Supporting like minded folks, or not??

emdeengee · #21 08/08/14, 11:00 AM

With the current corporate climate it is very, very hard and expensive to be an Economic Patriot. I absolutely don't want to buy goods from corporations that move jobs to foreign countries just for the lower wages and are now moving their corporate offices to foreign countries just for the lower taxes (but still get all the benefits) but I only have so much money to spend.

ChristieAcres · #22 08/08/14, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

Lorie, that US Made label can be tricky. I worked for a glass company 19+yrs. They got to putting that label on there glass ware that they sent out to be sold. Thing is, they didn't tell anybody that they bought there arsenic from Mexico, their tools that we used to work on the machinery from India, China, and elsewhere, and even there glass making machinery from Italy.
That label, tho making one feel patriotic in buying from a company which displays it, isn't usually telling the whole story.

You are correct, yet, my point? Buying from mainly small locally privately owned businesses, also from true non-profits, living more simply, and purchasing US made cannot insure everything (i.e. your examples). However, it does accomplish a very important thing - support US workers and local economy. I don't consider it Patriotic, more in the lines of the right thing to do. I will sacrifice in order to accomplish this.

Pyrex is a great example. The older Pyrex was made right here. So, I have zero new Pyrex. I just bought a few more pieces of old used Pyrex
bakeware. I don't have to worry about the older pieces exploding, either. I purchased an Excalibur Dehydrator after I researched it. While I bought a new one, I wouldn't have hesitated to have purchased a used one. These are made in the US. Is every component also made here? Maybe not. Regardless, I can only go so far to insure I am supporting US businesses.

HuskyBoris · #23 08/09/14, 10:54 AM

I tend to pay for tools and eqiupment based on their use.,for example,,wrenches ratchets,screwdrivers or virtually any tool that I use all the time I try to buy good quality,nothing makes me more furious then stripping the head off a nut or bolt using a cheap chinese wrench but I do have cheap wrenches,those are the ones I bend or cut up to a make special tools and such.
for equipment I can't afford anything new so I buy good quality used stuff when I can find it

TnAndy · #24 08/09/14, 07:17 PM

Having spent the last two day cutting, grinding and disassembling an American made 1956 Oliver manure spreader, I can tell you there was, and is, just as much JUNK made in the USA as overseas.

I could give you a dozen example of how cheap they made this thing....mostly bent thin sheet metal that rusted out in dozens of places....things like rolled sheet metal in the shape of channel instead of a real piece of channel..(all of which was eaten up by rust) ....but the corker was I thought I finally got down to some 1/4" thick metal in the area where they put the main bearings ( which were destroyed.....no way to grease them...who does that ?), only to find it was NOT 1/4" thick....they had tack welded two pieces of 1/8" thick metal together....which, naturally, had gotten water between them over the years, and I had to cut most of that rusty mess out as well.

Acer Rubrum · #25 08/09/14, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Muleman

Bill,
You are exactly right on that lots of deceiving labels now. I will give an example I know of personally. We used to have a shirt factory in town. Minimum wage work, but employees 300 workers. The Union tried to come in and the workers sided with the company and rejected the Union at one time even. Later there was talk of the factory moving to Mexico. The company denied it. Then they opened factories in Mexico "only expanding" is what they said. U.S. workers were sent to Mexico to train. The shirts started being made in Mexico. ALL BUT THE LABEL. Without the label it was not a "Finished Product" cheaper import taxes. The workers in the U.S. plant would receive a complete shirt and sew in the label which read "assembled in the U.S." Read labels very closely, there are many products which say this now "Assembled" many people who do not know simply read over this and see the big U.S. and assume it was actually made here, when it was in fact NOT. Look around Walmart and you will find this a lot.
BTW, The company closed all 6 or the Arkansas plants and moved the whole operation to Mexico, once the U.S. workers had fully trained all the Mexican workers. The company had contracts with many big names stores like JC Penny and several others. within a few years after the move they lost all of the contracts, because of the drastic drop in quality, the company is now out of business.

Check labels closely, just because there is a big flag and it is red white and blue does not mean it was made here, read the actual wording.

(Sorry to go off topic but I wanted to interject-
Muleman, based on this post I think you may live in my hometown or homecounty. I recognize the description of the shirt factory.
I don't live there anymore but I visited there just this week.)

Now back on topic-
I do have a definite stance on supporting like-minded folks. I will NOT do business with any company or individual that has PETA leanings or sympathies. I don't care how much extra I have to pay for the alternative product, or whether I can even afford to pay extra. I will make whatever sacrifice necessary to save or scrape up enough money to purchase from those who support farmers.
This includes the entertainment industry. I will not listen to music nor watch movies made by artists whose political stance is anti-farmer.