Made in the U.S.A.

[JB Cases]

I am sure that the people in china are good as a whole. Its the fact that they are censored and not allowed to see how the free world lives. Its easy for them to work for ten cents an hour, simply because they do not know any better. Imagine if they were all educated, and were able to travel and live free for a year, there is no way they could go back to ten cents an hour making toasters. The peopl putting the melamine knew no better, they probably had no idea what was going on, its not the peoples' fault, its their leaders and politicians. Which brings me back to the original source of my anger, which is by supporting a communist nation that allows no freedom, we are contributing to their ignorance, and or demise.



Joe

Once again you make ignorant comments.

I don't understand how you can sit at your computer and have access to all the information you could ever need to educate yourself to the real situation and yet you are stuck on stupid?

The original "source" of your anger comes from ignorant comments by people whose job it is to push your emotional buttons. So you blindly believe them and become an indoctrinated junior button pusher.

Then what is truly funny is that you CLAIM to be so concerned about the welfare of the Chinese people and yet you advocate cutting off trade which would make their lives even worse.

If you had any clue you would know that in China there are more internet users per capita than any other place on Earth. People have access to information EASILY to see how the rest of the world lives and what they make. EASILY.

Anyone can get a satellite dish and watch channels from all over the world. Just about every movie ever made and thousands of western television programs, from documentaries to sitcoms are available, on YouKu and other similar sites. The Chinese can watch live TV from around the world using any number of programs such as TVU, SopCast, and PPLIVE.

In addition there are MILLIONS Of Chinese ex-pats around the world who communicate with and send money BACK to their families IN CHINA.

The average literate Chinese person probably knows far more about the world than you do. Hell I'd bet on it.

What did you say?

"Imagine if they were all educated and could travel freely for a year?"

Yes, imagine that. How do suppose that this is going to happen if there is NO INVESTMENT? Investment brings prosperity which is what ALLOWS people to afford to educate their children and send them on trips. And for the record the Chinese people are FREE to travel anywhere they want to in the entire world.

Their only restriction is when places like the USA set up ONEROUS visa application schemes that essentially STEAL millions of dollars a month and cause millions of applicants to spend millions just to get to the application centers.

The next thing you say ignorantly is that "they work for ten cents an hour because they know no better". First of all it's not 10cts an hour so let's get that off the table.

The fact is that it costs less to live in China. No matter where you go in the world average wages are never disproportionate to the cost of living. It's a tenant of Adam Smith's Invisible Hand that employers pay whatever they have to in order to retain employees as long as it's feasible to do so.

Your statement is absurd. It's like saying that a person who is making $5 an hour in Mobile Alabama as a store clerk would never work for that again if he could just travel and see what people in New York City are making for the same work. It completely ignores the FACT than in Alabama an apartment costs $250 a month while in New York the same apartment costs $1000 per month. You know full well what would happen if the store clerk got back from his trip and demanded $12 an hour at his job in Mobile.

As to the melamine thing - some of the workers knew full well what they were doing even if they didn't know the health risks. The owners of the milk producers certainly knew what they were doing and one of them has been put to death over it. As in any country there are always going to be people who act willfully negligently with disregard for public safety. Think it doesn't happen right now in the USA? Read "Fast Food Nation."

Well Joe, I understand that I will never be able to get through to you. Mostly because you seem like the kind of guy that hears one headline and sees Bill O 'Reilly spouting off about how angry he is and instead of taking five minutes to research the topic you would rather be "angry" right along with Bill even though the rest of the story isn't anything like the headline.

You could do some research. You could even find some Chinese people on the net and talk to them and ask them what their lives are like. But no, it's easier for you to be a junior button pusher.

 

[JB Cases]

Buying American in many instances can be done, but usually only outside of the typical retail channels to which we've become accustomed. Want an American-made button-down shirt? Don't bother with the mall. Your options are either to go online or find a good tailor. Both of these will be more expensive than buying that imported shirt at the mall, and less convenient than grabbing it from the rack and moving on to the rest of the mall's shopping cornucopia.

