[quote=jpinpb][quote=sdduuuude]How come we never see letters that say “We, as Americans need to build stuff that isn’t so damn expensive?” i.e. why is the burden on the consumer to buy the wrong thing instead of on American compaineis to make the right thing ?
Huh? Huh? Ever wonder that ?
[/quote]
I think we American companies make good and right things. Just that other countries have slave labor and can afford to make cheap crap that WE buy. People here don’t want to work for slave wages. We have to pay a salary somewhat commensurate to living here. It cuts into a company’s profits.
[/quote]
Not trying to pick on you jpinpb. But this goes back to my previous question. Why target China and Japan? It seems like sometimes on one hand folks point to reasons for buying “american” as to (1) slave wage labor/human treatment.(2) save american jobs. Well, I think you could venture to Latin America and Mexico to find folks working in sweatshops making clothes dirt cheap.
I can understand the buy american and dont buy any import thinking (though I wouldn’t necessarily agree with it completely, depending on quality of goods)…I understand how people would be concerned about losing jobs/opportunities to any/all foreign competition.Plenty of imports from Latin America/Mexico, plenty of imports from Europe. If americans are really interested in protectionism, target every foreign goods.
Why stop at China or Japan?
I’m not suggesting you think this way, so pardon me if it sounds like I’m implicating you.
But it seems to me that a lot of this china (and japan bashing in the 80ies) isn’t just about buying american and saving american jobs (it is from a indoctrination perspective)..It seems like what is more likely being said…make sure no one else in the world is more successful than us and ensure no one else has a better economic wealth/power than americans.
Sounds to me people view successful foreign countries as a threat because it is quite possible that their ability/wealth to surpass us is extremely threatening/disconcerting to americans who are use to being #1…The mere thought of some other country potentially being economically near equivalent in influence strikes fear/concern/doubt/etc. Perhaps the reason why americans don’t fell threatened by LatinAmerica/Mexico and slave labor form their is that those countries will for a long time stay stay desolate and poor and we will be able to exert influence on them as such.
It just seems kind of strange the impression i get is that it’s “ok” to buy imports from poor/impoverished countries whom our wealth and economic power can crush them and get them to do our bidding but “not ok” to buy imports from countries that are successful and potentially can have a very big economic clout internationally.
Anyway, in case people haven’t noticed. America (this country) has ALWAYS exploited cheap labor. First it was slaves, then it was chinese railroad workers, then it was illegal immigrants, and now it’s outsourcing work to foreign countries whose cost of living is lower than ours. It’s built into our capitalist system.
Some of you should start bashing/boycotting your elected government officials and CEO’s for allowing this to begin with….
If you need examples, I can name quite a bit of them….You folks should all boycott HP and not buy any HP printers/computers/etc. Because they intentionally try to make it difficult to hire U.S. workers. I won’t even begin to tell you all the stories in that company.
