Thread: Joe's day

Joe Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock (made in Japan) for 6 a.m. While his coffee pot (made in China) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor (made in Hong Kong). He put on a dress shirt (made in Sri Lanka),designer jeans (made in Singapore) and tennis shoes (made in Korea). After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet (made in India) he sat down with his calculator (made in Mexico) to see how much he could spend today. After setting his watch (made in Taiwan) to the radio (made in India) he got in his car (made in Germany) filled it with gas (from Saudi Arabia) and continued his search for a good paying American job. At the end of another discouraging and fruitless day checking his computer (made in Malaysia), Joe decided to relax for a while. He put on his sandals (made in Brazil) poured himself a glass of wine (made in France) and turned on his TV (made in Indonesia), and then wondered why he can't find a good paying job in America.....

Exactly!

When I think of quality items that last the countries mentioned in the artical are not the first ones that come to mind.
I wonder how often he has to replace the items that he bought.
Example a pair of pet grooming clippers made in asia has a 1 year warranty and costs ~100-200$
A pair of clippers made here in america(Oxnard CA) that can go three times as fast and comes with a 5 year warranty 300~350$

Which is the better item?

Quality clothes home sewn or not should last about four years with proper care*. How long do the less expensive imported clothes last? There's a reason the fashions change so fast it's to cover up the fact that the dress you washed five times is now a rag.

If we started shopping wisely and thinking about the quality of what we are buying american products are the better bargain.





*Sears Toughskins excepted -I have a 30 year old dark blue pair of low-rider bell bottoms that are immortal and not through lack of use/abuse even when they were out of fashion the first time. You can no longer buy them for a reason- you only need three pair for the rest of your life. It was like they were made of the fabric in The Man In The White Suit.

Joe goes shopping at his local grocery store. He hears announcements in Spanish. Is that a Spanish soundtrack subtlely playing in the background? He's not sure. Then the kindly lady hands him a coupon packet. He notices that it is in Spanish and English from Procter and Gamble. The Spanish is first in Bold with the English underneath and smaller. Joe decides to buy another brand of laundry detergent.

On the way home he goes through the drivethrough window and can barely be understood when ordering. Even though he lives in one state Joe sees license plates from another state while driving around town.

(Oh, I can go on. And of course I'm describing my own day yesterday...)



Joe decides to put his house up for sale.

Originally Posted by 5

When I think of quality items that last the countries mentioned in the artical are not the first ones that come to mind.
I wonder how often he has to replace the items that he bought.
Example a pair of pet grooming clippers made in asia has a 1 year warranty and costs ~100-200$
A pair of clippers made here in america(Oxnard CA) that can go three times as fast and comes with a 5 year warranty 300~350$

Which is the better item?

Quality clothes home sewn or not should last about four years with proper care*. How long do the less expensive imported clothes last? There's a reason the fashions change so fast it's to cover up the fact that the dress you washed five times is now a rag.

If we started shopping wisely and thinking about the quality of what we are buying american products are the better bargain.





*Sears Toughskins excepted -I have a 30 year old dark blue pair of low-rider bell bottoms that are immortal and not through lack of use/abuse even when they were out of fashion the first time. You can no longer buy them for a reason- you only need three pair for the rest of your life. It was like they were made of the fabric in The Man In The White Suit.

There's a lot of truth in this. I have a pair of western boots I paid one hundered dollars for ten years ago but just threw away a pair of chinese boots that cost twenty five dollars and lasted only one summer.

I should also add these cheap products place American lives at risk, years ago I worked as a ambulance mechanic and was sent out to repair a new rig, the crew was a bit ticked off and wanted to know why a new ambulance would break down, I simply handed the the box the the replacment part came in and told them to read it, it said "made in Hungary". This could have easily broke down on a life threatening call!

Yeah. I remember when Wal-Mart had that big 'Made in the USA' campaign. We need something like that again.