I understand that my PC's components, for example, were made in Asia. Some countries will always dominate certain specialty items, and I accept that. I might want a Swiss watch just because Swiss watches are an icon. But it upsets me when I need to make a project of buying a basic shirt made in my country.

Well in my opinion this ALL goes back to our really poor primary education system and our penchant for believing that our lives can be fixed by "things".

Children do not learn what VALUE is in school. And they rarely learn it from their parents.

Children are not taught financial education in school. If I were in charge of education in the USA then by the time children reached high school they would understand the stock market and how business really works and understand truly how to manage their finances expertly. To me this knowledge is one of the cornerstones of a successful and secure life.

But our children graduate high school barely able to balance a checkbook much less understand the near-slavery that they are signing themselves into when they cheerfully accept those credit card offers and start buying all sorts of things that they don't need which will be worthless in a year.

Long before "outsourcing" to China came along manufacturers have always been under pressure to make goods for less to keep up with the competition. Ways that they do this are to buy machines to produce more goods faster, improve production methods to maximize efficiency, buy supplies in greater bulk to reduce cost, and look for the cheapest labor that they can get who will do a good job. And manufacturers have always faced unfair competition from unscrupulous producers who use sweatshop labor that they underpay inside the USA.

The reason American made goods disappeared from shelves is because American education has done a bad job of defining value and American manufacturing has done a bad job of promoting it, and in some cases like cars, American manufacturing has even done a bad job of providing value.

I'd bet though that if someone at a busy mall would open a "Made in USA" store that stocked nothing but goods that are made in the USA (at least more than 50% made in the USA) that they would make a killing. I could see a chain of these across America and China.

 

[JB Cases]

Listen to this: http://www.americaneconomicalert.org/media/usbic_npr_onpoint_20070329.mp3

Here you have both sides of the debate. And just as I said, the USA exports plenty of things - just not cheap stuff.

 

[snipershot]

Ok, now Im really done. Every post I read by JBcases makes me laugh so hard it hurts, and Im pretty sure it lowers my IQ, so Im done reading his trash, again. So type away there buddy, and someday, if you try real hard, maybe you can climb to the number 2 spot, and knock Jesus down a peg. I mean you can already walk on water right? You are fighting the evil free people to save your cheap labor and suck as much cash from them as possible, so yea, the next step is clear, JBcases for Ruler of the World, he knows everything, has a plan for world domination, and best of all, he can write 8 page responses to help himself feel better. Go for it buddy, you deserve it. Go ahead and reply with your usual book length response, and pat yourself on the back, Ill be unsubscribing.


Joe

 

[JB Cases]

Ok, now Im really done. Every post I read by JBcases makes me laugh so hard it hurts, and Im pretty sure it lowers my IQ, so Im done reading his trash, again. So type away there buddy, and someday, if you try real hard, maybe you can climb to the number 2 spot, and knock Jesus down a peg. I mean you can already walk on water right? You are fighting the evil free people to save your cheap labor and suck as much cash from them as possible, so yea, the next step is clear, JBcases for Ruler of the World, he knows everything, has a plan for world domination, and best of all, he can write 8 page responses to help himself feel better. Go for it buddy, you deserve it. Go ahead and reply with your usual book length response, and pat yourself on the back, Ill be unsubscribing.


Joe

See ya. Once again you are defeated by facts and logical examples.

 

[poolplayer2093]

I said "true" patriots. Those are the people who have actually read ( and even wrote) the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and believe in the principles contained in those documents rather than the hot-button emotional unbased-in-fact statements of politicians and tv talking heads.

True patriots understand how we are ALL interconnected on this planet and that the BEST way to secure our country's well being is to co-exist PEACEFULLY with the rest of the planet both economically and militarily.

That sounds like some commie BS if i ever heard it. true patriots are dedicated to their country. willing to kill and die if it's in their countries best interests

 

[JB Cases]

That sounds like some commie BS if i ever heard it. true patriots are dedicated to their country. willing to kill and die if it's in their countries best interests

Um ok. If you say so. So for example the Nazis were "true patriots"? Anyone who believes that they should kill and die for their country is a "true patriot"? So a person who blows himself up on a bus full of people because he is willing to kill and die for his country's best interest is a a "true patriot".

