure. I'm interested to hear what specific policies are driving American companies into the abyss. And although our corporate tax rates are nearly the highest in the world, American companies leverage the labyrinth of subsidies, loopholes, incentives and tax breaks to end up on par with most other exporting nations. In fact, the amount that US corporations pay in taxes, as a percentage of GDP, is actually lower than most other developed countries. Sure, the tax code is an unmitigated disaster, but hardly crippling for US companies.
Second, if American companies make high-quality products at reasonable prices, they can expect consumers around the world to want them. Other countries, likewise.
Third, if other countries took the same isolationist approach, it would have bad consequences for the American consumer and the American economy. I buy the best product my money can buy (lawn tractors notwithstanding
) - if the best product is not American, then the American manufacturers have only themselves to blame. That's the free market.
My parents owned Ford vehicles exclusively through the 70's and 80's. They were - every last one of them - complete pieces of junk. I own a newer Ford truck, which is an exponential improvement in quality over those old cars. I believe that, were it not for the competition of cheaper and higher-quality foreign cars, Ford Motor Company would still be cranking out pieces of junk.
The quality of Japanese cars is due largely to ideas from American W E Deming (as are Ford's latent improvements in quality). So why didn't Deming direct his efforts at improving American manufacturing? Because the American manufacturers didn't invite him - the Japanese manufacturers did.
Improve, adapt or die.
the Chinese just steal all the American ideas and duplicate them....
Maybe they're just getting even with the West for stealing so many of theirs - like the printing press
Now that so many foreign countrys own such a large piece of the American pie, that isn't as true as it once was.
I agree - it's almost impossible to determine what's really "Made in the USA" anymore anyway. Partly because of foreign investments, but also because there is so much tax incentive for American companies to manufacture their parts overseas - creating jobs overseas.
I say - fix the tax code and let the free market do its thing.
Just my opinion :wink: