i think the problem here is that our country is full of people who care more about outsiders than whats happening on their own turf, just to relieve our guilt. we'd rather rebuild iraq and afganastan than our own infrastructures. its a shame, the billions spent on "bringing freedom" to the middle east could have taken the homeless off our streets and put our children into good schools and pay for good health care. as long as we're occupied with the paris hilton and tainted dog food the rest kind of just melts into the background noise.

its unfortunate most of us are looking around and saying "damn its hot in here, and why am i in this handbasket?"

Usually "Buy This" banners mean "Support This".
The one problem with Buy American is this, was this product made by someone in the 50 states or, for example, the Mariana Islands which allows the goods to be labeled Made In the USA?
I love to support American farmers the way, say, a Japanese buyer might choose to pay more for a Japanese tangerine, although usually the price differential is not as great for me.
Free trade, for the US consumer at least, can be a minefield. Witness China's exports to us. Yes, free trade might mean cheaper goods, but at what price?

Buy American!!!!!

How Do You Know What Is American?

How to read Bar Codes ... interesting!

GREAT WAY TO "BUY USA & CANADA AND NOT FROM CHINA!!

This may be useful to know when grocery shopping, if it's a concern to you.

The whole world is afraid of China-made "black hearted goods".

Can you differentiate which one is made in Taiwan or China ?

If the first 3 digits of the barcode are 690, 691 or 692, the product is MADE IN CHINA .


471 is Made in Taiwan .

This is our right to know, but the government and related departments never educate the public,

therefore we have to RESCUE ourselves.

Nowadays, Chinese businessmen know that consumers do not prefer products "MADE IN CHINA ",

so they don't show from which country it is made.

However, you may now refer to the barcode, remember if the first 3 digits are:

690-692 ... then it is MADE IN CHINA .
00 - 09 ... USA & CANADA
30 - 37 ... FRANCE
40 - 44 ... GERMANY
47 ... Taiwan
49 ... JAPAN
50 ... UK

BUY USA & CANADIAN MADE by watching

for "0" at the beginning of the number.

We need every boost we can get!

Its hard to buy American when we really don't make anything anymore. We can thank GHB, Clinton, and GWB for this.

I'll buy American when America actually produces something worth purchasing

Seriously though, we are not seeing "Buy American" banners because in a time of economic downturn, why buy the more expensive American product when you can buy the more affordable import? Businesses know this. If businesses sold American products and asked Americans to by these products, then they would just get put out of business by Wal*Mart.

Just my 2-cents

I'm all for supporting American Jobs, however, "Buy American"? I laugh in your general direction!

When I buy my next car, GM, Ford and Chevy are at the bottom of my list and frankly I'd rather bike or walk than sink my hard-earned money into an American made car. I'll be buying Toyota, Honda or Hyundai thank you very much.

When I buy my next television, GE will not even be considered. I'll be buying Samsung or Sony.

When I buy my clothes, what American made clothes are there? I'm pretty sure they are all made in South East Asia. Levis might be the social icon of Americanism, but they aren't made here.

What it comes down to is that as a Consumer I buy what is the best product for the least amount of money.

Let's be honest, American Made in the past 30 years and counting is tantamount to Made in Taiwan.

And that's the penultimate problem that needs to be addressed here!

What happened to pride in workmanship? What happened to innovation? What happened to providing great products and service at a great price?

Somewhere along the way, especially from the early 1980's onwards (although the problem existed far before then), we became lazy and greedy and fat on the pork. We lost sight of what made American Made so strong. We cut corners to make more profit. We made sacrifices to increase our margin. We stopped caring as long as the money kept rolling in.

So what is America to do?

You cannot campaign for Buy American so long as American Made means shoddy, inferior, and over-priced.

Instead, at some point, when we are desperate enough as a Nation, our Corporations and Manufacturers need to take a long, hard look at themselves and realize that cutting corners is not cost-effective in the long run. We need to realize that in order to keep the money rolling in we have to take care in every little thing that we do. Most of all, we have to realize that we need to be competitive and to be such we can't grow fat and lazy, but instead constantly challenging ourselves to do better.

Until that day comes, Buy American is going to do nothing other than be a perverse joke that no one but the > 65 demographic is going to take seriously.

As has already been pointed out, America doesn't make much anymore. Most American companies, if they even bother to "manufacture" their product on our soil, only "assemble" the product. The parts are actually made in other countries.
EPA laws put a screeching stop to much production, but no one wants to talk about that. No more paper mills, no more tanneries, no more plastics factories, no more moulding companies...
But China has the worst air pollution in the world, as I understand it, and they produce everything!
Instead of investing in ways to produce products in ways safe for our environment, we sold out.
But our air is a lot cleaner than it was a few decades ago!
I see many banners that say "Buy local!", as those items are generally handmade/homegrown/organic/handcrafted.
We think that by purchasing products from "American" companies, we are helping our economy. Even Harley Davidson has over 50% of the parts on its bikes made in China and some other country, and very soon India.
You'd be surprised how many people think IPODS are made in America!
These days, I look for products made in Canada, France, Germany, and Australis just because you can't find anything made in America, and the quality is usually better than things made in China.

