How can I buy American when my underwear is made in Vietnam?
- Thread starter JamesArthur60
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I resemble that remark, although I'm actually only 78.
quneur
Member
We could get rid of them by donating them to some third world country but they probably already have better.
Chik a Boom
Member
Sure. I heard it on Fox Business channel this weekend by the CEO of the company: New Balance CEO on Manufacturing - Fox Business Video - FoxBusiness.com
Also, when I bought my tennis shoes last fall I mentioned to the salesman about NB being US made and he said not all of them, just a couple lines.
ChattanoogaPhil
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It wasn't just cheaper imports that took market share away from American manufacturers-- Japan was importing a superior product.
My mother purchased a Toyota Corona in the 70's. It ran like a sewing machine and was trouble free. My father's Ford Granada was troublesome from the day he bought it. Of course that influenced my first new car buying decision years later. I bought a new Toyota 4X4 that was more expensive than some of the full size domestic pickups.
I purchased my first first TV in the 70's. It was the most expensive 19'' in the store-- Sony.
I got into motorcycling during the the 70's. Harley/AMF products were junk at any price, and they had little selection beyond heavy road bikes.
-- It takes a long time to get your reputation back. American manufacturers are doing a much better job now, but they lost me for nearly the past 40 years. That said, my Toyota Tundra and Sienna are built in America and have a higher percentage of American made parts than many so-called 'domestics'. My iMac was assembled in America and it's playing music through my Bose speakers... I'm heading to the range with my Ruger 22/45 with Yankee Hill suppressor, and shooting CCI. I guess someone in America must still be working for a living.
My mother purchased a Toyota Corona in the 70's. It ran like a sewing machine and was trouble free. My father's Ford Granada was troublesome from the day he bought it. Of course that influenced my first new car buying decision years later. I bought a new Toyota 4X4 that was more expensive than some of the full size domestic pickups.
I purchased my first first TV in the 70's. It was the most expensive 19'' in the store-- Sony.
I got into motorcycling during the the 70's. Harley/AMF products were junk at any price, and they had little selection beyond heavy road bikes.
-- It takes a long time to get your reputation back. American manufacturers are doing a much better job now, but they lost me for nearly the past 40 years. That said, my Toyota Tundra and Sienna are built in America and have a higher percentage of American made parts than many so-called 'domestics'. My iMac was assembled in America and it's playing music through my Bose speakers... I'm heading to the range with my Ruger 22/45 with Yankee Hill suppressor, and shooting CCI. I guess someone in America must still be working for a living.
Maximumbob54
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It wasn't just cheaper imports that took market share away from American manufacturers-- Japan was importing a superior product.
My mother purchased a Toyota Corona in the 70's. It ran like a sewing machine and was trouble free. My father's Ford Granada was troublesome from the day he bought it. Of course that influenced my first new car buying decision years later. I bought a new Toyota 4X4 that was more expensive than some of the full size domestic pickups.
I purchased my first first TV in the 70's. It was the most expensive 19'' in the store-- Sony.
I got into motorcycling during the the 70's. Harley/AMF products were junk at any price, and they had little selection beyond heavy road bikes.
-- It takes a long time to get your reputation back. American manufacturers are doing a much better job now, but they lost me for nearly the past 40 years. That said, my Toyota Tundra and Sienna are built in America and have a higher percentage of American made parts than many so-called 'domestics'. My iMac was assembled in America and it's playing music through my Bose speakers... I'm heading to the range with my Ruger 22/45 with Yankee Hill suppressor, and shooting CCI. I guess someone in America must still be working for a living.
I must concede defeat here. I needed a cheap, reliable, gas friendly car for a hellacious commute to my current job. I went Civic. There wasn't a Ford, Chevy, or Dodge I would have trusted. I'm still not sure. The Focus seems to be holding up from what I hear. The Cobalt is still pretty new. And I am just anti Dodge from too many friends having issues and my Jeep Cherokee that I loved was really a clunker that wouldn't quit. It never died on me, but it's entire tenure with me it acted and sounded like it was on its last leg. Now my Civic is creeping up on being ten years old and the only issue I have is a very minor oil leak that a switch to different oil seems to have fixed. Even the decade old moonroof doesn't leak…
They can sell their stuff way cheaper than AMERICAN made stuff for a couple of reasons:
The government builds the factories and trains the workforce. Then pay said workforce subsistence wages. You work - you eat and have a dry place to sleep.
