Foreign cars
Said It before, and I'll say It again,..."Earn the American Dollar, Speak the American Language, Buy American Products",...And while your at It, Thank a Vet for preserving your right to make bad decicions about what you buy while not supporting the country that lets you have the freedom to do so. Charity starts at home, especially in todays economy
READ your labels, I DO,...On the average Only 25% of the money you spend on your Mazduzu or Hondota stay's here. If you can't at least try to support American business and manufacturing, Don't ***** about this country going to hell in a handbasket. If you habitually put foreign stuff in your house or your driveway, your basically telling your kids that Its ok trash America,....
All of my vehicles run 250k miles or better,(it helps to open the hood once a year)...And my Caliber was built in USA, 83%, costs me 15 grand and gets 35 mpg 50k miles young and running strong...so the argument that foreign cars are better doesn't hold water with me, It just means you didn't do your homework as well as you should have,....
Any American veteran who buys a new foreign car should be ashamed,(did you serve to keep America great or was It just a job you did?). Your a hypocrite when you put the stars and stripes on that vehicle,that goes for Union decals and plates as well,...
Now If the UAW would pull Its collective head out of ITs *** and stop letting our cars get built in Mexico and Canada,(no offence to the CAW, but like I said, charity starts at home), we would be alot better off,(with decent wages comes more money spent here,Thats the economy in action)...But I'm sure the guy in Indiana making 15 an hour puttin your Subaru (spelled backwards is Urabus pron:you rob us) together doesn't care about that or that his bosses can barely speak the queens english.
USA,...The new third world county, thanks to corporate greed and American indifference.
In this day and age I feel its closed minded to think that we can buy "only American" products.
Its not just the car purchases that only matter...its all the small stuff......your TV, your radio, your cell phone, your clothing.....I will bet you have waaaaaay more "foreign" stuff in your house than US Made. Betcha you are wearing socks made in India and a shirt made in Sri Lanka. The computer you are using is likely made in china, as is the wrist watch you are wearing.
The list goes on and on.
America has given away its manufacturing edge to the rest of the world because of greed on the American worker and consumer side more than anything.
We bought our 2006 Hyundai Sonata brand new. We wanted a Chevy Malibu at the time, but the lack of safety features (like rear wheel disk brakes, side curtain airbags to name a couple) we standard on the Sonata and non existent on the Malibu. And the Malibu was more money. Easy choice there....Chevy gave that sale to Hyundai. Ok, so am I wrong for wanting the most safety for the same money? By your definition of "patriotic" I should have forsaken my wife and kids safety in order to "keep america working", aside from the money hit I would have taken.
We recently bought a brand new base model v62011 Mustang.....and the damn thing doesnt even come with a spare tire or key-locks in th doors or trunk....Ford claims it is for 'weight savings"....LOL......we know better.....its cheaper for them to give us a "tire mobility kit" (a cheap airpump that has a built in can of tire sealant that you have to get refills for at the dealer by the way) than to give the new owner a proper spare tire , jack and tools. "Who needs door locks when you have keyless entry?" Yeah, until the battery is dead and you cant get into the car at all. We bought the car because of its 300 hp V6 and the fact that my wife has wanted a Stang for many years. THAT is why Ford made the sale. And the after-care we have recieved from Ford SUCKS. Pre-written boiler plate answers to our questions/complaints.
Value wise, we would have got more car with an import.
So whose fault is that?
Funny that no one is mentioning the other critical key issue here....the greedy american worker/consumer.
People love to demonize the big faceless corporations for wanting to make maximum profit for their investment.
But what about the typical American worker who wants to make the most money and benefits for the least amount of work? Ya know, the folks who want to be "middle class" with a house in the burbs, 2.5 cars in the driveway and a comfy nest egg while doing labor or grunt jobs 37 hours a week.
You cannot make an "American product" that the thrifty American consumer will buy as long as the American worker is looking for maximum money for least work.
Illegal immigrants can find work so easily because no American wants to do the real grunt work for the low pay it can afford. Again, we are giving away work.
As Americans, we all want the MOST/BEST product for our money and want to spend less and less to get that. But we want the MOST money and BEST benefits for the least amount of work.
If its OK to tell corporations that they should make less profit then it should be Ok to tell the American worker to stop expecting to make $60k/yr with full benefits for grunt work.
$15/hr plus full benefits isn't a bad wage for inserting part A onto part B and attaching bolts 1,2,3,4 and 5 and sending it down the line.
Back in the day, assembly line work made sense to companies like Ford because it was CHEAP.
Unions have taken that benefit away.
Christ almighty....the local grocery store here had the BAGGERS trying to unionize! Who the hell ever heard of someone making a CAREER outr of baggiung groceries? That is supposed to be a kid's job or a job one takes to make extra money or as a stop gap when they find themselves out of a real job. But these baggers want full benefits!
SERIOUSLY!?!?
We will ALL have to bite the bullet some.....corporations as well as the consumer and employee...if we are to ever reverse the mess we are in.
American workers will have to give up some pay and/or benefits, the American consumer will have to pay a little more for everything and American comopanies will have to make a little less profit.....in that way, there will be more of everything to go around.
Until then, foreign companies and workers will be glad to do the work for the low pay that we wont accept and sell us products for less money and American companies will continue to find ways to stay in business while using other countries as production hubs for their products.