Ah,
Buy American.

America just isn't fashionable now.

The media, elites, politicians and certain demographics are enraptured with a general self loathing and true hatred of America.

More specifically, they hate the knuckle dragging middle and lower middle class voters who still want to retain a bit of self control and independence.

So.....the 'America sucks' propaganda machine runs full tilt 24/7 and anybody who would stand up for America is marginalized and ignored.

It's no suprise.

I buy American when I can but it's hard to do because there's not much left.

Originally posted by badgerprints
America just isn't fashionable now.

The media, elites, politicians and certain demographics are enraptured with a general self loathing and true hatred of America.

An interesting point, and I have to confess a rather valid observation.

I've never been much of a Nationalist, so it is easy for me to overlook when the general populace adopts an Anti-Nationalist viewpoint.

For the past 9 years and counting our government has done things in the name of America that has made people ashamed. The world has called us out on our hypocrisy only to add to our sense of shame.

Now that our Economy is down in the dumps, what do we have left to be prideful of?

It's much easier to hate oneself and loathe our Nation than it is to actually reflect or do something to change it.

Again, it comes back to the complacency of the American people. We'd rather hate ourselves for what our Nation represents than actually do something to rectify it or remedy it.

Maybe the OP is right. Maybe as a Nation we do need something to rally behind, a cause celebre to unify ourselves once again and bring pride back to our once proud Nation. I'm all for that...as I would hate to be accused of being "fashionable" in choosing to not be Nationalistic. I'd rather be a minority than one of the mainstream.

I think much of today’s economies are based on Adam Smith’s theories. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, Smith’s theories were predicated on each country manufacturing what it did best and then trade those items with other countries. So the French would trade wine, while the Americans trade cotton and tobacco, the Germans trade beer, etc.

But what if every country could produce any and all products? And what if some countries had a massive agrarian population that was willing to work for very little money (which is much more than they ever had, mind you)?

You’d end up in our current quandary. Items manufactured here are expensive. Items manufactured in India or China are of good quality and are much, much less expensive. So American manufacturers shut down or move off-shore; people are without jobs but the imported goods are cheap. So the consumer wins at the expense of losing their jobs.

The only thing that would level the playing field are tariffs. But with tariffs an American would have a job but wouldn’t be able to afford the items they produced.

And since this has been going on for decades, we’re basically screwed. I don’t see any good answers (perhaps someone else does).

Originally posted by bowlbyville
...
Items manufactured in India or China are of good quality and are much, much less expensive.
.....
And since this has been going on for decades, we’re basically screwed. I don’t see any good answers (perhaps someone else does).

Items manufactured cheaper are not necessarily of equal quality, usually less. I personally have not found imported items to be consistently of good quality.

One water district in the midwest bought Chinese made irrigation pumps because of the cheaper cost. The result? The pumps were of such poor quality that the district had to buy American pumps afterall, as the Chinese pumps had to be scrapped.

My husband purchased online an electrical product direct from China. The item quit after 4 uses. On inspection, he found the soldering was cheap, had come undone, and he had to redo it, plus the insulators were fashioned from discarded playing cards!

Cheaply made imported clothing is just that, cheaply made. Cheaply made plastic items/parts are just that, cheaply made plastic items/parts.

Third world health standards are still in play when the items are shipped to America, to note the Chinese wall board fiasco.

Starting in 1980, the American middle class was forced into, boxed into a corner, when they traded off lower wages/buying power for cheap goods. When Americans are forced into, and even some cannot afford to(!), shopping at WalMart, that is close to bottoming out. And Americans used to laugh at all those poor Communists who had to shop at GUM....WalMart is our capitalist GUM.

While Americans voted on culture/religious issues, they ended up with leaders who sold us out to corporations. Corporatism. It can no longer be whether a candidate can save our/his/her soul, but whether or not that candidate can fight this corporate takeover. Note the corporate dollars invested in the current fight over health care.

All I know is that it took 30 years to get this way, and it will take a lot longer than 10 months to get us out. Realistically, this baby boomer will be dead before America sorts out this mess and enjoys its rank in the world again.

The main reason there are no banners is because Big Business doesn't want it . Last year when people tried to revive it the U.S. chamber of congress threw a fit. Walmart, Target, et. all would be devastated by a successful "buy American" policy. The current business model of making something in a far away land with cheap labor, no environmental concerns, and then shipping it at unbelievable wastes of energy is coming to an end. Thank GOD! As the world financial system breaks down, and the U.S. defaults on its debt, we will be shut off from cheap imports. Yes we will have to learn to live with less junk, but we will be forced to look for items produced locally because those folks will be the only ones willing to take our soon to be worthless currency. The natural order of things coming back into balance, and not a moment too soon.