Wish there was a Made in America Store!
 

Would you shop there?...On Diane Sawyer tonight they said if we bought $64 of American made merchandise this Christmas, we could produce 200,000 jobs.....Let's do it Villagers!

I would do it in a minute - tell me where.

Tell that to the Twinkies' union members!

The problem is that there's an awful lot of stuff that people want that is just no longer "Made In America". Many times even products with American names are made in the pacific rim.

When I'm buying things I try to buy American made products, but it's getting harder and harder to do. Of course you could trade in your golf carts for John Deere tractors, but that's a bit extreme.

It sounds good, but I'm not sure I understand how it would work. Let's say that a "widget" is made in America. I go out and buy a widget. It's already been produced, so no new job has been created to produce it. If the seller of the widget decides he has to reorder it, the labor to produce it is already in place, so no new job has been created. If demand for the widget suddenly skyrockets, then perhaps the widget manufacturer has to hire more help to produce more widgets, but only until the sudden increase in demand has been met, then those extra workers will be laid off. If the increase in demand is permanent, the manufacturer might just think that he can increase his profit margin and his stock price by outsourcing the labor to China or Bangladesh. I think what Diane Sawyer was probably saying was that if we have a choice between purchasing a product made in the USA or purchasing an identical product made in Bangladesh, then we should spend the extra money and buy the product made in America, and do it every time we shop.

the labels on American made products that say "Made in America" are made in China

I would buy $64 worth of peanut butter!

Remember; Walmart tried that and it DIDN'T work!

If every American spent $64 on American goods RATHER THAN foreign goods. 3 million x $64 = $192 million dollars in ADDITIONAL revenue for American companies which I presume is the money that would generate the additional jobs.

That may be correct, but I'm not convinced yet. If everone purchases $64 of goods at Wal-Mart, then Wal-Mart gets 192 million dollars in revenue whether or not the items I purchase are made here or somewhere else. If we all don't purchase those items at Wal-Mart, but purchase them in the "made in America" store, then Wal-Mart has lost that revenue and lays off workers. Isn't it a "zero-sum" equation?

I cannot verify their assumptions, I can only use their numbers as presented. If you bought the items from Wal Mart, the money Wal Mart paid the producer of the products would go to American companies as opposed to Chinese or Bangladeshe companies. Thus those companies would realize greater revenue. Wal Mart's take is revenue neutral, as they presumably would make the same margin of profit off either item.

My dear friends,

There IS a Made in America store, and I'm proud to say it's just down the road from my up north home in suburban Buffalo.

Buy, Buy, Buy!!!

The Made in America Online Store

Math always gives me a headache

...Except for the fact that ALL John-Deere "farm tractors" UNDER 100 Horsepower ......are NOT made in the U.S.A.
.......UNLESS things have changed in the last 20 months.

Still not sure.....I picked Walmart as an example because of the high % of foreign manufactured goods they sell and to buy "made in USA" people would presumably have to shop elsewhere thereby taking revenue away from Walmart. But even if Walmart was selling the identical products side by side....one made in the USA and one made elsewhere, and selling them for the same price, then you are right, Walmart would be revenue neutral if walmarts cost to purchase the items was equal. However, if we assume that the foreign product made with cheap labor cost walmart less, than a)walmart probably wouldn't sell the more expensive cost item and b)if walmart had the same cost for both items then the one made with cheap labor would generate more profit for the manufacturer who could then further lower his price to drive his American competitor out of business. Actually, I believe the scenario I just described is what has happened in the world. I know I've made a bunch of assumptions, but it's interesting to talk about.

Minus the incidentals, that is. Additional revenue means additional taxes, for one example.
I'm afraid we would be hard pressed to find an item that is 100% USA, identical to one produced somewhere else for the same price. It would be an adventure just to track one down.
Most of us are happy to oblige if we stumble over such a thing, but most of us want the best price, or the brand with the best reputation.... where it is made is not generally the first priority.
That was drummed out of us a long time ago.
I like Diane Sawyer, but her horse has seen better days, sadly. :0000000000luvmyhors

I didn't make the 200,000 jobs claim and it frankly sounds inflated to me. I just was answering Barry's question. Like most proposals of this kind, it is very simplistic and the devil is in the details. I said the sales would produce additional REVENUE, the profit realized is indeterminite and would involve a great many variables including taxes, overhead, labor, shipping etc.

How's that work?

Bill :)

There are dozens of stores in TV area that feature "American Made" products, they are called antique stores... It is amazing to young folks when they realize that all that stuff was once made here in the USA... just sayin'

I'll be ordering, the shipping is reasonable and I can't believe they have Brooks Barbeque stuff. Thanks for the link.

