My own stimulus: Buying made-in-U.S. products

(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)

Our economy is in a shambles. We all know there's a lot of blame to go around, but the fact is that most of the products we buy are made offshore. It's going to take some time to see if the stimulus plan's billions of dollars are going to turn the economy around, but each of us can do our part by buying American right now.

Our troubled domestic auto industry is at least still building cars here, which is more than you can say about electronics, computer, video, and camera vendors. Even clothing and shoes are mostly made elsewhere. It's not just the loss of blue-collar manufacturing gigs; design and engineering jobs are increasingly outsourced.

When shopping, do you look at the label or box to see where the product you're about to buy is made? If you had a choice of an American-made product and an imported one, would the country of origin play a part in your buying decision? If the American product was 10 percent pricier, would you buy it, even if you judged quality of the two to be about the same?

I just bought a new couch (for a great price), and it was made in North Carolina. That's my personal stimulus plan.

Sure, quality matters, but if we go on exporting jobs, how will we maintain our standard of living? I could make the same case for buying online versus shopping in your city or town. Those local shops employ your family, friends, and neighbors; would you pay extra to keep the dollars in your community?

High-end audio products, like the three I mentioned in Thursday's post, the Benchmark DAC1 USB and Woo Audio WA3 headphone amplifiers, as well as the Grado GS-1000 headphones, are all made in New York. My speaker of the year, the Magnepan 3.6R, is made in Minnesota, Vandersteen speakers are made in California, and Thiel speakers come from Kentucky.

Would that tempt you to buy American hi-fi? Sure, a lot of American hi-fi is expensive, but there's affordable gear made in the United States. The Woo Audio WA3 headphone amp, selling for $470, is handmade in New York.

What do you buy that's made in the States?

[Kev_Orng]

That's awesome, I've been buying more Made in Canada products. If I replace my car this year, it'll definitely be a nice homegrown Toyota or Honda. This ought to help everyone!

[Get_a_life_Leo]

Protectionism and trade wars are what fueled the great Depression. Good way to dig the hole deeper! Let's see, lets tell American consumers that they really should bite their lip when paying more for products that were made in the US by industries that are out of date. Let's prop up the Detroit 3 because we owe them a living and to heck with the fact that their products are uncompetitive and fall apart after 4 years (I have a crapbox Chrysler - never again). Let's force our government agencies to spend 30% more on US steel because its so much better than that Chinese steel that the rest of the world uses (and therefore cuts their costs, allowing them to manufacture more cheaply).

By all means support local businesses but only if they are competitive. Otherwise this recession will simply be prolonged and nothing will change, regardless or what the Prez campaigned on.

[globalist_agenda]

Actually, Smoot-Hawley is a myth perpetuated by the Globalists and Rush "No Degree" Limbaugh.

http://loudobbsradio.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=98
"TARIFFS: The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Fairy Tale

The imposition of tariffs has been heavily criticized by the Corporate media and pro-globalist supporters. Part of the "evidence' for the hazard of tariffs has come from false interpretations of the effects of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff durin the Great Depression. Once again, it's necessary to debunk the Right-Wing fairy tales about the "damage" caused by the Smoot-Hawley Tariff. Below is a copy of U.S. GDP from 1929 through 1939. These are official government figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. "

[gggg sssss]

manufacturing is not out of date. It is going on everywhere else in the rest of the world. In the US we have just allowed the unions to blackmail us into paying them too much, but kept the door open top importing the same goods when made with Chinese and Korean labor. Those chickens have now come home to roost. Eliminate the right of unions to strike and hold the rest of the country hostage and the problem will solve itself. Certainly, standards of living will go down, but that is better than hordes of unemployed, or employed on make work projects. And keep some of our money out of HSBC and deutchebank.

[Anonymous Hero]

Idiots like the author of this article are what got GM and Ford in trouble in the first place. They bought worthless junk from them for years.

[walletless]

And what if everyone starts thinking like that? Indians and Chinese buy their own products... you will immediately eliminate 50% market for made-in-USA products.

[jaschwa]

Defenders of imports often cite that sort of argument, but what US-made products do India and China buy? Products actually made in the USA, not products of "American" corporations manufacturing their products overseas. Very few products are made in the USA anymore. In fact, that would be an interesting story to see what US-made products are actually exported to foreign markets.

No, the only people that believe in "free trade" are politicians and foreign countries.

[ywkhgqo]

@jaschwa
Major U.S. exports include aircraft, motor vehicles and parts, food, iron and steel products, electric and electronic equipment, industrial and power-generating machinery, organic chemicals, superconductors, transistors, telecommunications equipment, pharmaceuticals, and consumer goods.
you basically just don't look anything up.
if you notice, most of these products are high tech. The US may not export shoes and t shirts anymore but exports high cost items. Like industrial cost items. Do your own research.

