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Trying to buy USA made.

Started by Qweaver, December 08, 2010, 09:31:05 AM

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WildDog

Its no different down-under, my boy and I are just about to head out and check the yabby traps we have set. When we set them last night I pulled the label of 2 new ones "made in China" these traps are called "Opera House" named after the best known Aussie building on the banks of Sydney Harbour...........Maybe they should be named Great Wall, oh wait a minute thats the name of a vehicle they are flogging over here.

We have very little restrictions on OS investors buying property down here, we are seeing an alarming amount of quality rural land being bought up by foreign investors from China, the Aussie Govt has just decided to commission a study into how much has been sold already.
If you start feeling "Blue" ...breath    JD 5510 86hp 4WD loader Lucas 827, Pair of Husky's 372xp, 261 & Stihl 029

northwoods1

Quote from: WildDog on December 11, 2010, 03:37:09 PM


We have very little restrictions on OS investors buying property down here, we are seeing an alarming amount of quality rural land being bought up by foreign investors from China, the Aussie Govt has just decided to commission a study into how much has been sold already.

Hmmm... foreigners buying up quality rural land?  ??? I don't know what to think of that for sure... What the ramifications of that might amount to. I think my 1st question would be is why are they buying up the quality rural land, for what purpose? With all the new rich people in china they are probably just trying to find something to spend there money on I imagine :D


isawlogs

 
  To feed there country in a near futur .  ;)
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

Bandmill Bandit

We had that happening in Western Canada starting in the early 70s. A lot of them (from europe) tried to be absentee land lords on large tracts of prime ag land.
didnt take em long to figure out that if your gona pay someone a high 5 digit wage plus bonuses for productivity that you will not see large profits if any at all. Many of the ones that did not sell out, moved here and are running the farms them selves and in most cases have become very good additions to the community. What we now have happening is Europeans selling dairy and poultry operations on a small property for very high $ and then coming here and buying large tracts of land for what we think are ridiculous prices and set up a new dairy and poultry that are quite often 2 or 3 times the size of the what they had in Europe and still have a lots of money left over. Lots of people don't like it but they are brining a competitive edge to the industry here because the high population density where they came from forces them to be much more aware of a efficiency, quality and appearance. Definitely not hurting the industry they get into in this country.
But so far we do not have Asians buying land here.       

Skilled Master Sawyer. "Skilled labour don't come cheap. Cheap labour dont come skilled!
2018 F150 FX4, Husqvarna 340, 2 Logright 36 inch cant hooks and a bunch of stuff I built myself

Just Me

I have been trying to buy USA made products for many years, frusterating to say the least as you see one product after another move its manufacturing to China. I just bought a Pendleton shirt yesterdayl looked at the label, Indonesia.

I have a woodworking business, and trying to find modern tools at my business size level is impossible. There has been no innovation in woodworking tools here in fifty years, and American brands are just shells representing crap made in China. Most of my tool purchases in the last 15 years have been Italian, my next will probably be Austrian. They make what I want and they pay a living wage. I do not hate people from other countrys, and I do not begrudge them the opportunity to make a living. What I do hate is the basically slave labor conditions that some people work in and the companys that take advantage of this to make a profit. You will find no Chinese tools in my shop, although it is getting tough. I just bought a NOS Lion Trimmer, took me two years to find one, but I have the original, not a chinese copy from a company that stole the intellectual of an American company.

My brother and I designed and manufactured a tool for the automotive industry. Couldn't afford the pattent process, sold the tool through Eastwood Company, and did well for a while. As soon as it started to sell well a chinese company bought one, made a cheap copy, and our sales dropped to nothing, we quit production.

Why would anyone innovate on a small scale when there is no protection internationally of intellectual properties. This is killing us, and as I see it one of the key issues that need to be addressed. But our government is more interested in keeping the rest of the world happy, at our expense I might add, than they are in keeping us working.

I say keep our money here, stop trying to buy the rest of the worlds affection, invest in our future instead of using our tax dollars to strengthen our competition.

On a personal basis we can spend what dollars we are allowed to keep on products that are made here, or at least made in a country that allows a standard of living that is acceptable and gives its citizens the freedom to choose their own life path.

I'm ranting.... Sorry, I am very worried about my granddaughters future and get worked up sometimes.

Larry

KellyH

I was at HomeDepot the other day and I needed a couple 2x4's for a repair.  I had to look twice because the stamp on the wood read "Sweden".  I asked the guy at the store about it and he just shrugged his shoulders and said "I guess".  This made no sense to me at all.  I can't figure how it can be that lumber can come from so far away and make any profit. ::)
"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is who you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."

SwampDonkey

Quote from: Qweaver on December 08, 2010, 09:31:05 AM
The box says, United States Stove Company, South Pittsburg, Tn.  But when I open the box the damper casting has CHINA in the casting. 