You're absolutely right. I meant my previous comment to be an added thought to your post. Didn't mean it as a criticism to you. I should have worded it differently, sorry.

I knew that it USED to be under 60hp...Most of the smaller US tractors no matter who makes them are made by Yanmar in Japan. It may very well be that JD has now switched to all tractors under 100hp. That's sad. I guess then instead of tractors you'll have to swap the carts for JD combines!

No problem, didn't take it as a criticism, I just wanted to clarify.

Don't get advice about how the economy works from Diane Sawyer. My Goodness!

Amazon.com lists 157,324 items made in America.

That would be the salary of a couple of CEO's

I agree. Basically no giant retailer wants to spend more and make less.
Unfortunately with the cheap labor AND cheap workmanship (on most products) made overseas this will not change in the near future. And most Americans would not be willing to pay more for the same product just because it was made in the USA.

The Chinese even wanted to name a town "USA" so it could label their goods... made in USA !!!

There is a city in Japan names Usa.

Bill :)

This is an interesting subject for me. We are currently looking at engineered-wood flooring for our home at one of the local, (recommended here), flooring stores. After bringing several samples home, we were narrowing our choice on two maple samples from the same company that were comparable to the Mohawk domestic wood samples but priced $2. to $3. less per sq ft. I went online this evening to see if there was a picture of the flooring we were leaning toward installed in a room or someone's home. To my surprise, the cheaper sample flooring is made in China, a fact not disclosed on their website but by a floor installer. It's known China has created a false value for their currency to undercut the American dollar. If we place an order for Mohawk flooring we may not be creating a new job but it may be job security for a currently employed American. The online article indicated that initially the Chinese product couldn't compare to the American floor products. But several years later, they have copied the engineer-wood so well that it is difficult to tell the difference in American vs China engineered wood flooring product. So, do we lay out the couple of thousand extra dollars and save the jobs here now or pay it out later in taxes for "stimulus" projects to get American people back to work?

That's an interesting situation. I don't know many people that are willing to pay thousands of dollars more for what is basically an equivalent product. Even if you decide to pay the extra money, most people wont, so those jobs will be lost eventually. I believe in a free market, but I am not smart enough to figure out how we can compete with 3rd world labor without losing our middle class. And, isn't that what management is doing when they move jobs out of the country? They are just using the free market to seek out the cheapest labor costs so they can increase their profits and increase their shareholders value. Unless we have people who are willing to work for $5 dollars a day in death traps like the one that just burned to the ground in Bangladesh, those jobs that can be done with cheap labor will never come back.

I buy a lot of books. Are most books made in America?

Be careful, If you read a lot of books,tree huggers will come out against you because you are killing the trees.I do not sweat the small stuff.

I wonder if the shelves would be mighty empty because there is not much made here in the USA.

On side note
 

Watching "Shark Tank", one of the sharks (Mr. Wonderful) encouraged many inventors to move their plants to China, but most rejected that thought...
In our hometown as I'm sure many TOTV'rs noticed, many furniture plants moved to China, which makes buying American very difficult. It's all about the bottom dollar, isn't it!?

If you google, made in the USA, several websites come up where you can buy anything from clothes, toys, tools, linens, etc

Here's an interesting article that says that most Chinese are willing to pay more for the "Made in the USA" label because of the better quaility of the products.

'Made In USA' Label Popular In China, Too: Study

Made in America:
Furniture Made in the USA


Orlando Florida Furniture Store, Shop for Home and Office Furniture

Hudson's Furniture - Made In America - Tampa, St Petersburg, Orlando, Ormond Beach

This just a few. A Google search resulted in many more. It's out there if one wants to take the time look. More opportunities than you think.

Bruce Williams
 

If anyone remembers talk show host Bruce Williams, he now has returned to the air and only accepts sponsers whose products are made in the USA.
check him out...BruceWilliams.com Made in America Network.
He also has an online catalogue.

I listened to Bruce Williams in the 80s and 90s and found his show fascinating and informative. I thought he might have died, so if he is coming back on the air that is very exciting.

It would be a very small store!! There are alot of items that are assembled in American but the parts are made overseas. That is what WalMart tried to do by saying all their products were from the USA but actually only assembled here with foreign parts!!

..Do not know about all books.
...However, some close friends of ours are publishers.
.......100% of the books they publish are made elsewhere.
Artwork, copy, binding..the whole 9 yards. Most are books about
the USA and people and places of the USA.

Inside cover and/or jacket will have disclosure of publishing location.
Or at least are supposed to disclose.