Made in China sentiment

[Kevin Jenness]

Tom Lehrer's take on the great American hero von Braun https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEJ9HrZq7Ro

[Josko Catipovic]

I have no problem. As far as I can see, stuff made in China is generally a better deal than similar stuff made elsewhere.

[Roger Feeley]

When I’m buying, I look first to USA made. It can be a struggle.

My jeans are from All American Clothing. Cotton grown in the us. Thread spun in the us. Cloth woven in the us and, of course, sewn in the us using us thread. The YK zippers are imported.

I buy flannel shirts from Vermont Flannel. There it’s a different story. The fabric comes from Portugal because they say it’s the best.

my dress shoes are Florsheim Royal Imperials made in Missouri back in the ‘70s. I had to get those on eBay. Probably some farmer bought them for a wedding or funeral and never wore them again. I only dress up for marrying or burying so I should be good for life.

tools are another struggle. Big machines are all imported so what are you gonna do.

all cars are made all over. We currently have a Chrysler.

but to answer the original question, I generally will pay an extra 20% for a us made item of equivalent quality. Another 20% if made locally.

[Michael Weber]

The cheap product from China that worries me are generic drugs. If you take any generic it’s produced in China or maybe India. China prohibits FDA inspections in their facilities. After going from a name brand to a generic drug I could tell immediately that while it might have used the same ingredients (maybe, who knows, that’s my point) it didn’t work the way the non generic did. It was very obvious. I mentioned this to the Doctor and told him I didn’t trust the Chinese drugs and from all anyone knew they were loaded with radioactive dirt. That was a bit of hyperbole of course. Or was it? The FDA lacks the power and resources to assure my confidence.

[Ron Citerone]

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/sh...15-superfusion

Good Read.

[Brian Elfert]

I try to buy made in the USA (Or at least assembled in the USA) when I can, but sometimes an overseas item is all that is readily available, or the item is only made overseas, or the made in the USA item is significantly more expensive. Sure, China can make decent stuff, but many tool manufacturers don't source the exact same tool from China as was formerly made in the USA. They may ask for cheaper steel, or they may not have the tool finished quite as nice to save a few pennies. Often, the Chinese tool is sold for the same price as the former USA tool so the company makes a lot more profit.

I just got back from buying a Kreg hardware template at Home Depot. I was pleasantly surprised it is made in the USA, but honestly I would have bought it even if made in China as it is a nice design. I have purchased about half my clothing in recent years at a local store that sells only stuff made in the USA, but they don't sell everything. I don't buy khaki pants made in the USA because the prices are outrageous when I can find them online. (The local store only carries jeans and work pants.)

[Mel Fulks]

This is getting a little too dark. I don't understand why defeated scientists should be considered cowardly for deciding to
live and continue their work. Especially for a really good bunch of people !

[Brian Holcombe]

When I’m buying, I look first to USA made. It can be a struggle.

My jeans are from All American Clothing. Cotton grown in the us. Thread spun in the us. Cloth woven in the us and, of course, sewn in the us using us thread. The YK zippers are imported.

I buy flannel shirts from Vermont Flannel. There it’s a different story. The fabric comes from Portugal because they say it’s the best.

my dress shoes are Florsheim Royal Imperials made in Missouri back in the ‘70s. I had to get those on eBay. Probably some farmer bought them for a wedding or funeral and never wore them again. I only dress up for marrying or burying so I should be good for life.

tools are another struggle. Big machines are all imported so what are you gonna do.

all cars are made all over. We currently have a Chrysler.

but to answer the original question, I generally will pay an extra 20% for a us made item of equivalent quality. Another 20% if made locally.

Alden Boot makes shoes in the US and they are fantastic quality.

Northfeild and a few others make excellent traditional woodworking machines.

[John Goodin]

For most people as long as Amazon can have it at their doorstep in 2 days they don’t care where it is made.

Personally, for most items quality is the number one factor in making a purchase.

