I Thought I Was

[old2soon]

Buying American made tools!! My local Ace Hardware affiliate had Vise grips on sale in a 3 pack for $15.99. Sounds like a good price and besides my old Craftsmen ones have seen better days. So i go buy them and this IS the important part i leave my reading glasses at home!! My bad but we will come back to that! Looked at the package and all over it said The Original Vise Grips. O-k we are good to go-or so i thought. Get my new Vise Grips to lacasa and get that plastic off of them and looking them over and managed to save the cardboard with the writing or actually printing on it. I could read the lifetime warranty the original stuff and all of a sudden the print got really really small and extremely hard to see UNTIL i got out the trusty magnifying glass. Seems like THE ORIGINAL VISE GRIP The Original mind you is now made in TA DA china. I B G T H A W T F over. I guess when i bought my first ones in the late 60s i must of MISSED THE FACT THEY WERE MADE OVERSEAS! Yup-a lot my fault but in my defense the package did advertise The Original! T I A fer letting me vent. Peace and RIDE SAFE.

[BigAl]

Just I guess we all know we are screwed as far as a middle class.

And you just stated the reason why.

Those little chinese people are gonna take over the world.

[old2soon]

I've got zero to back this up but-my next door neighbor is a minister and a retired school teacher. Anyways he and i was outside talking over the fence and in the course of a good hillbilly discusion it came to light that one of his church goers is a local logger. They had talked about how the logging industry is in the crapper at the present moment least ways here in the Ozarks. Seems this logger heard from a fellow logger that one of the recent loans D C got from china(i refuse to capitilize their name)that we only had to put up our national parks as collateral. Like i said-i got zero to back this up. The really sad part is-it don't surprise me. Anger if true-yes-suprise-no! Al-you could be closer to right or correct than any of us want to admit. Wall street and the(pick an expletive here) in D C wanting and i guess doing-selling everything out from under us. RIDE SAFE-at least while we can.

[Serk]

Did some googling, and couldn't find anything reputable on the National Parks being used as collateral, but... Regardless of that, we need to change the path we're currently on. Don't know all the answers, although I have some opinions on it (Surprise surprise)...

It's been around before, but it's relevant to this thread:

Chinese Professor	powered by Aeva

[old2soon]

Serk-glad you posted that video. Don't know why but the hands around my throat felt like they came from the grave. Sad truth and EXTREMELY relevent!! Hope and pray that my children and grandkids DO NOT find out in 2030 or sooner that it is true. But with the(expletives deleted)jerk wads in D C. Nuff NOT said. RIDE SAFE.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Just think how those Harley guy's feel when they find out about half their bike and all their $40.00 t-shirts are MADE IN CHINA 

[thumper]

It's painful to watch.

Go into the box stores and just start randomly pulling items from the shelf in any department....

You can't even find anything made in the U.S.A.

Don't know what caused it or what the answer is but I do know that finger pointing and assigning blame at this point is counterproductive.

We need to somehow remake ourselves and become a "reemerging nation" or we're f*cked.

It's time for honesty and a really hard gut check.

JMHO

[PaulO]

We need to return manufacturing to America.  Why is it gone.  Many reasons, the biggest ones being over reguation, over taxation and unreasonable demands by many unions.  Its not that we can't manufacture things here in America, it is that the profit margins that are possible in order to compete are slim (because of the above) and it is not worth doing it here.  The model works better elsewhere.  It can be fixed but its a hard sell to voters who feel that evil business should pay for everyone else that doesn't neccessarily feel like putting in an effort or a risk.  I know I am getting old and cranky about certain things but the older I get the more I realize that giving people something for nothing is the surest way to hurt them.  Making people dependant makes them miserable.  The world is so full of wonderful things but they all lose their luster if you haven't done your work first.  I retired 3 1/2 years ago and I am now back starting another business.  As a matter of fact, I am here right now at 12:05 PM working to make a deadline and its my birthday to boot.  Know why?  Because it is all so much better when you worked hard and you know you deserve whatever it is that you enjoy.  Imagine denying millions of people that opportunity?
Paul

[Jess from VA]

The biggest ones being over reguation, over taxation and unreasonable demands by many unions.

While these are important factors, the biggest single factor in loss of manufacturing is labor costs (and associated healthcare, insurance, pension, vacation, sick time), with or without Union bargaining.  People don't want to work for $7-12 an hour (except immigrants), and they may not be able to live on those wages.  Many companies that stay here go to robotics wherever they can.  They've done the math and replace two men with a half million dollar machine, and save money. 