I think China made a trillion of those dampers, every store has the same Chinese damper and the rod that goes through the pipe and through the loop holes in the damper is too soft, like aluminum. They were iron back in the day. Frustrating as all get out those dampers now.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

SwampDonkey

Quote from: Bandmill Bandit on December 11, 2010, 10:03:38 PM
so far we do not have Asians buying land here.       

Ask Samuel who owns his pulp mill. ;)

The reason those Europeans can do what they do is they have huge farm subsidies and marketing agencies that inflate their true capital worth. Your government is like ours, we give handouts to supplement the purchase of these farms, it's not all out of pocket. And who knows if the old country isn't cutting them a cheque just to reduce the number of producers, be it chickens, milk, beef or donkeys. ;) One such program over here is the "New Entrant Program". Come on over, here's a $1M to stuff in your pocket. :D

I can take you for a drive around the country and show you old farms many recent European immigrants acquired, farmed a goat for 3 or 4 years and either went back home, drive truck or got a government job. One fellow I know makes those travel maps, and the weeds and alders are growing up around his door. Sometimes there is a false impression created in someone's mind, more of a myth, that soon gets accepted as truth by many of the population. Makes good book writing sometimes, if you like fiction. ;)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

SwampDonkey

Oh, and about them boots. The price isn't cheaper for you and me when they make them in China, it's still a $300 boot around here. What it's about is profits.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

JIM GORMLEY

I dont think Redwings are made in the USAanymore
My bad, Redwing boots are but shoes are not
I live with fear and danger. On the weekends,I leave her and go wild boar hunting.

WH_Conley

I was in the boot store a couple of years ago trying to buy American made boots, couldn't find any. I spotted some Carhart boots, asked the salesman about them, they always bragged that their clothes were Union made. He replied that they were made by Redwing in one of their Chinese plants. ::)
Bill

SwampDonkey

Yeah and look at the difference in price of Dickies work units in Walmart compared to farmer stores. About half at Walmart, all made in China at either place. It would cost me about $60  for a suit of it here at a men's clothing shop in either NB or Maine, I've checked. $32 in Walmart in Maine. The only Canada made I see is at the saw shop, "Big Bills" still about $60 but made here at least so you don't feel so bad. They also make Wool pants i can't buy around here, but out west Bill Bill's wool pants are on department store shelves. I guess we are a warmer climate here now than 70 years ago. :D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Jasperfield

Arguably, the best boots in the world are made here, in the U.S., in Spokane, WA. by several privately held companies. Not the smallest of which is Whites Boot Company. Another is Nick's boots.

They are not cheap and do not appear or wear as cheap. But, they are the best. One pair will outlast several pairs of mid-level boots.

Peter Drouin

Hi all,  when you go into the big box stores and you see lumber, windows and doors that say made in Africa, Sweden or other places in the world, I've been told that the logs are being bought on the eastern shore of USA loaded on a ship from whatever country.  They cut, klin dry, and make the doors and windows and lumber out past the 200 mile limit.  The wood waste runs the ship and it makes a big loop, comes back to our shores and fills our big box stores with the wood and windows and such.  Look closely on some of the products. The factories are on the ocean. That's how they can sell things so cheap. Pete
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

Ironmower

My ex brother-in-law swore by Mason boots. If i'm not mistaken they're still made in Wisconsin.
WM lt35 hd 950 JD

fishpharmer

Built my own band mill with the help of Forestry Forum. 
Lucas 618 with 50" slabber
WoodmizerLT-40 Super Hydraulic
Deere 5065E mfwd w/553 loader

The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work. --Tom A. Edison

scgargoyle

Part of the problem is how slanted the playing field is. I work for a company that injection molds plastic goods. We can buy finished goods from China cheaper than we can buy the raw material here in the states. In other words, we could buy widgets from China, and re-grind the material and save money! Since plastic is a petroleum product, I don't see how they can do that, except for that they aren't following any safety or environmental rules, and the government is paying subsidies. Why would the government do that? To dominate world trade to the point of eliminating the competition. Once everyone else gives up on manufacturing, they can charge whatever they want. Not coincidentally, they will also be able to do whatever they want militarily. Everyone here will be too busy playing with their electronic gadgets to even notice.
I hope my ship comes in before the dock rots!

Brad_bb

Lot of interesting discussion in this thread.  My 2 cents

Taxation, over regulation, and litigation in this country now stifles our productivity.  A non level playing field via our own aforementioned problems and foreign dumping and subsidies hinder play.

I think it's dangerous for our country that so much manufacturing capability has been lost.  Once the skills and knowledge is gone, it's hard to get it back and can in some cases endanger our nations security.

We will always be in a global economy.  It makes sense that some places will be able to do some things more economically even with most things being equal.  But the playing field is too uneven at this point I think.

