EU warns of trade war

Drifterwood

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I will be trying to buy locally as much as possible but only to a point. I think you should support your community (whatever its range) as much as possible.

But this plan to buy only American in the stimulus plan was really dumb and would have sparked a trade war from which no one would have won.
 

midlifebear

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Drifterwood speaks wisely. If and when I'm ever in the market for a new automobile in the USA I will most certainly not buy a Ford, GMC, or Chrysler product. Nope. No way. Ain't gonna happen. But I'll consider an 'Mericuhn assembled Toyota or Honda.
 

B_starinvestor

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This goes back to Obama's wholesale ignorance in the area of business/economy. I believe he was only trying to do right by way of the American people, but its just not feasible to legislate.

You wouldn't believe how many people wanted to buy US Steel after Obama made that proclamation.
 

faceking

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This goes back to Obama's wholesale ignorance in the area of business/economy. I believe he was only trying to do right by way of the American people, but its just not feasible to legislate.

You wouldn't believe how many people wanted to buy US Steel after Obama made that proclamation.


Wait a minute... everyone's an economist now?

Just like everyone was a foreign policy expert the last 6 years.
 

B_bi_in_socal

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This goes back to Obama's wholesale ignorance in the area of business/economy. I believe he was only trying to do right by way of the American people, but its just not feasible to legislate.

You wouldn't believe how many people wanted to buy US Steel after Obama made that proclamation.


You got that right. Failbama doesn't have a fucking clue about the economy or business because well, he's never been in business.

Like when he said he was going to "bankrupt" the coal industry.

I had to ROFL at that one. That's right, Barry. Bankrupt the coal industry so we can impeach your naive, ideological ass when our electricity bills quadruple.

LMAO!
 

B_starinvestor

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Fixed that for ya. :smile:

I know. I will concede that in his position, it is imperative that he plays the role of 'expert' in virtually every area...but in the area of business I would liken this to inserting a local McDonald's manager into the post of Treasury Secretary.

Damn. And the framework of our current economy is starving for the exact opposite.

In fairness, McCain is a dipshit in these same matters. But Obama with the National checkbook is as appropriate as Micheal Moore writing a fitness manual.
 
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deleted15807

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The wholesale ignorance belongs to the Bush Crime Syndicate that took as the the cliffs of oblivion. And it's unique form of Disaster Capitalism (tax cuts, ballooning defecits, free war, pre-emptive war, zero regulations, the list is endless).
 
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vince

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A legislated "Buy American" clause starting a trade war is not a good idea nor is it needed. Americans need to get over the idea that the things they produce are shoddy and buy more from their own manufacturers.

American cars are good cars. Some of the models are wrong, there is room for improvement, but the quality is good enough for the average person. There have been huge improvements since the 1980's.

I guess part of the problem is that so many manufacturing jobs have been shipped overseas over the past thirty years, you just don't make stuff anymore. I recently read that the number of manufacturing jobs in the states is 12.6 million. This the lowest number since the late 1940's. 3 million jobs were axed between 2000 and 2006 alone. It's not all outsourcing of course. Manufacturing is much more efficient today than in the 1950's. Workers doing repetitive assembly tasks have been replaced with robots and 'lean manufacturing' practices (think Dell), are replacing the old 'command and control' style of management. But many producers have found it cheaper to simply close the factory and relocate or outsource overseas, rather than redesign plants and retrain workers.

The US trade deficit has been growing for years. In 2007 was 700 billion dollars. How long can a nation afford to keep this kind of spending levels?

American companies should produce more in the US and be willing to sacrifice a little profit to do so. American consumers should think about where their dollars go when they spend them and make choices that benefit their country.
 

Drifterwood

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American companies should produce more in the US and be willing to sacrifice a little profit to do so. American consumers should think about where their dollars go when they spend them and make choices that benefit their country.

If only. I can't see it happening. It would be great if everyone woke up to the fact that "Household" names don't create any real wealth in the country where they are supposed by the consumers to come from. They exploit cheap labour sources overseas and keep the profits offshore, so they aren't even contributing a fair share of their profits to the tax revenue.

Buy from companies that pay tax in America, rather than buy American.
 

vince

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If only. I can't see it happening. It would be great if everyone woke up to the fact that "Household" names don't create any real wealth in the country where they are supposed by the consumers to come from. They exploit cheap labour sources overseas and keep the profits offshore, so they aren't even contributing a fair share of their profits to the tax revenue.

Buy from companies that pay tax in America, rather than buy American.
Yes. I know it's probably to idealistic to expect, but if the people would use some common sense instead of automatically thinking "imported=quality", they would find many good US made products that function quite well.

As for the Buy American clause in the stimulus package, it's a red-herring. The Feds already have regulations governing US content in procurement contracts.