I guess we will have to disagree then. You seem to forget that in the THREE major wars we have fought in the 19th century the soldiers were CONSCRIPTED into service through a draft. In the Vietnam war most of the soldiers felt that the war was not in their country's best interest.

Many volunteer soldiers and quasi-drafted National Guardsmen also have publicly shared sentiment about the "war" in Iraq. I'd bet that a lot more of them hold that view privately.

So an American who assasinates a president because he believes that it's in our country's best interest is a "true patriot"

And who gets to decide what is worth killing and dying for? You think that politicians have our country's best interest in mind when they send our troops off to kill and die?

Here is a definition of a patriot I agree with even I don't agree with some of what else he says on this page; http://www.baldeaglejournal.com/PATriot.htm

"The real Patriot of the generic variety is one who understands his responsibilities as a Citizen. That means he or she must exercise their CITIZENSHIP by watching, reading and listening to news and information that will prepare them to cast an informed, responsible VOTE at every election, local, state and national. Another part of that exercise is to provide guidance to one's children on civics, government, culture, society and history all of which help to define that family's character -- political and otherwise! Children must be taught to be Citizens by their parents. It is best accomplished by setting a good example of Citizenship by taking them to the polls when you vote!

Raising our children to be law abiding, accountable for their behavior, honest and good neighbors are other aspects of Citizenship and Patriotism. Anyone who works to make the USA a better Nation is a Patriot! But if that same person does NOT Vote by casting an INFORMED VOTE, he or she has failed the test of Patriotism!"

However I REALLY agree with this person's defnition:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/buppert/buppert22.html

So basically your view is that those who are blindly ready to march off to war are true patriots while mine is that the person who is willing to lay down in front of the tanks is the true patriot. We will just have to disagree then.

And read her ponderings and see what applies? http://www.reginospalepe.com/View/?...Immigrants/Commentary/pages/article004.htm#EN

Pop quiz: Who said this "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriot and tyrants. It's natural manure".

Last quote: If you read the links you will find out who said it. "A true patriot is often the person who stands up to his own government, to his own people, and says, "We can be better than that."

 

[poolplayer2093]

Um ok. If you say so. So for example the Nazis were "true patriots"? Anyone who believes that they should kill and die for their country is a "true patriot"? So a person who blows himself up on a bus full of people because he is willing to kill and die for his country's best interest is a a "true patriot".
were nazi's patriots? yes. were they right about what they were doing being what's best for their country? no.

from what i hear people blowing themselves up aren't doing it for their country they're doing it for religious beliefs.


don't get too upset bro. you sold out your country/country men for the almighty dollar. you aren't the first and you won't be the last. if that's what works for you it's fine

i love my country. if i could i'd bleed red white and blue. you love money..so you left your country in search of a way to make as much as possible. you hirer non americans because the labor's cheaper. that's your thing man and believe me i can understand. it's just not what i'm (or any other patriot i've met) about

 

[JB Cases]

Um ok. If you say so. So for example the Nazis were "true patriots"? Anyone who believes that they should kill and die for their country is a "true patriot"? So a person who blows himself up on a bus full of people because he is willing to kill and die for his country's best interest is a a "true patriot".
were nazi's patriots? yes. were they right about what they were doing being what's best for their country? no.

from what i hear people blowing themselves up aren't doing it for their country they're doing it for religious beliefs.


don't get too upset bro. you sold out your country/country men for the almighty dollar. you aren't the first and you won't be the last. if that's what works for you it's fine

i love my country. if i could i'd bleed red white and blue. you love money..so you left your country in search of a way to make as much as possible. you hirer non americans because the labor's cheaper. that's your thing man and believe me i can understand. it's just not what i'm (or any other patriot i've met) about

Really? You have never heard of a People's Liberation Army suicide bomber? Those people believed that it's in Lebanon's best interest to drive Israel out and reclaim the land that Israel took by force.

