Another example of failed "buy American"

"Hiring a bunch of foreign workers?" Are you serious? Do you know anything about the development of the western United States? It was ALL foreign workers. Pretty much any rail line beyond the midwest was laid by Chinese laborers.

Interesting topic. There are several subtopics that I've noticed when people mention buy American, for example, a person's level of patriotism, or discretionary income when it comes to getting quality for one's dollar. The last two vehicles that I had driven years ago were manufactured by Ford Motors. I currently drive a Nissan. My choice, not even a politically based one. I had decent return on my investing money with those Ford cars. But my Nissan has provided a better quality especially with gas mileage. From the stories soem locals have told me, GM cars are not as good as other American-made cars. I reckon this is a matter of opinion.

On another hand, Ford has done well overseas it seems. They are a big-time player in the sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League (European soccer) and I've also seen sponsorship (sign boards, jersey sponsors,etc.) in Latin American leagues.

Cant really complain about this if you go to WalMart and buy an umbrella (example) made in China. Its all relative. Except that bridge will do alot more for America than the umbrella.

Has American unions priced themselves right out of the competition?

Between high cost (comparatively) union labor and strict (and getting stricter) environmental controls on manufacturing plants, what outcome should be expected?

We don't have the steel mills to produce these types of things anymore...and nobody wants to build any more because they either harm the environment or, if "cleaner" are prohibitively expensive to build.

Better to let China do it because, in general, they don't give a shit about their environment....it's all about the money. And, as a bonus, none of our environmental "crusaders" over here seem to give a f@ck about the planet when it happens in some other country...just keep what I/me/myself can see clean and pristine. Oh, and build me a Whole Foods...superstructure more than likely made from (you guessed it) Chinese-made steel.

I'm not trying to be too negative, but this is the competition. And we cannot compete with the workforce, cost, and environmental (non) controls China offers.

BTW--my wife is Chinese descent (American born, though). Her father and mother both tell us NEVER to eat seafood fished from Asian waters because of the industrial pollution over there (they visit Taiwan and China often and know exactly what they are talking about). Word to the wise...check your packages of shrimp/pollack/flounder/etc and truly buy American (i.e. "product of the U.S.A.").

Ryan, I honestly preach the exact same thing. The irony of seeing the "Out of a job yet? Keep buying foreign!" bumper stickers in a WalMart parking lot. Obviously, they want people to buy American cars, because that directly affects their job. When it comes to the goods they'll buy for their home, who cares!

The average Chinese worker makes between $100-$300 per month, that’s pretty much what an American makes per day. Unions have nothing to with being priced out of that American market; they’re just an excuse corporations use to move capital and manufacturing off shore.

It wasn’t that long ago that GM was the largest employer in the US. The average GM employee could afford to buy what my company makes. Today the largest employer in the US is Wal-Mart, their average employee can’t afford to buy what my company makes. It’s a sad spiral.

"Better to let China do it because, in general, they don't give a shit about their environment..."

Is it our environment too? We all live on the same planet.

40 pounds of lead waste sitting in a landfill in China doesn't concern me in the least. Pumping 4 trillion ppm of SO2 into the atmosphere does. If you want to ruin your own land and it will have no effect on me, I say its wrong but you have that right. There are a lot of folks that see it as their moral obligation to tell others how they should live, what toilets to use, what light bulbs to have, and how much water should come out of your shower head. Mind your own business.

makes ya think too hard?

reread your own post.

"Not in My Backyard" then?

I don't believe the railroads were built in china and shipped over here for installation. Nor did we choose chinese labor over american labor because of price. At the time of the railroads being built, there was a large number of chinese immigration into the U.S. and an abundant employer was the railroad. Sure, they probably paid less for chinese labor than american labor, but they didn't "outsource" the work.

Very true hf, very true.

I saw a piece on ABC news last night about more US companies doing their manufacturing in the US rather the China. At the end of the bit, they mentioned that some 'experts' think that soon (2016 or so?) there would not be much difference in the cost between Chinese and US manufacturing since Chinese wages are rising along with the costs of transportation.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/made-america-companies-bringing-jobs-back-home/story?id=13961425

It'll be nice when it starts to fall apart, and they have to hire Americans to rebuild it.