reply to post by rattan1
"Buy American" is a nice slogan with a lot of populist support, but it wouldn't work in terms of international free trade. In theory it would be
nice if we could put tariffs on imported goods, but, as has already been pointed out, there would be retaliation from other countries and we would
have to answer to the World Trade Organization. If there was a way to slow down if not stop the offshoring of so many American jobs, though, that
would be very desirable. Providing tax incentives for companies staying in the U.S. might help. We're rapidly losing what's left of our
manufacturing base, but it would be good if we could preserve some of it at least.
I don't think that it's outrageous to try to spend as much of the stimulus money as possible at home. It's probably not possible for all of it,
but as much as we can. If we bought American-made materials for all of our infrastructure work, for instance, it wouldn't be the cheapest way but it
would give a huge boost to businesses badly in need, not to mention providing jobs. Americans will continue to buy Toyotas and Hondas and Kias and
imported Chinese merchandise at Wal-Mart because they will want the most for their money, especially in hard times. But every American-made car sold,
for example, puts money back into America. Most of the automakers buy their parts from overseas, so that international trade would continue as it
has.
Whenever possible I try to buy American, but I can't always be sure if it is really American. A lot of items say "made in the U.S.A." by which
they mean they're packaged and redistributed here, while they're often assembled overseas from foreign materials. Just as I believe in keeping most
of my business with local merchants, I would like to support the U.S. as much as I can.
[edit on 5-2-2009 by Sestias]