And if a "true patriot" is one that is willing to kill and die for their country then being willing to do so for your God must make you a really great human being.

I sold out my country?

Have you learned nothing from this thread about economics?

If you really want to go down that road then we can.

Do you believe that it is every American's right to obtain goods and services for the lowest price that they can find or negotiate?

Or do you believe that someone should fix prices and forbid Americans from purchasing the goods they want at the lowest prices?

Do you believe that manufacturers should be required to offer prices to the market that are fixed at some particular "fair" rate?

Do you believe in freedom of choice?

So if you think that it's selling out for a manufacturer to figure out how to produce and offer goods at a lower price and that benefits the vast majority of American consumers, who by the way ARE America, and you think that this action is NOT in the best interests of America then I don't know what to tell you.

My personal view is that I want to create mind-blowing cases and when I was in the USA and figuring the costs and knowing what kind of a team I would need to put together to do it the way I want then I knew that there was no way that the market would support the prices I would have to charge.

And way back when I owned Instroke in Germany there was NO WAY we could have produced the cases in Germany and sold them for an affordable amount. So I went to the Czech Republic where the cost of production was lower and so I cold offer a high quality case at an affordable amount. As a result tens of thousands of people around the world and in the USA now are able to protect their cues better than if they bought most custom cases for a fraction of the average price of custom cases.

Now, being here I can afford to make the dream cases I always wanted to and offer them at reasonable prices. My being here has not put one case maker out of work. On the contrary I am told that my advice has inspired other people to take up case making so in fact the cue case making field has grown in the USA during the time I have been in China. And the byproduct of my ability to produce dream cases within my capital means is that I am able to put my techniques and methods into lower priced mass production cases which benefit consumers even more by giving them that much more bang for the buck.

So giving the American cue case buyer more choice and a product that will last longer and protect better through the life of it's use IS in the best interest of my country. The people who buy my cases save money and get a better product. Having a better product gives them peace of mind and saving money allows them to allocate the money saved towards other things they want or need.

If I were to try and do the same thing I do in the USA then I would have had to take out a loan and had a longer startup period of lower revenues. My costs would be much higher and my ability to be able to spend time creating the cases we do highly diminished. For example it takes a whole day to hand sew the seam and other parts on my cases. If I paid about $8 an hour - assuming I could even FIND someone willing to do that work then we are talking $64 without associated taxes just for that part of the case. In the end my cases would need to start at $1000 or more just to make a decent profit. So here I can hire more people, do more and benefit more people. If I were based in the USA I'd be lucky if I could employ two people by making the kind of cases I make. So I'd probably have to to settle for making cases that are easy and quick to do and not nearly as creative as I want to do. That limits consumer choice.

Then we need to talk about whether it's better for America to be at peace or to be at war. I hope you would agree that being at peace is better and that it's in America's best interest to coexist peacefully with other nations.

So how do we do that? Well one way is to trade with them and send our children to each other for education and tourism. What does this have to do with me and your accusation of "selling out"? Well if I weren't here then I can say with certainty that five of the seven people who work for me would likely NEVER encounter an American and might tend to believe whatever incomplete information they received about American and Americans. For example they might believe that all Americans hate them and think that they are all communist, because you see there are also ignorant people here who also spread crap throughout the internet. So through me they can see that Americans aren't all rabid haters. So these seven people are likely to be much more friendly towards America and thus able to relate to to their familes and friends and to dispel falsehoods.

In addition since they are being paid good wages by an American they are living a better life and able to buy computers and internet access and therefore continue their education with special emphasis on finding out more about America. These people are quite likely to keep a peaceful attitude about America through their life then. So with the capital I invest I in essence am investing in America's peaceful future relations with the Chinese people, who we should remember have nuclear weapons.

So that is my contribution to America. Not one single case maker has been forced out of business due to my efforts and the total benefits to American pool players through access to my cases is more than all other case makers combined when you consider that the cases are better and saves them money at the same time.

