Buying USA Challenge

[dragonlaurel]

You probably need to grow it yourself or buy at the farmers market to know where the food is really from theses days. If you want foods that aren't in season, good luck.
Some of the local food movement blogs might have tips on where people got other stuff, too. Some of them were trying to buy only in certain distance limits on other stuff too.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Well, I'm still going to try to buy American made. I realize it's not going to be easy. Nearly everything here comes from other countries.

I am not opposed to eating foods when they are in season. We don't eat shrimp. We rarely eat pineapple, but we do like bananas.

Our local grocery sells locally grown veggies. I like that aspect of the local store A LOT! And the meat is cut fresh, and we can have it cut to order.

Really, I'm trying to figure out why I even ventured to Walmart! Sure, I pay a higher price at the local grocery, but I'm beginning to think the higher price is worth it.

I have no problem paying more if it means American made.

 

[big brown horse]

As children in South TX we used to get sugar cane to chew on...I still see it in the grocery stores down there, it may be from Mexico now, but I'm pretty sure Domino is a USA company located in the south.

 

[BeccaOH]

Good thread.

I've noticed the food origin more and more since reading the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

I started getting Florida's Natural OJ. It ain't cheap for US oranges that have not been concentrated, but worth it in taste and peace of mind. I went to get it one day and found ingredients with foreign oranges. I think it was a knock off brand or cheap line from the same company, so be careful.

 

[sufficientforme]

We have been trying really hard for the past few years to buy more American made items, you just have to be willing to pay a little more. My ultimate decision on major purchases this year for example I chose the All American brand pressure canner. Also I purchased an American made dehydrator, and all our vehicles are American made.
I am trying to buy most of my veggies locally at the Farmers market however we have a child with severe food allergies so you will find me shopping at the Asian markets out of pure necessity. And I am thankful that they are available to purchase here.
I don't think foreign trade is bad, I am just trying to keep some jobs locally instead of globally right now.
My Mom sent me this site I bookmarked and was going to look through for the upcoming holidays.
http://www.americansworking.com/

 

[me&thegals]

E.t.a. -- IMHO it basically comes down to about 42% of the problem being that people do not want to pay $200 for a pair of shoes that, made in china, costs $50; and about 42% of the problem being that people expect easy availability of things like shrimp and pineapples which frankly (now that the offshore shrimping isn't what it used to be) are just not items the US is naturally a-rollin' in; and the remaining 6% of the problem being that comparable goods could perfectly well be produced in the US and simply aren't due to people just not giving a fig til recently where things were actually grown/made.

Pat--I never thought you'd be caught in a math error!! Might want to recheck those percentages

Your point is good, though. We want everything, we want it every time of year and we want it cheap. Oops--you mean that doesn't mean it will all come from our own country?

I'm working hard to get only produce from America and as local and seasonal as possible. I'm not ready to give up chocolate yet, though, or herbs and spices that I don't grow. Husband isn't ready to give up coffee.

In general, I don't believe in all-or-nothing thinking anyway. I'm very glad to have moved towards more local purchases as it just seems to make more sense from an energy standpoint and a supporting my local folks point of view

 

[ducks4you]

I used to always look for American products to buy. But, today we should examine Why companies are now outsourcing. Remember "Hershey", the chocolate maker? They built a town in Pennsylvania to create their products. The unions to whom their workers belonged to priced the workers out of their jobs--jobs that went to Mexico. Job loss in Pennsylvania so that Hershey can compete and still sell their product without charging lots more, for a "kiss." JUST LIKE GENERAL MOTORS! And, to make it worse, the union bosses are still employed but the union membership that is out of work is G r o w i n g.
EVERYBODY needs to give to fix these problems that we have today, problems which were growing for several decades from greed on BOTH SIDES.

I am old enough to remember when Japanese electronics were considered cheap (like the line from "Back to the Future," "Doc, the Best things come from Japan!") That happened during the last US recession (1970's) when we were told to suck it up. We even had a misery indext. Japan kept creating. The US didn't.

I know of at least one client of my DH's business who is management in a company that closed a factory recently. They COULD NOT AFFORD to stay in business and also meet the wage hike demands of that plant's workers.

We need to police our own and keep a balance.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

I'm not opposed to foreign trade, I'm opposed to everything being foreign trade.

American's (not all, just many of them) have become lazy and want to collect a paycheck without doing the job. Then they want a raise, so they're getting paid more for the work they're not doing. Companies can't keep up with the pay hikes, especially when minimum wage keeps climbing, so they send their companies overseas where people are willing to work for half of what Americans will.

The end result is less and less is American made. How do we change that?

It boils down to greed. Everyone wants the almighty dollar (which is worth nothing without the gold to back it) and they don't care who gets hurt during their hunt to acquire said dollar.

 

[patandchickens]

Pat--I never thought you'd be caught in a math error!! Might want to recheck those percentages

LOL, good eye! But actually if you knew me you'd not be surprised at all -- I tend to have trouble when calculations go past 10 (or 20 if I'm barefoot) I just use a calculator a lot. Clearly I should use it *more* of the time <g>

When I was a kid and lived in Hawaii, there were huge farms of sugar cane and pineapple. Now I'm sure that it is so urbanized.

I don't know about right now, but come to think of it, last time I visited Hawaii, about 15-20 years ago, there *were* still large cane plantations on Maui (that would make a giant mess when they were burning 'em off), and huge pineapple plantations, some on Maui but also what's that smaller island that I think Dole owns? I would be shocked if at least a reasonable fraction of those cane and pineapple acreages weren't still in production.

Still, remember when "jet fresh pineapples" from Hawaii were periodically available in stores, and how much they COST compared to today's pineapples from Costa Rica and so forth?

(Plus which, Hawaii may be politically part of the US but it ain't exactly "local" )

Pat

 

[Big Daddy]

I remember my parents getting a jet fresh pineapple in a box. Way overpriced, but pretty much all pineapple was in cans back then.

Before every body gets carried away picking on the lazy worker that wants a bunch of money for nothing. Remember your history lessons and what it was like in the US before those horrible unions. The unions are why there is a middle class in this country.We used to have a 2 class system and if it was up to the top 2% we would be a 2 class system again. They don't have to raise prices to the point you can't afford to buy a Hershey Bar. They could raise it a little and take less profit. Instead they send the job overseas and make a huge mark up. They maintain their US address and avoid what little tariff there is. Then the icing on the cake. They put their ill gotten gains in a Swiss bank so it can't be taxed. If everybody, not just the middle class paid their taxes we would have a little more money to go around. Sure the upper 2% allegedly pay more but after all their tax loopholes they pay less percentage wise than a 40k a year wage worker. Ask Warren Buffet what he pays percentage wise compared to his secretary.

Blaming Americans as being lazy isn't real fair. How many complaints have I heard about the customer service people in India and how annoying they are. Do you think they can handle any more calls or provide better customer service then a woman in Texas could? No, they take just as many or less and have a lot lower CS scores. Does the company care? NO!!!!. It saves them billions of dollars. More jets and French Chateaus for the CEO and his minions. It's all about greed alright.

Sorry, I hate greed. How many houses does a person need?