Putting your money where your mouth is???

We need to have a black market for us made parts and tools... no taxes, no insurance... From what I'm hearing though, even that wouldn't put you in compe***ion with the Chinese...

 

This will bring a lot of hate on me, but I sell Chinese made products. Why? Well because the CONSUMER demands it due to the low prices. I do also sell American made products but that only counts to about 30% of my sales.

Would I like to sell only American made products? Sure, but thanks to internet sites like ebay and amazon, consumers only look at the bottom price. It's such a common thing to hear is "whats the cheapest?"




Certain items are starting be taxed from China, last september, Obama put a 30% increase in price on chinese mfg p***enger/light truck tires. I'm sure more items will follow in the coming years.

 

The hell of it is though, I bet a lot of those folks in China are tickled ****less to be slave labor. Still gotta be better than picking rice by hand and starving to death on what the "party" leaves you to live off of.

They're glad to have the work and the (albeit meager) paycheck it brings. They take whatever opportunities they can come by, and work their ***es off, trying to make the best of it.

In some ways, we could learn some things (or I should say, re-learn) from that work ethic.

That's a lot of why native born Americans who come from not poor backgrounds ***** and complain about "the man" keeping them down, while immigrants come over here with less than nothing and somehow manage to build an empire in less than a generation. Those folks still know how to work, and aren't afraid of it.

Even the most industrious a****st us have got to admire that kind of tenacity.

And just for the record, I'm not portraying myself as some tireless soul toiling like a Trojan in my shop 36hrs a day.

I can be a lazy ******* sometimes.

 

Kinda funny how China will not let any US rice in China

 

have you ever bought a condom

 

Obviously doesn't contain enough Melamine, Lead, or Barium.

 

I have no qualms continuing to buy Chinese if for the simple fact that they are environmentally running their country into the ground. Slave labor, living, and working conditions will catch up with them. They will eventually collapse under their own heavy hand.

But it'll be long after this iteration of American companies watches the sun set.

 

It's the same as how you eat an elelphant - one bite at a time. I recently ***** slapped myself for buying my filters at the local big box store. WIX makes filter in S.C. , Car Quest filters are made in S.C.
Buy American

 

Many fine points, and some uneducated ones, being made here. One overlooked point-at least I've overlooked it if it's here-is also the volume of the retailer. Even if the product is Made in USA, Walmart will always outsell the little guys. So not only do you need to commit to buying a USA product, you need to commit to buying it, for a bit more, from your local seller, not the Walmarts. Case in point-I run a vet hospital. We, and other hospitals and petstores (not chains) recommended, sold and built the Iams Dog Food product. Iams was bought by Proctor and Gamble. P&G decided to m*** market Iams at Walmart and your grocery chain. Then Walmart was selling Iams for less than I could buy it wholesale. So we and the other professionals no longer carry Iams-because you won't buy it from us.

Dog food or hotrod parts-don't tell me you are committed to buy USA parts unless you also will buy it from the local dealers. THEN, I'll know you are serious.

 

Well, I dislike Wal-Mart as much as the next guy, for all the reasons that have been laid out, as well as others that I won't go into.

However, that said, buying local is not always an option.

Try finding a fine thread or metric fastener in grade 8 (or the metric equivalent) in the one hardware store in Belle MO. It's not possible.

That means I either drive 30 miles to a farm and home store (not a big chain thankfully) that may or may not have what I need, or I buy it from McMaster Carr. Neither of those are local options.

Out here in flyover country, we can't always buy locally, especially for oddball stuff.

 

Sure, I'll accept that. I don't exactly live in a heavy rural area, but it's not Seven Corners Hardware area either. Some stuff will always be too esoteric for a small shop, or any local place to carry. Then you've got to buy it from where it is. Some of my fuel line fittings came out of Texas.My point is, if you walk past your neighbor selling Levis and buy them from Walmart to save buck or two then you shouldn't be part of the "bemoaning the loss of America" thread, you are a participant.

 

Agreed.

I can't buy Levis in town either. lol

That town would be Belle MO, thriving metropolis of 1,400 souls.

Well, not really thriving. More like sickly, bitter, and dying metropolis, if we're being honest.

However, as a testament to how hard core redneck we are, there is a store in town that handles nothing but Carhart work clothes and various brands of work boots.

They don't stock a lot, but they can order you anything Carhart makes (or even custom stuff).

No casual wear. You can't buy a T-Shirt or blue jeans (unless they're Carhart ) or any kind of footwear that isn't either a heeled Durango or steel toed Redwing kind of boot. Around these parts, Carhart and Redwings is casual wear.

Living in BFE has it's drawbacks, but IMO they are more than mitigated by the numerous advantages afforded by rural life.