Lastly you have ZERO CLUE about what I love. If I did love money over everything else then I would be a millionaire by now. I certainly wouldn't be here talking to you I'd be making more money than you can imagine and drinking martinis off of model's breasts.

Well I hope your country doesn't decide that it's in it's best interest for me to die or I will have to watch out for you coming up behind me to kill me or be killed trying.

 

[CrownCityCorey]

I have been noticing, in my shopping about town, that EVERYTHING sold in the country is 'Made in China'. Are any pool products: Cue or Cases still made in this country???

I think that Schmelke and Viking are made here. I know that all of the custom cue cases (Justis, Swift, etc.) are made in this country. I don't know of any production cases are made in this country.

Does anyone know where this stuff is made? Is there any way to find out? I know it's not posted on the web sites (If it's NOT made in the U.S.A.).

Just my $0.02

Tiger Products - Made in USA

 

[CrownCityCorey]

Well, we don't make any cases, but all OB Cues products are made in the USA!

We make all our cue shafts right here in Plano, TX. And Dan Janes of Joss cues makes all our playing cue handles. Dan is in Maryland. Our new Break Cue handle is made by Carolina Cues in North Carolina!

So, yes, there are quality made production and performance cues made in the USA. And we are very competitively priced too!

Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com

Your tips are also made in the USA

 

[RRfireblade]

It's tought to admit but the reason there is very little mass production in the USA is the fault of Americans , pure and simple.

We all have free will what to spend our money on. The absolute fact is that the overwhelming vast majority of Americans do not at all care where it comes from , who it helps or hurts , or the long term local/finacial effects , ONLY what it costs them and nothing else.

 

[Craig Fales]

Well, if you read the tags then they "all" claim to be made in the USA. Seriously, though it's a tough question because the street level consumer goods that are American brands are probably made in China as well.

If the question you are asking is how many products do I see that I KNOW are made in America then I have to say that I don't see hardly ANY that I know for certain are made in the USA.

In general life that is.

However, to bring this BACK TO POOL, I see many Chinese pool players now with American cues, and not the cheap ones either. I see average players here in Xiamen China using Southwests, Cognoscenti, Omens, Scruggs, and Ginas and even Justis cases.

Last March at the Guangzhou Billiard Expo there were two dealers setup who were selling American made cues. One of them had a wall full of Dominak cues. The other one had two tables full of high end American made cues, such as SouthWest, Scruggs, Gina, Bender, McDaniels, Joss West, Prather, etc... This dealer owns a high class pool room in Guangzhou, China.

I know for example that the factory that makes Fury cues has almost $10,000,000 in hard rock maple that is imported from the USA and Canada.

They use ferrules imported from the USA, they use made in USA Tiger tips on all the cues.

One thing I do see is that consumers here ARE becoming more savvy and are beginning to demand that if a product says 'made in USA' then the retailer should prove it.

I doubt that the cars are produced in the USA and shipped here but I always smile when I see more Buicks here than I have ever seen in the USA.

The thing to remember though is there can never be a 1:1 trade off of consumer goods when one country has a much cheaper labor pool and subsequently cheaper costs of production. It's impossible for Chinese to consume American made consumer goods at the same rate that we consume Chinese made goods. It's a very simple equation, an average American from his income we can buy many more Chinese made shirts than an average Chinese can afford to buy American made shirts. If there were 1:1 parity then there wouldn't be any need for trade except in ONLY those items that America and China have none of domestically.

However what made in America products do the Chinese consume using the dollars we gave them for their consumer goods? They buy college educations. They buy vacations. They buy houses. The buy land. They buy businesses. They invest in our stock market. They buy machines. They even buy people through hiring American executives.

In turn the people of America who save money by having access to lower priced consumer goods can take their savings and invest it into a better quality of life if they choose to.

That's interesting that there is such a knockoff market of American goods there. True there won't be an equal trade ratio when there is unequal incomes. But at least capitalism is starting over there. It's something that actually can't be stopped. Can a foreigner own land, homes or businesses in China?