I worked in power tools.  Everyone went to China starting with Black and Decker and the last to go was Bosch.  While black and Decker figured out China was not the ultimate panacea, and began moving a bunch of it's operations back this way (to Mexico), Bosch was just starting to go to China and not learning from B&D.  While there is still such disparity in wages, power tools will scarcely come back to the US. 

One mans greed is a another mans Capitalism.  It's an issue of how you view these words.  If they are synonymous to you, then I don't think you believe in the ideals that build the USA.  I don't believe they are synonymous, but they are often used that way in modern media and by the current president.  The world doesn't function without profit and capitalism.  Who is to be the one decide what is profit and what is being greedy.  I'm am a believer in what the market is willing to pay.  That is not greed.  We don't have true free market capitalism in the US.  We have regulated  capitalism.  Some regulation is necessary, but over-regulation is damaging.  I'm just saying that you must be very careful about the use of Greed.  It's been overused to push certain agendas and sway emotion.

I'm just starting a very interesting book about the Fairtax.  People often pre-judge the fairtax because of it's name, that it automatically illicits skepticism.  It's a very interesting concept of simplifying our tax system and eliminating a vast portion of the IRS by having only a tax on consumption and eliminating all other taxes.  Of course there are a lot of skeptical questions thrown right up against this, but there seem to be answers to all of them.  There are a couple of books by Neil Bortz on the Fairtax.  Consider having a read.  I am now.  Something like this could help our economy overall and remove a lot of the corrupt power from our politicians(as it pertains to spending out money).
Anything someone can design, I can sure figure out how to fix!
If I say it\\\\\\\'s going to take so long, multiply that by at least 3!

beenthere

I am thinking getting rid of EPA would be the most favorable thing we could do for us and the world. They continue to dream up new mandates (and now Congress lets the Pres. tell them to make more) that just continue to shoot ourselves in the foot.

EPA has driven most of WI factories and companies out with their regulations. Just happens that these companies used to hire people to work, but that isn't happening anymore. Surprise! Surprise! (as I think Gomer Pile used to say)
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Larry

Quote from: beenthere on December 26, 2010, 12:36:54 PM
I am thinking getting rid of EPA would be the most favorable thing we could do for us and the world.

Do you think the EPA is run by the Chinese? >:(

It takes more time and money to write an environmental impact statement for a new factory in the US than building the factory in China.  I think that was one reason the furniture and textile factories left.  They couldn't be competitive in a 100 year old plant yet at the same time they couldn't modernize at reasonable cost.
Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

IMERC

Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish.... Here fishy fishy....

IMERC

Quote from: pineywoods on December 08, 2010, 07:25:38 PM
Went looking for a new pair of boots today. Everything I could find was made in china. Came home empty handed, still looking.

Chippewas
they have made in America..
just bought some...
Frye is still here...

and there are these...

http://www.madeinusa.org/nav.cgi?boolean=AND&case=Insensitive&start=0&group=20&terms=boots&x=17&y=7

http://www.constructiongear.com/made-in-usa-work-boots.html

http://www.american-made-boots.com/

http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/men.html

Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish.... Here fishy fishy....

Brucer

Quote from: scgargoyle on December 26, 2010, 08:45:06 AM
... I work for a company that injection molds plastic goods. We can buy finished goods from China cheaper than we can buy the raw material here in the states. In other words, we could buy widgets from China, and re-grind the material and save money! Since plastic is a petroleum product, I don't see how they can do that ...

China buys huge quantities of recycled plastic from overseas (i.e., North America & Europe). It gets shipped in the containers that came here full of consumer goods, so the shipping costs are minimal. Sorting is done by hand in China, often at the cottage industry level.

Because the China can sort and process the recycled plastic at very low cost, they can pay more for the raw material than North American recycling companies.
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

coldnorth

This is a hot topic.

Shoes. - I use Bellevilleshoe.com

Gotta say my piece.   We did this to ourselves.  Buying by price. (cheaper is better)
We can fix it ourselves.   If it says "made in China" put it back on the shelf.  Force retailers to find quality merchandise (not made in China).  I am convinced that we don't need Gov't taxes, tariffs. etc.  They have already messed stuff up enough!  If 60% of the population quits buying China Crap, the pedulum will start to swing back.  When I walk into a shoe store, first thing is "do you have any quality, USA made shoes"  if not, I leave.

Just my $0.02, or is it yuan now?
If you want something done correctly, you have to do it yourself.

IMERC

had/have a problem with an older 1617 router motor....
serial # leans towards it being a bad switch...
new switch is on the way....

in the course of the conversation with the tech I find that Bosch has closed their Chinese plant(s) and have pulled out of China...
the manufacturing is being brought back here to America...

seems Bosch couldn't have it their way with the Chinese, declared enough is enough and ended up telling the Chinese to "have a nice day"... appears somebody is listening to those who vote with their dollars....

is this a ray of sunshine....
I hope so...
Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish.... Here fishy fishy....

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