What does buy American mean? - Page 2

Weirdtastes · #11 08-31-2009, 03:24 PM

It is truely sad that workers in the USA don't take the time to think about the repercussions of buying imported items. Like someone said save .42 but lose the job. I work at a job where we are all union members, "enjoying" a union wage, yet half the folks I work with admit that they shop at Wallyworld to save money.
I personally never buy anything made in china (especially food products), and avoid any item not made in America if I can avoid it. Make shopping a whole lot harder sometimes. But damn aren't WE AMERICANS worth the effort?

merrylander · #12 08-31-2009, 03:36 PM

My wife says shopping takes longer now because she has to check the labels on everything. Took back a jar of mushrooms because they were packed in China. Girls looked surprised when sho told them why she was returning them. Figure if they will poison their own babies for profit, Lord only knows what they would do to us.

Sandy G · #13 08-31-2009, 03:57 PM

Wally-World has screwed a LOT of things up, IMNO. Used to be, you had a hardware store or 2 to go to, to get wrenches, plumbing supplies, knick-knacks. Plus, you generally had a choice of several different items on lots of stuff you could choose-Cheap, better, or "Cadillac-ing it", as the old-timers would say. Now, if you're lucky to HAVE a hardware store left, the only choice you have are Cheap, or Cheap 'n' Nasty...The "Good" stuff is made in Chicomland, the "Cheap 'n' Nasty" is made in Lower Slobbovia....Amurrican stuff ? Fuggeddaboutit. I would much rather pay $35-40 bux for a toilet seat that the hinges actually didn't break the 2nd time I sat down on it, than buying the cheap version-which is all you can get anymore- that DOES.

stereocuuple · #14 08-31-2009, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by merrylander

My wife says shopping takes longer now because she has to check the labels on everything. Took back a jar of mushrooms because they were packed in China. Girls looked surprised when sho told them why she was returning them. Figure if they will poison their own babies for profit, Lord only knows what they would do to us.

amen

OvenMaster · #15 08-31-2009, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by merrylander

My wife says shopping takes longer now because she has to check the labels on everything. Took back a jar of mushrooms because they were packed in China. Girls looked surprised when sho told them why she was returning them. Figure if they will poison their own babies for profit, Lord only knows what they would do to us.

We did the same thing with some Hershey's cocoa. Made in Mexico?? No thankyew! Back it went, and the girl looked at me like I was nuts. As if I cared.

merrylander · #16 09-01-2009, 07:40 AM

Mind you when you see the videos of the farms in California, acres and acres and not a Johnny-on-the-Spot in sight. What do the pickers do, use the irrigation ditches or the fields? No wonder there are E-coli outbreaks. We have given up on buying "fresh" vegetables except at the Farmer's Market up the road or the Good Earth down the road. In the supermarkets if you don't eat it on the way back to your car it may well be rotten by the time you get it home. Seriously we have gotten tired of buying produce that won't last two days in the fridge.

spasmo55 · #17 09-05-2009, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by merrylander

Mind you when you see the videos of the farms in California, acres and acres and not a Johnny-on-the-Spot in sight. What do the pickers do, use the irrigation ditches or the fields? No wonder there are E-coli outbreaks. We have given up on buying "fresh" vegetables except at the Farmer's Market up the road or the Good Earth down the road. In the supermarkets if you don't eat it on the way back to your car it may well be rotten by the time you get it home. Seriously we have gotten tired of buying produce that won't last two days in the fridge.

Well, to answer your question, having lived in the Salinas Valley in CA and in Citrus country in FL, the Johnny on the spots are either mounted on the back of the bus or on a trailer behind the buses they use to transport the workers to the work area.

E-coli is in most soils naturally, even your yard. Odds are it is even in your intestines, thus the whole where do they sh*t question. Proper handling, cleaning and prep is all that should be neccessary to protect yourself from the nasty little begger. E-coli is such a nasty little begger because both the bacteria and its' by products or wastes are toxic, in the right numbers.

Now please enjoy your meal!

merrylander · #18 09-05-2009, 12:06 PM

Don't worry, Florence is fanatical when it comes to kitchen cleanliness. We don't use any pesticides in the garden, yet everything that comes in gets washed.

Bigerik · #19 09-11-2009, 08:24 AM

What does "Buy American" mean? Look at the US Dollar index. It is down to less that $.72 now.

Effectively what it means is that EVERY time you buy something that is made in a foreign country, you are attacking the value of your currency. It used to not be an issue, because America had a huge manufacturing base and exported so much that it more than compensated for the losses of currency do to imports. Now however, manufacturing is dying, the Bush government spent the last 8 years printing money it did not have (which Obama is also still doing. Not that he really has any choice in the matter.), so they have so greatly devalued the American dollar that it really isn't worth crap anymore. People I have talked to have predicted it could drop into the $.45 range, especially if China takes steps against it.

What we are really seeing here gentlemen, is the collapse of the US as THE world power, and the decline of the US standard of living FOREVER. All it took was 7 years....

Bigerik · #20 09-11-2009, 08:34 AM

A couple of numbers....

In July 2001, the US Dollar Index was at $1.17 and Gold cost $278 an ounce.

The economy was NOT in as good a shape then as some Clinton lovers would like you to believe, but I do think that with some good, conservative fiscal management, by today, the US economy would have been in pretty darn good shape. What we got instead was 7 years of the most totally reckless spending of money that the US has ever seen. Money was being printed as if it had some value. The time is coming now to pay the piper.

By financial standards, the Bush administration was NOT right wing. The money Obama is looking to spend now is nothing compared to what Bush did in his reckless 7 years. The truly sad part about the Bush administration was the fact that he bankrupted America (no, that is not an overstatement or an exaggeration. By any objective standard the US IS bankrupt.), and bought the US absolutely nothing with it.

The US citizenry has its own share of blame to shoulder due to it's every increasing appetite for the latest, Chinese made disposable gadget that it just has to have and it's demand to pay the absolute minimum for it. "Who cares if my neighbour is out of a job, if I can save $.25 by buying the same thing he makes, from China."