With a global economy and cheap foreign labor and shipping you may not be able to compete and stay in business in this country.  Or you can double your profit margin going offshore, which is the duty you have to your shareholders.  There's no simple solution..... but getting the G to get off people's backs with 50 pounds of regulations to open a lemonade stand would be a good start.

[solo1]

Awhile back I posted an article saying that some United States firms are bringing their manufacturing back to the US. china (good idea, no capital letter) is raising their labor costs, reducing their quality (if that's possible) and the cost to  US companies in travel, engineering, and monitoring quality, is getting too high to do business in china.

This problem's been around for awhile.  Five years ago, I spent lots of time looking for a Wilton 6 inch vise, a typical US product. I finally found one, genuine Wilton, made in china.

Note that I mention US instead of America.  Made in America could mean Mexico.  Four weeks ago, I bought some IR halogen GE bulbs.  Out of six, one was DOA.  Made in Mexico.

china was the communist country that stepped in to help the North Koreans kick our ass in 1950.  We kicked their ass and it ended in a truce.

Today, china is still a Communist country but they're winning the war without firing a shot!  Who's to blame? i don't know where to start.

[HayHauler]

I was at Home Depot last night looking for some Christmas gifts for my brothers...  I finally gave them gift certs because I couldn't find anything there made in the U.S.  I bought me a knife made in the U.S. made by LeatherMan.  All of the screwdriver bit sets, flashlights, plier sets, etc. are made in china and I'm just not buying them.
Then I went looking for a small scraper.  Ended up not buying one, because the 3-4 brands that they had were all made in china.  I'll just use my new knife to do the job...

I'm done.

Hay 
Jimmyt

[bscrive]

I purchased a grinder a few years ago from a place like your Harbor Freight.  The grinder lasted 5 mins before it caught on fire.  I brought it back and got another one, more amps this time, and it lasted only 15 mins.  I got my money back and went to another place and bought another brand that was built in Mexico.  It has lasted the last 3 years without a problem.  When I was looking I could not find one grinder that was made in the US or Canada.  They were either china, malaysia, thailand or mexico.  At least mexico is closer to home.

[old2soon]

O K walking into harbor freight wal mart lowes home depot-h-ll make your own list-i know up front what to expect. Real heavy on chinese made stuff. My bad i THOUGHT at least at an Ace Hardware i MIGHT maybe get some what lucky and actually find American made tools. I do not mind paying a little more for American made quality. I never have. The first japanese and chinese tools that hit our shores years ago were laughable at best. In some segments of the tool market their quality has come up some what. Yes i have H F tools in my boxes right next to my Craftsmen my Sherman Clove My Skil And others. I have a H F bench grinder thats still working. You can walk into Sears and find chinese tools. About 6 or 7 years ago i picked up some steel rod in Ohio maybe a half inch or a little more in diameter in rolls. Took it to Dallas Texas.The outfit in Dallas was taking that rod and at that time at least-was makin the ratchet blanks for the Sears Craftsmen 1/4 3/8 and 1/2 inch drive ratchets. American steel American made tools for an American market. But like i said-that was 6 or 7 years ago. Anybody got any idea where Craftsmen ratchets are made now?? I sure don't-but i have a dang good guess/idea or sumpin. RIDE SAFE.

[The Anvil]

The biggest ones being over regulation, over taxation and unreasonable demands by many unions.

While these are important factors, the biggest single factor in loss of manufacturing is labor costs (and associated healthcare, insurance, pension, vacation, sick time), with or without Union bargaining.

Exactly. What will change this? When the labor rate gulf shrinks to the point where it's no longer profitable or consumers revolt. Both are actually happening (I'm seeing more and more made in the USA stuff at Wal Mart/Home Depot/Target etc.

Taxes are a non-factor in sending manufacturing overseas. Taxes are what is driving the relocation of home offices (for use as shelters), but not factories. Any tax saving by relocation of a factory is more than eaten up by the cost of moving the materials. It HAS been a factor in manufacturing moving from state-to-state within the US though.

[da prez]

  When I can't find American made, I ask for the store manager and tell him (her) that I am not buying anything and the reason is  , the made in china sticker. If they try to defend the product, let them know you are one of 5200 people united. I will post where I can purchase American  made products. If they say it is up to the  store buyers, then tell them to contact management to let them know the sales are dropping for this reason. I have called corperate in a couple cases, and politely vented and in some cases asked for management to let them know.

                                                          da prez