[Uptown Girl]

Originally Posted by eweissenbach

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.

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.

[eweissenbach]

Originally Posted by Uptown Girl

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.

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.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Originally Posted by nitehawk

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

How's that work?

Bill

[Saxprof]

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'

[Patty55]

Originally Posted by ijusluvit

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

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

[Uptown Girl]

Originally Posted by eweissenbach

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.

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.

[Mack184]

Originally Posted by mrfixit

...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.

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!

[eweissenbach]

Originally Posted by Uptown Girl

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.

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

[villagerjack]

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

[Bogie Shooter]

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

[Ripcord13]

Originally Posted by eweissenbach

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 would be the salary of a couple of CEO's

[ugotme]

Originally Posted by BarryRX

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.

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 !!!

[Bill-n-Brillo]

There is a city in Japan names Usa.

Bill

[Peachie]

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?

[BarryRX]

Originally Posted by Peachie

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.