I will always buy American, GM in particular.

 

I try. It's hard. Not much is made here any more.

 

Yes, I agree- but to an extent, we have done this to ourselves (and have fallen into a trap that was unavoidable with globalization). It is hard to compete with people wanting so much money over here for their work, when people overseas will do it for a small fraction of the price.

I saw this happening at my last job- it was a union shop, and the entry level laborer made $15.50 (plus COLA and shift bonuses)- and most people running machines and grinders were a bit over $20 an hour. These are people with zero college background, and very little education (only requirement to get in as a laborer was GED/diploma and a drug test)- and each contract, the union kept pushing for higher and higher wages.

The company got in on a joint venture with a plant in China to open a large plant over there- and what do you think will happen to the American jobs when the people over there can do the same work for less than 1/3 of the pay?

I just think many jobs over here are overpaid, especially for some of the lower skill jobs in manufacturing, and particularly in union shops.

It just doesn't make financial sense to pay American workers so much more money to do the same job that can be had far cheaper elsewhere. The bad thing, is the workers over here are dependent on the high pay- most of the country over extends themselves to buy the best car, biggest house, most toys- so that when the jobs start going oveseas and the wage drops due to excess demand for low skill workers- they have to file bankruptcy and hurt the whole country because they couldn't control themselves and be smart about their money. Its worse in a union shop because its nearly impossible for the wages to go down for new hires- so they just end up laying people off completely instead.

For years, people used to say Chinese products were inferior junk- and that is turning out not to be the case so much anymore. With our engineers and our quality people going over and setting up systems over there, many of their modern plants are capable of producing virtually the same quality product in many cases.

I think buying American is a good thing for sure, but I think our country needs to make a lot of adjustments to be competitive as globalization continues.

 

totally agree. my work makes some of the best hand/impact tools in the world, that cost a lot to make, and cost a lot to buy.

china makes products that do the same thing for a 10th of the price.
the only difference is that they use cheap steel, cheap labor{workers make 5 dollars a day and are happy}, work to fast{low quality control}, no expirience, 20 times the amount of workers for a quater of the payroll.

i know things from china cost less, but people keep buying them based on that. its all about supply and demand. everything thats made in china is also made in the usa. you may just have to look a little harder and pay a little more. the price is not only based on quality and worksmanship but also on supply and demand. our factorys cant afford to make too many products just to have them sit on the shelves, so they make just enough to get by.{which costs more}.

its a sad world we live in, but as many others have said, we did it to ourselves.

oh ya and the american employees for the most part care and take pride in what they do, that is the main difference.

 

I don't see how buying an American car really helps the American economy. Monte07 got at some of this, but aren't GM's built in Canada, along with Chrysler, and I think some of the Fords are made in Mexico now? It's not like back in the 60's when there were about 15 car manufacturing plants for each make all over the country that employed literally hundreds of thousands of Americans... about the only people you would hurt by not buying American are the dealers... and once the dealers go down, people will still have a demand for cars, just not American cars, so most of those people will find work at other car lots selling cars.... just not so called "American" cars.

People complain about outsourcing all the time... well some jobs can be outsourced. Right now, the south is hurting from all these textile jobs that are leaving for China. Everyone is whining about it, but those jobs came from New England about 75-100 years ago, and before they were in New England, they were back in the old country... those people have better things to do with their time than make jeans, etc... a lot of New England is working in computer fields and medical sciences positions, so the old textile jobs moved south... now they are moving to China, because quite frankly, they have the technology to make some of that cheap stuff. Once hte economy recovers, I believe the south will have better things to do than make textile anyway, for better wages and enjoy a higher standard of living because of it.

 

Just to clarify something. GM trucks used to be built in Ontario, Canada. That plant closed last year, and moved out of the country. Costs of keeping plants operating in Canada are too high to justify. Especially now that the Canadian dollar is close to par with the US dollar.