[Perry_Clease]

"Very few products are made in the USA anymore. In fact, that would be an interesting story to see what US-made products are actually exported to foreign markets. "

My sister is a freight forwarder and customs broker. A few weeks ago when the protectionism question came up I asked her what mostly do we export. A lot of medical equipment and supplies, scientific instruments, big trucks, big earth movers, machine tools, raw steel, cereal grains and grain products, and a lot of tobacco.

[walletless]

You will be surprised, jaschwa. I have worked in WMS industry for *years* and know that there are a lot of MADE-IN-USA products out there that are consumed all over the world. Medical equipments, to start with. You have probably never heard of companies like Roche and Zimmer, and which of their products are exported. Software is another - Windows OS, OS X, MS Office - these are all made in USA.

Besides, there are a lot of products that are assembled in USA and then exported. How can you ignore products made by american corporation. The ripple effect of this phenomenon, where you only buy USA made products will be worse. Suddenly, people will stop buying computers and laptops marketed by Dell, HP, ASUS, etc. Can you imagine the effect that will have on our economy here? Connect the dots - protectionism and trade wars will lead us no where - in fact, it will just erode our name and pride in the world faster than ever.

[fcg1502]

Wow, I think we can point to the above posters as to why we might have the problems we do. Considering that Anon. Hero decided to call the author an idiot just because he advocates buying products made by people in his own country show just how ignorant people can be. Nowhere does he say that we should buy products just because they're made in the U.S. regardless of quality, or "force" agencies to spend more on U.S. products. Instead, he just simply states that if given a choice between products that you personally feel are of the same quality, maybe we should buy the product made on our own soil, instead of supporting other countries who are basically making products in sweat shops. Yes, the Big 3 were making inferior products for years, but people obviously weren't buying them that much since Toyota is now the largest automaker in the world. And it actually was a good thing, because now these companies see what they did and are actually making good products.

I try and buy American as much as possible, but's it's nearly impossible to. Not sure where you guys are from, but if you hate America so much, go somewhere else. I'm so sick of Americans wanting to help all the other poor people of the world when we have extreme poverty in our own country. Good for you Steve for advocating products made in the U.S.

[Dylan_Wisor]

Redneck.

[research1st]

I do look at labels. And I do buy American when it I can find it and it fits within my budget. For the most part American products are superior in quality to a lot of the foreign products. Autos being the exception, but American quality has greatly improved over the last 10 years in the Auto industry. I avoid Chinese goods at every chance I get. C'mon you audiophiles... you've seen and bought the crappy electronics that come out of China! I'll put most American goods up against foreign goods any day of the week when it comes to quality.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a protectionist. I fully support consumer rights and choices, and competition in the market place is a good thing, but how can we expect to keep Americans employed if we won't even buy our own products.

[captainzap66]

Great article, buying american made goods will improve the economy and keep american workers busy, who in turn will spend more money here in the US. Simple plan if everyone would stick to it. Buy American!!!!! Buy Union!!!!!!

[gggg sssss]

NOT union - union labor blackmail is the source of all of our problems.Or if you want unions, just no right to strike

[JohnGalt1717]

"Buy American" "Buy Local" whatever is a logical falacy that was proven wrong hundreds of years ago and reaffirmed by Milton Friedman (won a nobel prize in economics for proving Kaynes wrong, and reaffirming the basic logic of Adam Smith and the rest that followed him)

Buy the cheapest products and maximize your dollar. You will then have more dollars to spend on other things. Those that can produce items cheaply will do so, the rest will find something else to produce that they are uniquely better at doing. The original example was corn and other products that were terrifed by the British previous to the repleaing of the corn laws in the 1800s. The end result was Britian had essentially no terrifs on goods and as a result had a boom in exports, imports and not-surprisingly their standard of living FOR EACH AND EVERY CITIZEN increased expodentially because everyone's money went further.

Protectionism doesn't work. It is the solution of ignorant minds and those that want to prevent progress from occuring. Allow the market to decide and everyone will be more prosperous. They may have to adapt and change and not get a free ride to run the farm the way their great grand daddy did, but life is about change and improvement, not about keeping things the same. Get over it.

If you want to buy American, that's your choice. You're wasting money for no economic benefit, as has been repeatedly proven, but it's still your choice... at least for now... Until the government gets in on it, in which case we'll likely all be forced to buy American and waste our money for no purpose.

We're in this mess because of Governments meddling with the economy. It's time to stop the madness and tell them to get the h*ll out and let us make our own decisions. (Bad or good). (see Lew Rockwell's web site for excellent articles on the subject and who exactly caused this mess in the first place)

[Dalkorian]

Gee, hasn't industry self regulation worked out so well for the Peanut Corporation of America?

[hexjones]

We also need to produce more here. Everyone whines about buying this and buying that. We need to make more than just TV, movies, music, software and loans.

I'm very happy that my grado cans, two of my guitars and my t-shirts are made in the US. My ipod and iphone were at least designed here. *Especially* satisfying is that they are well made products.

[Dylan_Wisor]

Hey, you just made me feel better about myself! I remember that my Gibson was made in the states!

