Comments on Frugal Bachelor: Buying Made in the USA = Perpetuating Lavish Lifes...

I don't buy it. You're making the assumption that...

2009-06-18T06:44:32.873-05:00

I don't buy it. You're making the assumption that purchasing goods manufactured in a country supports the average lifestyle of people in that country.

Of course that's not true -- our conspicuous consumption has been driven and enabled by extremely cheap goods manufactured by a very cheap workforce. Our financial culture assumes that manufacturing is cheap.

If we were willing to pay for value, i.e. quality over quantity, we wouldn't have NEARLY the conspicuous consumption we have today. Every time you chose quality over cheap, you support companies (not just countries) that produce the quality products and give them incentive to pay a premium for quality workers who enable the quality products.

It's not just about countries here -- your thesis is wrong because you are supporting cheap over quality, and thus perpetuating a culture that doesn't care what they're buying as long as it's dirt cheap.

what are you a socialist now? do you want everyon...

2009-06-11T16:17:14.238-05:00

what are you a socialist now? do you want everyone in the whole world to pool their money and then distribute it evenly so that no one is "disadvantaged"? growing up in this country gave you the OPTION to buy whatever brand you choose. don't judge people who choose to support the american workforce. are you sending money overseas to buy one of those african miners a car? no? the beautiful thing about america is you can choose to do anything you want with your money. if you want to even out the playing field, be my guest. go ahead and send that african miner money for a car. still aren't sending that money? please don't judge the rest of us that aren't either.

I think the "world" goal (unsustainable goal) is t...

2009-06-11T13:28:40.686-05:00

I think the "world" goal (unsustainable goal) is to bring a more lavish lifestyle to 3rd world places, not to bring the US down to a less lavish level.

Interesting perspective. I don't focus much on buying american or not.

Thought maybe you'd be interested/good at in this:
http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/the-unconventional-writing-contest/

For better or worse I would suspect that vehicle o...

2009-06-11T13:10:19.893-05:00

For better or worse I would suspect that vehicle ownership is going to be a growing trend in China and especially India.

Understanding what third world countries and first...

2009-06-11T11:31:48.752-05:00

Understanding what third world countries and first world countries are good at will give a better understanding of what you are buying and from where. The Chinese are very very good at putting together 100,000 of the very same thing over and over and over. What you do not trust them to do is customize any product. That is why it comes to the USA.

Most high end tech companies (Apple, Sun, Cisco) have the base assembly made in China or Vietnam or others, then send the product to a final assembly, fit and test facility before it goes to a customer. That Dell you bought from Best Buy came directly from a Quanta Factory in China to Best Buy's warehouse. That Dell you bought from Dell.com, came from the Quanta factory in China, to a final assembly facility in Nashville, and then was shipped to your house. That is why cell phones and (ipods) are made in china, the same thing over and over and over. It is also why it is a crap shoot on how long your cell phone will last.

The interesting thing (at least on computer products) is the miniscule difference in price between having something built in the USA and China. The manufacture value added (Labor and B&C Parts) is about 8 bucks in China versus 21 in the USA. Not a big difference especially when you figure between 4-8 dollars of that is eaten up by shipping. But in our quest to save that extra 5 bucks we buy from China.

What do you give up from having it built in China? Higher quality control, environmental and pollution controls and companies actually risk their quarterly earnings. Those plants in China, have fire sprinklers in their plants. Only one problem. No water to feed them. If a fire burns the plant down the company is essentially SOL in the 3 months it takes them to build new tools and get in line with the other 14 companies that had the product built in that facility.

Some things I am very worried about being made in third world countries including food and medicines. How many melamine scares have we had. Tainted Heparin, baby formula, etc.

Interesting take on buying USA made goods. I'd li...

2009-06-11T09:53:00.491-05:00

Interesting take on buying USA made goods. I'd like to see a response to this by the UAW or similar group. I personally have never been one to buy something just because it was made in a certain country - I look for the best value and reliability.

So if I am not a humanitarian and want to sustain ...

2009-06-11T08:08:11.265-05:00

So if I am not a humanitarian and want to sustain my american lifestyle then I should (and convince others to) continue to purchase american to have everything I want. I don't want to throw away my air conditioner or quit using my personal vehicle. Yes I won the ovarian lottery to, and you know what... I will take my winnings and enjoy them as much as I can.

But yes, there are some issues with everyone trying to do it, but still they can be happier with their life without all the stuff I have then more power to them.