 

[RBC]

Your tips are also made in the USA

Thanks Corey!

Didn't mean to leave you guys out!

By the way I want to thank you for what you do for the OB Cues Ladies 9 Ball tour also!

Thanks!


Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com

 

[CrownCityCorey]

Thanks Corey!

Didn't mean to leave you guys out!

By the way I want to thank you for what you do for the OB Cues Ladies 9 Ball tour also!

Thanks!


Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com

Not a problem.

Happy to help!

 

[JB Cases]

That's interesting that there is such a knockoff market of American goods there. True there won't be an equal trade ratio when there is unequal incomes. But at least capitalism is starting over there. It's something that actually can't be stopped. Can a foreigner own land, homes or businesses in China?

In some ways the Chinese are even more brand conscious than Western people. This is because they are bombarded with knockoffs way more than we are in the USA.

If you walk down the shopping street here then you wold think that everyone is rich due to the number of $1000 purses everyone is carrying.

The Chinese all know that if it's cheap it's fake. They even have their shops ranked as to who sells the best quality fakes.

One of my wife's colleagues saved up for six months to buy a real Coach bag. She proudly showed it off and no one believed it was real. That's kind of the sad irony over here.

My wife's cousin who works for me bought a pair of real Crocs (shoes). He paid around $85 for them. His friends laughed at him because their knockoffs are around $7. But he feels a lot of pride in the fact that he was able and willing to buy the real thing. He spends all day making original cue cases and he said he values originals more now because of it.

People fly to Hong Kong or Shanghai to shop in the REAL boutique stores and spend obscene amounts on "real" brands. Even here in Xiamen China there is a place which has just opened a huge Gucci store. Now neither I nor any one else not connected intimately with the store can ever really know if the goods inside are real Gucci or are fakes or something in between. The prices however are certainly real Gucci.

Part of the problem is that so-called luxury brands have come to define success. And the luxury brands have subsequently slapped their brands on everything. So when the counterfeiters do the same thing no one knows if it real or not, except by price and even there you can buy a fake for a very high price. So that's another reason why it would be very hard for American made consumables like clothes and small stuff to break into the Chinese market.

That said there is an MLB store here. Major League Baseball. The sell all sorts of team gear, more than I have ever seen. They say that the Chinese made stuff is on the first floor and the USA made stuff is on the second floor. I would never know what's true in that sense.

Foreigners can own property, homes and business here. It's encouraged.

Capitalism is in full bloom here not just starting.

 

[kingwang]

I am sure that the people in china are good as a whole. Its the fact that they are censored and not allowed to see how the free world lives. Its easy for them to work for ten cents an hour, simply because they do not know any better. Imagine if they were all educated, and were able to travel and live free for a year, there is no way they could go back to ten cents an hour making toasters. The peopl putting the melamine knew no better, they probably had no idea what was going on, its not the peoples' fault, its their leaders and politicians. Which brings me back to the original source of my anger, which is by supporting a communist nation that allows no freedom, we are contributing to their ignorance, and or demise.



Joe

LOL, you MUST be joking right? This is not North Korea we're talking about. This is not a walled in desert island we're talking about. We are talking about a modernized country with access to the internet. People go in and out of China everyday, and the number of foreigners, both tourists and business people is uncountable. Yes, certain things are censored, but you act as if the Chinese are living in the 17th century.

There are Chinese business people, Chinese foreign exchange students, Chinese bloggers, etc. Some of the best universities in the world are in China.

The only person that "doesn't know any better" is you, with your ignorant and unfounded comments.

Edit: Oh, and I don't know where you are getting this 10 cents an hour bullcrap. Workers in China, even low level factory workers, make much much more than that, and if you factor in cost of living, their income is quite comfortable.

 

[JB Cases]

It's tought to admit but the reason there is very little mass production in the USA is the fault of Americans , pure and simple.

We all have free will what to spend our money on. The absolute fact is that the overwhelming vast majority of Americans do not at all care where it comes from , who it helps or hurts , or the long term local/finacial effects , ONLY what it costs them and nothing else.