[Perry_Clease]

Six years ago I bought a new mini pickup truck. For several reasons I chose a Ford Ranger over the Nissans I had been buying since the '70s. The Ranger was rated a bit below the Toyota, but was cheaper and it was a USA product. So far so good with it, but I only have 61,000 miles on it.

Now my last Nissan pickup was made in Tennessee and I got over 300,000 miles on it before I sold it to the kid down the street. My 1972 Datsun truck had over 500,000 miles on it before it left the family; I had it, then gave it to my father who drove it for years before giving to my son who eventually sold it to get a coupe. This Datsun is still on the road, I see it now and then. I rebuilt the engine once and we put several clutches in it.

[Kev_Orng]

Shouldn't we just let the invisible hand of the market balance everything out nicely in a way that is beneficial to everyone? Isn't that the basis of this whole free market thing?

[sankoz]

I suggest you take a class in economics. You suggest buying American, even if the quality is worse? Sure, that will get innovation in the US going.

[Dalkorian]

I suggest you take a class in reading comprehension. A direct quote from the article I read: "If the American product was 10 percent pricier, would you buy it, even if you judged quality of the two to be about the same?"

He suggests buying American when the quality is equivalent. Personally, I agree.

[glen_patton]

I'd certainly take a look at hi-fi products made in the U.S.; I just don't have any idea which companies or products are from here. Does anybody know how to get some kind of comprehensive list of what companies make hi-fi gear in the U.S.?

[wangbang]

A company will never succeed if it has to rely on patriotism. That's almost as bad as those bums who go around "selling" cheap pens when they're really just begging. The selling is just a pretense.

People have to want to buy the product itself because of price and quality. If you're a company and can't get people to buy your products then your company deserves to fail.

[Kev_Orng]

You should amend that a bit: A company will never succeed if consumers' patriotism is more than skin deep and inspires actual product knowledge; however, the same company can rely on the surface show-patriotism of the average person and ride it all the way to the bank. So a product might be made in China, but be decorated with flags... ooh, well, it's patriotic to buy THAT one over the boring grey one.

[globalist_agenda]

Buying American is anti-American. If you are a patriot you will buy 100% imported goods, especally from China. If you don't keep buying Chinese goods then China can't buy our Treasuries to fund our trilions in defcits.

[skriverone]

We should all keep buying products made somewhere in the world. That is the most important thing in the current situation. I live in Norway and buy a lot of my stuff in America. I don't ask where it is made. I buy it in the US because the price is right and the internet shopping experience is easy. Somewhere in the UPS system at the moment are a ski-helmet, googles and gloves ordered from Utah. A few months ago I got new Levis 501's from California, I got underwear and socks from New York and cowboy-boots from Kansas. It is not large amount of money but it is all part of a larger system. We should all try to keep shopping and do it wherever we feel the price is right. Not based on where it is made. That is what will ultimately solve the predicament the world is in at the moment.

[CG2020]

Well I guess all you Americans should just stop shopping at Walmart then!

Protectionism never solved anything. What a silly little article.

[gggg sssss]

sees to be causing one in 5 Chinese factories to close. That in itself is a good start.

I agree that we should at least look for a 'Made in the USA' sticker when two products are otherwise equal. Assuming the products are of the same quality, it's a good decision to buy American.

[mehtars]

I buy stuff thats engineered in the US but made elsewhere.

ro

[JohnGalt1717]

"I agree that we should at least look for a 'Made in the USA' sticker when two products are otherwise equal. Assuming the products are of the same quality, it's a good decision to buy American."

You forgot something: And of the same or lesser cost.

And that's exactly what people will naturally do. But if it's more money and/r not as good of quality they will buy somewhere else. That's called enlightened self-interest. (the invisible hand)

So stop complaining and trying to suggest that people don't act this way. Everyone does. To do otherwise would be rediculous. (i.e. your suggestion to buy american without the merits is just stupidity)

American companies need to stop complaining and start producing excellent products at reasonable prices again and then this won't be an issue. IT's their own faults.

And note to unions: If you have a grade 10 education and stick a bolt in a hole, you should be paid just enough to be barely above the poverty line. You shouldn't be middle class, and you sure shouldn't be making more than a 10yeared professor after all of your health care etc. You've sucked American manufacturing dry by getting something you haven't earned. It's time that you earned what you're worth again. (I'd say minimum wage, but I'm Canadian and we have freedom of association which makes minimum wage unconstitutional because I have the right to do business at any price that I choose to so long as the other person will agree, so I'll just say a really really low per hour rate.) And yes, I do mean YOU'RE WORTH. Not some arbitrary collective barganing. I am me, not Joe down the line, I should be making money commisorit to what I make for the company and thus how productive I am, not Joe. Unions are simply a protection mechanism for mediocrity. I totally don't blame Walmart for closing stores when they try and unionize.

[one_flat_monkey]

"making more than a 10yeared professor"

did you mean "tenured" or "10yeared"?

lol

but seriously folks, the only reasonable course of action is to buy the stuff that's made FOR Americans...