What did you buy today?

Published on May 17, 2005 By Phoenixboi In Blogging

Did you buy anything today? Or have you made a purchase recently?

If you did, where was it made?

Did you support your local economy, or was what you brought today made in a foreign country? More specifically was it made in a country where workers were paid next to nothing to make it for you?

What did you buy today?

Most of what we as consumers buy is made in a foreign country. More than likely what you as a consumer brought was made in a country such as China, where workers were paid very little, and the local economy where jobs and the market place should be supported is going down the drain.

We really should be looking at where our money is going to. have you thought about this when you go to your local store or supermarket?

Comments

ParaTed2k

on May 17, 2005

I don't know what "buy America" means anymore...

Does it mean buying a Toyota made in Tennessee, or a Chevy made in Japan?

If I go to a specialty shop am I supporting a local business owner or because he or she sells electronic equipment, am I still merely sending my money overseas?

If I buy my meds from another country, am I merely responding to market forces, or am I endangering a local pharmacist's job?

Since I live in Wisconsin, should I only buy Wisconsin dairy products, or am I ok buying products from California because it is still "domestic"?

Should I boycott any film not made in America? Or only those not made by Americans?

If we boycott Wal~Mart, Halliburton, McDonald's (and everyone else who has their names in one boycott or another) and we get the desired effect, aren't we costing millions of Americans their jobs?

Phoenixboi

on May 17, 2005

If we boycott Wal~Mart, Halliburton, McDonald's (and everyone else who has their names in one boycott or another) and we get the desired effect, aren't we costing millions of Americans their jobs?

You brought up some really great points Para! You get an insightful for that!

The way I see it though is that our governments have sold us out by signing up for these free trade agreements with countries such as China.. what they have done is simply cost our people, whetherthey are americans or australians jobs in the local economies by forcing companies to outsource their products from China because it is cheaper to make over there, but in the process it has shut down local companies who simply cannot compete any more.

I saw a great program last night called Made in China.. which showed how Walmart helped in the demise of Rubbermaid one of Americas most sucessful companies in the early nineties by outsourcing to China.

Folks Im afraid it aint about governments anymore, it's more about large corporations running the countries and our politicians playing puppets to the directors of these large corporations, knowing that when their time is up as a polititian they will be on the board of directors for them.

Phoenixboi

on May 17, 2005

Link here is a great story...

"WHO can compete with China on labour costs? The fear being expressed in Minto is echoed around the world, and not just in affluent Western countries like Australia. Even Mexico, the cheap-labour neighbour of the United States, says it has lost 218,000 jobs to China since 2001, and more are going."

ParaTed2k

on May 17, 2005

Thanks for the insightful Phoenix!!

If the 70s taught us anything it is, competition improves products. The rubber industry was on self-struct, the steel industry refused to acknowledge the influence of new technologies, the auto industry thought we would still buy big cars, even with high cas prices, and the "ecology" industry all but shut down domestic oil.

Then labor and government made it more profitable to move operations overseas. However

We still have an employment rate, standard of living and expectations of ourselves as high as they have ever been. We haven't sold out, we have merely changed plans.

Phoenixboi

on May 17, 2005

We haven't sold out, we have merely changed plans.

But you see changing the playing fields what we have done is sold our interests to foreign countries.. and this im afraid will influence the way we deal with them when it comes to the crunch.. you see if China say wanted to do something stupid.. well if they then removed their money from the USA .. well then it would do something drastic to the economy... I know it works both ways but for one it is more hurtful than to the other.

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