I worked in a swamp in China and the swamp was also the bathroom and kitchen. We were all getting sick. The management had the police come to the site and offered to arrest anyone not working for malingering. Those guys were knocking down 75 cents a week for 6/16 days.
THAT'S the kind of thing you're supporting to save a few bucks!
The government builds the factories and trains the workforce. Then pay said workforce subsistence wages. You work - you eat and have a dry place to sleep.
I worked in a swamp in China and the swamp was also the bathroom and kitchen. We were all getting sick. The management had the police come to the site and offered to arrest anyone not working for malingering. Those guys were knocking down 75 cents a week for 6/16 days.
THAT'S the kind of thing you're supporting to save a few bucks!
feralmerril
Absent Comrade
DeadAye, Dont leave me/us hanging! That has to be quite a story! That figures out to 1.28 cents a hour and board! What was your function there? What kind of work were the slaves doing? Inquireing minds want to know!
I was an EE for a company (Transact International) that built and installed air cargo handling systems.
That job was in the early '90s in Guangzhou - On the mainland near Hong Kong.
The Engineers and project manager stayed in hotels (me) and inns (them). The *workers* stayed on site --- ALWAYS. They slept on the concrete floor of the warehouse we were building on bamboo mats, while the lead men had hammocks.
By ALWAYS I mean that they could not leave the job site until the job was competed and they were reassigned to another job. We had guys from all over the country, and they were there because they were told to be there <> Period.
No power tools on site except welding machines -- at that time.
We had three (3) guys with tools.
1 guy had 2 pipe wrenches
another guy had a plusie (Phillips head screwdriver)
another had a minusie (slot head screwdriver)
Loosing the tool meant prison (for really), so you used a screwdriver and AS SOON as you finished turning the screw the guy would take the tool from you.
Rocks were used as hammers and sharpened pieces of leaf springs were chisels.
Most amazing (to me)
There was an ENDLESS stream of 3 guys on wheel barrows and another ENDLESS line of guys with water bucket yolks.
As they went down a line they would get shovels full of sand then some of Portland and then shovels of rocks and then 2 buckets (or maybe it was 4) of water. (Keep in mind that they didn't stop while this was going on) Then 2 guys would walk along on either side of the wheel barrow and *mix* the concrete with shovels.
When they got to where they were going they'd dump the concrete and head back to do it again.
They were pouring the runways for an international airport!
There was NO WAY that any 2 wheel barrows had the same mixture of concrete.
Our *workers* (Not slaves -- Cause they got paid) were assembling a multi-million dollar air cargo storage/retrieval system. Since they had no tools to speak of - If a bolt was in a place where you couldn't get at it with a pipe wrench, it got hand tightened.
I could probably write a book about jobs in China through the '90s, but no one would buy it
I got the rare opportunity to work, and live, at remote sites instead of the tourist stuff that most foreign visitors got to see --- Lucky me.
I think of those guys every time I see a *Made In China* label.
I realize that conditions have improved since then, but the workers are still treated as just a bit of dirt.
Soon we of the U.S. middle class will be *the workers* I fear.
Briefly:
For our next job I had 2 complete Craftsman roll-a-ways with complete tool sets sent with the equipment.
When I arrived I found that they'd used the tools to disassemble EVERYTHING. And that was just the beginning of that nightmare, which had it's origins in the Guangzhou job.
That job was in the early '90s in Guangzhou - On the mainland near Hong Kong.
The Engineers and project manager stayed in hotels (me) and inns (them). The *workers* stayed on site --- ALWAYS. They slept on the concrete floor of the warehouse we were building on bamboo mats, while the lead men had hammocks.
By ALWAYS I mean that they could not leave the job site until the job was competed and they were reassigned to another job. We had guys from all over the country, and they were there because they were told to be there <> Period.
No power tools on site except welding machines -- at that time.
We had three (3) guys with tools.
1 guy had 2 pipe wrenches
another guy had a plusie (Phillips head screwdriver)
another had a minusie (slot head screwdriver)
Loosing the tool meant prison (for really), so you used a screwdriver and AS SOON as you finished turning the screw the guy would take the tool from you.