[eugene thomas]

My sujgestion is anyone who wants to defend the chines leaders in their actions. Move their.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

I think there may be a level of avoidance for a little while, in some quarters. But as someone said earlier, availability and cost are big drivers for consumers. Few people are willing to wait long for an item, or to pay significantly more for it.

I'm not angry at china. I absolutely think they should have tried to help everyone else, much sooner. But until/unless it is no-kidding confirmed that this escaped from a weapons lab (etc), Im assuming Wuhan was just the unlucky place it started. (Food for thought - if nature starts the next pandemic in Milwaukee, should everyone boycott American products? Might depend on the circumstances.)

Fred

I am not hearing a lot of folks who want to avoid Chinese products because of the anger referenced above. I am seeing a fair number of people who want to avoid foreign products in general because they think our county has become too dependent on foreign supply chains, and they would rather send their business to someone who will be on this side of the ocean (whichever ocean you happen to be looking at) when another crisis hits.

Product availability, price, quality, are all still real factors, but my sense is there is an opening for someone who wants to make something in America to start doing it again.

[Frederick Skelly]

I am not hearing a lot of folks who want to avoid Chinese products because of the anger referenced above. I am seeing a fair number of people who want to avoid foreign products in general because they think our county has become too dependent on foreign supply chains, and they would rather send their business to someone who will be on this side of the ocean (whichever ocean you happen to be looking at) when another crisis hits.

Product availability, price, quality, are all still real factors, but my sense is there is an opening for someone who wants to make something in America to start doing it again.

My heart is with you. My head says we arent stuffing the "foreign products" genie back in the bottle again. Even after this hard lesson. But I'd love to be proven wrong.

[Rod Sheridan]

I’m all for buying locally made products, the only issue is that they may be lower quality, and/or more expensive.

We all remember the American automobile of the 1970’s, pure garbage.

What caused American manufacturers to improve their product? Foreign made automobiles of better quality and greater fuel economy.

Isolation leads to stagnation.

A couple of years ago I spent considerable time looking for a North American made dustpan. I can’t remember if it was American or Canadian, however it was almost $30. It’s a great dustpan, and will last my lifetime.

That’s the issue, 10 years ago when my mother died I cleaned out her house, in it was a GE chromed kettle given to her as a wedding present before my father went to war.

At first I was thinking “what kind of a cheap character gives a kettle as a wedding present?”. Then I realized that with rationing and the economy in 39 that it would have represented perhaps several days of income. Today we can purchase several kettles with one hour of income.

That’s the thing, everything in my mother’s house was of very high quality and there were few items. Furniture, clothing, one TV, one radio.

We buy truckloads of stuff and send it to the landfill at the same rate.

I don’t see any appetite by Americans or Canadians to save for 3 or 4 years to buy a TV.

So no, we won’t be buying made in NA items exclusively, nor should we as it will damage our countries.

[Kev Williams]

Over the years, within the tiny circle of people I've done business with in one way or another, I've know several of them to buy a product someone just got the bugs out of and put on the market, take that product to China to be reverse engineered, have a few hundred made at 1/20th cost of the original, then sell them here at 20% the price of the original. Some will even label their new products as 'made in USA'. We hear a lot of 'China steals our ideas' rhetoric lately. Based on my experiences it seems they have plenty of ideas freely given to them by U.S. grown lazyazz scam artists. And I've found 'Made in USA' doesn't necessarily mean 'building things to last'. On the contrary, I've had more than one [business] tell me they MUST build things to eventually break or wear out or there's no money in it. And who better than China to manufacture parts that will probably survive a 1-year warranty, cheaply enough to replace those that don't and still leave you in the black?

No one's innocent

[Brian Holcombe]

I am in firm belief that buying less stuff and of higher quality is actually better path to thrift than buying cheap and replacing. I’m biased in that I simply greatly dislike poorly made things and so I never buy them. I’d rather suffer without. Origin is less important to me, so long as I can see clearly that considerable efforts were made to design a high quality product and maintain that through the manufacturing process.