Last chance, Made in USA.......

[Roger Savatteri]

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Omaha.com Money Section



related.......

Workers sorry Vise-Grip plant moving to China - Local business- msnbc.com

ToolCrib.com Exclusive: Nail Jack Tools, Inc. to Purchase DeWitt Vise-Grip Factory? - ToolCrib.com Blog


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[Brian Elfert]

I guess no more buying Vise-Grips just because they are made in the USA. Might as well buy the generic made in China version that might be made in the same plant!

I try to buy made in the USA when I have a choice, but more and more is going to China. Bosch/Vermont American screwdriver bits were USA made until recently. I don't think the big box stores carry any screwdriver bits made in the USA anymore except the assortments that will probably be Chinese soon too.

[Burt Alcantara]

Most likely every piece of cloth in your house, including your shoes, are made elsewhere. In fact, look around your entire house. The only thing you can be sure of that is USA made is your house. Probably nothing else.

Your so called Made In USA American car probably has more parts made abroad then manufactured here.

It's a fact of life that we are a global economy with product coming from everywhere in the world. Rice, a staple in all non European nations is produced in the US as is soy beans. We export more wood then we use at home. The Japanese crave our melons and citrus. We can export them cheaper then they can sell their own.

We do make products but most are not consumed at home.

Burt

[glenn bradley]

Let's take back some of that money we gave those crooks (oh, that's right, we aren't sure where it all went) and provide an incentive to keep the plant here and keep those people working.

Its just not that easy, is it?

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
Sad news indeed.

There's two things which are unique to American manufacture which can't be duplicated by any other country.

1.) The 60's vintage Chrysler 426 Hemi.
2.) Vice Grips.

By coincidence, I just picked up a set of 10" Vice Grips last week.
I figured $10.00 was a good price.
Maybe not?
I'm looking at them & don't see anywhere on the stamped "Made in USA".

I could swear that within the last two years, I've seen some stamped "Made in the USA".
There was even a thread in the General forum about Made in the USA tools & I mentioned Vice Grips - then had to double check when someone questioned it - and sure enough, an image showed they were.

Ok - I had to look. I dug out an old set & sure enough, they are stamped.

Grrr.
Not only that, but the old set is clearly better made w/more "meat" where it counts.

Thanks for nothing Irwin!

[Brian Elfert]

True enough that lots of stuff in our houses is foreign made, but that is no reason not to seek out USA made stuff when possible.

We are buying more stuff from overseas than they are buying from us so we have less and less manufacturing jobs. We are certainly in a global economy, but that should mean a fairly even balance of trade.

[John Coloccia]

When I'm opening a can of chicken stock, I like to use that old style of can opener where you put it on the lip of the can, lift it up and it makes a little triangular hole....you know what I'm talking about?

Anyhow, I seemed to be buying one of these things every 6 months or so. No matter what brand I got, it always seemed to bend almost immediately, and would only work a couple of times before becoming absolutely useless.

I thought about it and realized that my mom had the same darn can opener today that she had 35 years ago, and it still works like the day she bought it. I did something that my wife thought I'd NEVER do...I said, "Honey, can you take me to that antique store you were telling me about?". Her jaw just about dropped.

In a box in the corner, I found an old can/bottle opener. On one side it was stamped "Schaefer Beer" or something, and the other said "Made in the USA". It works just like my mom's, and only cost me $.50.

I'm becoming much less concerned about American business than I am about completely loosing our ability to acquire products that work....at any price....made anywhere. That seems to be the current trend as soon as production for a particular item moves 100% overseas. Suddenly there's no more gold standard, and quality plummets.

[Clay Crocker]

Originally Posted by John Coloccia

When I'm opening a can of chicken stock, I like to use that old style of can opener where you put it on the lip of the can, lift it up and it makes a little triangular hole....you know what I'm talking about?

It's called a "church key".

[Mike Wellner]

You can thank Newell Rubbermaid for tainting the irwin name!

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Back in the mid 1990's the Sherman Act was put on a shelf and the word monopoly was redefined.

The energy and telecom companies were allowed to merge in to the small cluby sets they are today. Microsoft was allowed to become a monopoly. Many businesses went global like they never had before and have become what the old school Sherman Act was intended to prevent.

This concentrated money in the hands of fewer and fewer entities.

They were able to pursue what I call the poverty train around the globe making things where it's cheap and selling 'em where it's dear. Thus concentrating more and more wealth in the hands of a very few.

Money must be highly mobile flowing freely through a society for that society to have a healthy economy.

NAFTA, CAFTA etc., need to be abolished.
The Sherman Act needs to be enforced according to it's plain language.
A lot of juggernaught corporations need to be broken into smaller elements.

Other than that I fear that eventually we here in the USA will have sneaker manufacturing plants where we are paid pennies a day to toil away making 'em for the Asian and pacific rim countries.