Made in America, how much is it worth to you?

I don’t really know what “Made in USA” means any more.

It really depends on how it’s made.

Lodge cast iron is the shit.

Chevy and Facebook, not so much.

I would pay more for Made In America. If it comes down to making a decision about an item that is almost identical I will go with the Made In America item.

I would be willing to pay more for products made in the USA not only because I’m financially able to do so but I would hope that it means more American citizens can stay employed to make the products.

@Bluefreedom I would be willing to pay a little more for products made in the USA not only because I’m financially able to do so but I would hope that it means more American citizens can stay employed to make the products.
Just out of curiosity about the ”I’m financially able” part, what is your take on those who feel they can’t afford to ”buy American”, or feel they would not get enough as they needed/wanted so they will by foreign made products non-working Americans be damned?

@Hypocrisy_Central People could afford to buy American if the products production didn’t involve over regulation by the Feds and had a decent wage paid to the employees that did not include Union dues with bloated Union legacy costs added into the products price.

^ People could afford to buy American if the products production didn’t involve over regulation by the Feds and had a decent wage paid to the employees that did not include Union dues with bloated Union legacy costs added into the products price.
Get the feds and the union out of the picture the average price one pays for, say a 60 in flat screen today, would go down in price by how much, if at all?

@Hypocrisy_Central. I sympathize with those who aren’t financially able to and I think that’s wrong. As @Crazydawg had mentioned, if there is some way to get the government uninvolved in the retail process (and I readily admit that I don’t know the intimate details of how it all works), then that would be a step in the right direction in helping many.

I try to avoid it.

I like buying American simply because it’s more local than something made overseas, and thus generated less pollution during transport. But I try for more local than that, usually. Quality-wise, I agree with @Blondesjon – depends on the product.

It’s tough to find these days, but it is my preference.

There’s a company selling Anerican made apparel, including what they’re calling the “best hoodie ever made.” It’s $90. Uh, no. I’ll take the made in China shit for half the price, thanks.

California is the only state that requires by law that a product be 100% made and manufactured in the United States in order to be labeled “Made in the USA.”
There’s a minimum requirement, I believe it’s 75% of parts and the final manufacturing process must be completed in the USA, for every other state manufacturing.

If Made in the USA does not really mean that in it’s entirety, then I feel it’s unfair to charge much more.

That Chinese shit sold at Walmart is crap. But my only store in that shithole.

@GloPro Fair or unfair it is all a matter of the climate created that the business has to operate within. Local and State taxes and regs compounded by Federal taxes and regs and then add in the greedy Union effect upon the costs of manufacturing and we often are pricing ourselves out of the more lenient avenue imports can infiltrate our retail environment. It is much more complicated that just these dynamics as you have to factor in trade agreements and debt assumption from countries like China and Japan where we now ‘owe’ it to them to allow imports to land on our shores so they both continue to buy up our debt and then not call us out to pay it all back. This all falls on the back of the policy makers in Congress who get paid no matter how shitty a decision they make.

At one time, WalMart was the place to go for cheap affordable American-made goods. What happened?

Walmart’s strength has always been they’re distribution costs and inventory control. Look at a comparative analysis to other retailors. It’s just this generation of management gave up the quality control completely.

@Yetanotheruser When Sam Walton was alive [founder of Walmart], he kept Walmart All-American. As soon as he died his rat bastard children sold out the American people and ran to our newest deadly enemy, the Chinese.
However, that being said, I shop for many items there because I refuse to pay the thieving American Capitalists [our other deadly enemy] a penny, if at all possible. You know, the American slave owners.

Made in America doesn’t really mean that much to me. The stuff was (at the very least) warehoused, distributed, shipped, stocked and sold in America, all of which created American jobs. It’s a global economy, and if we don’t import a certain amount, our neighbors refuse to import our products.

That said, I agree with @BeenThereSaidThat in that ” If it comes down to making a decision about an item that is almost identical I will go with the Made In America item.”

I go for quality first, and for most non-food items I buy, American-made won’t cut it. The only cars I’ve owned that lasted were 3 Toyotas and a Subaru; all of the Ford/GM vehicles I’ve owned were unreliable crap that couldn’t be worked on. For the measuring equipment I use at work, it’s mostly Mitutoyo; nothing American has the required precision.

The lower cost of foreign goods is just a bonus.

@jerv FORD = Fix Or Repair Daily!

@Dan_Lyons Actually, the late-models aren’t quite so bad, but there were about 15–20 years of kludgery that hurt reliability while making a 20-minute maintenance job into a 4–16 hour garage visit. Drop the engine just to change the spark plugs? Really?

It’s a moot point. The manufacturing /industrial base has been off shored to the extent that the only American made toasters or vacuum cleaners left are in antique stores. Besides the workers who formerly manned all of those factories no longer can afford to buy a quality made American product. It’s downright depressing. I dropped into the automotive shop at the local Sears to purchase tires. There was a long line of disgruntled folks waiting their turn for the lonely single service rep, so I detoured into the store to visit the tool dept. The place had the smell of death about it, and it’s an all but certain bet that another enterprise which defined the country’s greatness is wheezing its last stagnant breaths, I suppose it’s only fitting that Walmart supplant Sears as a metaphor for American “quality”.

The odd part is that there are certain things that we do better; well enough that Japan and Hong Kong import from us. They’re not consumer goods, but there’s enough demand for American goods that I make a decent living despite being in manufacturing.

I agree with @ibstubro. We are part of a global economy. If another country can make produce a quality item for less then they should do so. We aren’t the manufacturing nation we once were but we do export quite a bit though our contribution to the global economy should be on technology, research and development, pharmaceuticals etc.

http://www.worldsrichestcountries.com/top_us_exports.html

http://worldsavvy.org/monitor/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=345:international-trade-policy&catid=143:tools&Itemid=544

@Dan_Lyons As soon as he died his rat bastard children sold out the American people and ran to our newest deadly enemy, the Chinese.
Is that “Fluther PC”? Can we call Chinese people not only deadly but enemies (seeing there might be Chinese Flutheronians)?

FORD = Fix Or Repair Daily!
FORD: Found On Road Dead, but I like Ford trucks, old school Mustangs, and the Pantera and GT.