This is partially true and goes back to what I said earlier about financial and economic education in school.

If children were truly taught how money and capital works along with the connections between the butcher, baker and shoemaker then they would become adults who make informed and sound financial decisions beginning with what they invest in.

But our society has always valued pomp and flash and fashion over education. Just teach them enough to pass the simple test and turn them loose on the world. Our education system produces mainly people who are programmed to be drones. Our education system discourages teachers who attempt to teach their students in a non-conformist manner.

How do I know this? One of my ex-girlfriends is a physicist whose area of expertise was Education Studies in Physics. She compiled so much data and analyzed it so completely that it's undeniable that education in America is completely institutionalized and not turning out critical thinkers.

Of course everyone knows that if the local shoemaker does not get business then he will go under.

However you can hardly fault people for choosing to buy shoes from the shoemaker three towns over who figured out a more efficient way to make the same shoes which allowed him to ship them to the first town and sell them for less than the local shoemaker.

The local shoemaker has every opportunity to do the same thing as well as home court advantage.

The problem often lies in the fact that the local shoemaker thinks that he can coast on local sentiment rather than getting busy right away to compete against the other shoemaker.

Not only that, the local shoemaker could invent a better way to make shoes than his competitor and go into the other market himself. One thing is certain though, without incentive through competition, neither shoemaker will do much in the way of innovation.

This example completely disregards all the ways that government meddles with free trade and competition. It's just an example of the consumer, educated or not, exercising their choice.

It's a bit unfair to blame the economy entirely on the consumer. It's the job of business to get as much money out ot the pockets of consumers as they can. It's the job of consumers to get as much product from business by giving up the least amount of money that they can. Government "should" stay out it BUT since government's job is to protect the people it often steps in to that with policies that help some groups in the short term and hurt everyone in the long term.

It's unfair to put all the blame on consumers. If a USA manufacturer is priced out of the market because either his costs go up too much or his competition can offer goods at a lower price then it's not the consumer's duty to support the higher priced manufacturer.

To bring this all the way back down to the town level. If you have two shoemakers in town and one of them has two employees and the other one has two employees and one of them pays his employees $15 an hour and the other one pays his employees $10 and hour and both produce shoes of equal quality and the second shoemaker charges less because his cost per pair is lower which shoemaker will you expect more people to buy from. Let's say that the shoes cost $30 from the first guy and $20 from the second guy.

Do you think that the consumers should agree to pay more to fund their fellow citizen's higher wages just because? That is in essence what consumers are doing when they choose to pay more for the same or better quality. Consumers reward manufacturer's who can provide goods at lower prices and higher quality with purchases. There should never be a law or a guilt trip that forces Americans to "buy American" just because they want to effectively provide welfare to businesses who can't compete.

A business is nothing more than a collection of people who are working to make money so they can live. It is created out of nothing by someone who wants to make money without working for someone else. It lives as long as it makes money and can pay the bills. People who work for a business are simply part of it as long as it lives and when it dies they go away and find another business to work for. It is part of the cycle that when a business dies others come along to replace it.

When a business is erected then people come from near and far to work for it. They build lives. If the business lasts for a long time then it provides stability and a community can form around it. But people need to understand that a business is only there to make money and it is entirely subject to the market it serves. If that market changes for any number of reasons, like competition, government regulation, inflation, disaster, etc... then the business might not survive and all that depend on it have to find something else. That is just the normal cycle of life and if you truly, truly believe in freedom then you truly believe in allowing life to go on without the need to use the money of all the people to artificially benefit a few. It's better to let the business die and let the people be free to go out and create new businesses and opportunities.

 

[RRfireblade]

'Cept however , it's not always that a US retailler won't sell cheaper , it's often that he can't and still stay in business.

I'm not sure about China , thier cost of living per family house hold , thier percentages of taxation , insurance and other health care costs , etc but it's pretty steep in alot of places here.

 

[Tennesseejoe]

Would you encourage your own children to work in a Chinese factory?