I've ordered a number of Wright Tool products from this company:
How To Buy American/Not Buy Chinese
- Thread starter roguemocha
- Start date
I also do a little woodworking as a hobby. The best hand tools (planes, chisels, saws, etc.) are made in the USA. For example Lie Nielsen tools are some of the best you can buy. They are pricey, as you would expect, but they are first rate in terms of quality. There aren't many American made woodworking machines still being produced. One of the few is Northfield, but they mainly produce three phase commercial machines. Most new single phase machines (table saws, band saws, jointers, planers, etc.) are built in Taiwan or China. The quality is pretty good but doesn't rise to level of the old American made machines. Some people buy old American machines instead of new foreign made machines because they feel it's a better machine at a lower price. People even buy old American made three phase machines and run them off of a variable frequency drive because they are the same price or less then the new Taiwan/Chinese machines with much better quality. I recently purchased an old 12" three phase American made jointer that I plan to run from a variable frequency drive. The weight and quality of the machine far exceeds the jointer I currently have that was made in Taiwan.
On a side note, labor arbitrage is the only reason the USA has lost jobs to China, Taiwan, etc. Capital will always flow to low cost manufacturing areas. It makes me wonder if countries should have created tariffs that standardized the standard of living (cost of labor) built into products. That way goods would be produced in manufacturing facilities that can produce them in the most efficient way. Labor arbitrage means goods can be produced less efficiently but still at a lower cost simply by taking advantage of cheap labor and lower standards of living, which is not a great utilization of resources. I would have to find it, but I'm pretty sure I read that the advancement in manufacturing efficiency has dramatically slowed since it has become common to take advantage of labor arbitrage.
On a side note, labor arbitrage is the only reason the USA has lost jobs to China, Taiwan, etc. Capital will always flow to low cost manufacturing areas. It makes me wonder if countries should have created tariffs that standardized the standard of living (cost of labor) built into products. That way goods would be produced in manufacturing facilities that can produce them in the most efficient way. Labor arbitrage means goods can be produced less efficiently but still at a lower cost simply by taking advantage of cheap labor and lower standards of living, which is not a great utilization of resources. I would have to find it, but I'm pretty sure I read that the advancement in manufacturing efficiency has dramatically slowed since it has become common to take advantage of labor arbitrage.
-labor arbitrage is absolutely a significant factor in why jobs were sent to SE asia...but it is absolutely *not* the only reason we're in the shape we're in.
^labor cost is huge for sure...but other operating costs play a major factor as well. Energy costs, construction and maintenance costs, waste disposal costs and so on and so forth.
^labor cost is huge for sure...but other operating costs play a major factor as well. Energy costs, construction and maintenance costs, waste disposal costs and so on and so forth.
^ it’s not that they are so enormously large. They wouldn’t bankrupt a company and the top executives would still be millionaires. It’s just that other countries costs are so ridiculously less. Borderline slave labor, absolutely bare minimum if any regulations, pollution out the ***. Either you’re a company that needs to have increasing profits for infinity and constant growth or you decide to stay in America. At least that’s the choice it’s been for a while. Don’t know how that changes.
^bingo.
-often, the actual goods aren't that much cheaper. I have two Burberry sweaters...one made in Italy and one made in China(had a similar experience to flt doc a couple years ago). Paid roughly the same price.
-it has to start at the consumer level...if people start to pay attention "vote with their wallets" if you will...maybe something will change.
^could be too late/finger in the dike...either way I'm gonna try to spend as little money on Chinese **** as possible.
-often, the actual goods aren't that much cheaper. I have two Burberry sweaters...one made in Italy and one made in China(had a similar experience to flt doc a couple years ago). Paid roughly the same price.
-it has to start at the consumer level...if people start to pay attention "vote with their wallets" if you will...maybe something will change.
^could be too late/finger in the dike...either way I'm gonna try to spend as little money on Chinese **** as possible.
This is absolutely true. Over regulation is another cost of operating in the United States that is often much less in other countries.
I will add one more thing that I firmly believe in, although I'm sure many will not. Corporations should not pay income taxes. They shouldn't pay taxes because in actuality they don't pay taxes. Any taxes are inherently built into the price of the product we buy. We pay the income taxes through the price of the product. Politicians try to sell Americans on the idea that if Ford pays a bunch of income taxes that we somehow save money because our taxes can be lower. The reality is that we pay our direct taxes and then we pay all corporate taxes through the price of the product. I wish someone would do a study to try and determine our actual tax rate accounting for taxes built into the price of the products we buy. I firmly believe that if we paid those taxes directly instead of through the price of the goods and service we buy, it would serve as a check on government spending. However, since so much of the taxes we pay are hidden in the price of the goods and service we buy, it makes people think the cost of supporting government spending is less than it actually is.
There used to be a guy on YouTube that would go around his house breaking everything he found from China with a baseball bat. Funny while it lasted. Especially his shock at each item like he'd been infiltrated by the commie red death.
They ship their stuff back and forth to China. It’s not made exclusively here. The process is pretty aggravating. A lot of companies do it to different degrees. It allowed it to say it’s made in the USA or manufactured here but pretty rare that it is 100% US made.
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