Rocks were used as hammers and sharpened pieces of leaf springs were chisels.
Most amazing (to me)
There was an ENDLESS stream of 3 guys on wheel barrows and another ENDLESS line of guys with water bucket yolks.
As they went down a line they would get shovels full of sand then some of Portland and then shovels of rocks and then 2 buckets (or maybe it was 4) of water. (Keep in mind that they didn't stop while this was going on) Then 2 guys would walk along on either side of the wheel barrow and *mix* the concrete with shovels.
When they got to where they were going they'd dump the concrete and head back to do it again.
They were pouring the runways for an international airport!
There was NO WAY that any 2 wheel barrows had the same mixture of concrete.
Our *workers* (Not slaves -- Cause they got paid) were assembling a multi-million dollar air cargo storage/retrieval system. Since they had no tools to speak of - If a bolt was in a place where you couldn't get at it with a pipe wrench, it got hand tightened.
I could probably write a book about jobs in China through the '90s, but no one would buy it
I got the rare opportunity to work, and live, at remote sites instead of the tourist stuff that most foreign visitors got to see --- Lucky me.
I think of those guys every time I see a *Made In China* label.
I realize that conditions have improved since then, but the workers are still treated as just a bit of dirt.
Soon we of the U.S. middle class will be *the workers* I fear.
Briefly:
For our next job I had 2 complete Craftsman roll-a-ways with complete tool sets sent with the equipment.
When I arrived I found that they'd used the tools to disassemble EVERYTHING. And that was just the beginning of that nightmare, which had it's origins in the Guangzhou job.
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feralmerril
Absent Comrade
Wow! That shows everyone of us has a story, and most here has better than mine! They just need telling!
mkk41
US Veteran
You think that's bad? A few years back , my best friends G/F bought him a USMC Viet Nam Veteran and me a US Navy Veteran ballcap. Very nicely made caps , nice stitching. Then we looked at the tags inside.
Yep , Made in Viet Nam!
Yep , Made in Viet Nam!
jdh
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US Govt has a buy American policy. Every Cap I was issued in the 20 years I worked as a civilian was made in China, Vietnam, El Salvador, or Honduras.
The union gave us caps once. Yep made in Vietnam. Big stink over that one.
The union gave us caps once. Yep made in Vietnam. Big stink over that one.
quneur
Member
A few people may be confused and mixing Japan and China economics. Japan has been a first world country for a considerable time. Their standard of living is fairly high or can be; their predominant attitude towards money is to save. But they are starting to feel the same problems as we do; cheap Chinese goods and work being created overseas.
ChattanoogaPhil
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Right. And that's the reputation of other developed nation's manufacturers that America failed to compete with for decades. Not only do I drive Toyotas, I buy my tires from a company based in France.
American manufacturers are not going to be competitive manufacturing plastic shower curtain hangers, nor will it sustain much of a standard of living. US manufacturers have to make products that the consumer can differentiate and see value.
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Focusing on US manufacturing labor... FeralMerril,
Take a look at this. There are 3 charts and just a little bit of reading below. I'd be interested to know what you think.
U.S. Manufacturing: More Output with Fewer Workers - Seeking Alpha
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captorquewrench
Member
David Allen Coe.
Or perhaps Jimmy Buffet can write it. he did, after all do a song called "Math Sucks" so I think he'd do this.
Actually, we'll end up somewhere between that and where we are today, but closer to that than where we are.
I tell everyone that will listen: get used to living on two or three bowls of rice per day - that is what the current policy of the U.S. government will bring you if at some point we don't wake up.
We should not be trying to bring those poor slobs UP by dragging ourselves DOWN, but that is precisely what is happening. The whole international trade farce is all about making already very rich people even richer still, so without a major upheaval, start developing a fondness for the taste of cheap food. International trade has nothing to do with raising the "standard of living" in the U.S.
As to the everyone-should-go-to-college baloney, absolutely. Everyone should spend at least $100K sending their kid to college for four years so he can take whatever menial job is available in the future. Colleges and universities are just another type of business or industry. If they can sell you what they have, whether you need it or not, and whether it is worth it or not, they will take your money.
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