Posted on 09/01/2019 11:13:28 AM PDT by SilvieWaldorfMD
Last week, my brother-in-law stopped by here in Southern Maryland for an overnight visit with my nephew. They were driving from New Hampshire to South Carolina, where my nephew attends college. Prior to the visit, I thought I’d get a new tablecloth and placemats to show off my cooking and decor abilities. I thought I’d get a new lightbulb to replace one from a set of multiples in the bathroom vanities. Maybe a new soap holder. Maybe a new computer desk lamp. Little things to make the house look nice. Stuff that I’d buy at the spur-of-the-moment from my local Walmart, without hesitation. Those purchases did not take place. I shared with my husband that we’ll just have to “make with what we have” and that I will not spend one single red cent on any crap coming from China until they accept the Trump tariff deal.
Christmas Crap? Pffftttt… I will ask my husband for a new Toyota Camry since they’re made in Georgetown, Ky. - a place that employs 7,500 people. I will use the same decorations as last year. Everyday items: Toothpaste, Soap, Dishwashing Liquid, Gardening Tools, Clothes will not even be looked at if it has a “Made in China” tag.
China can SHOVE IT!
Nobody’s forcing you buy this this stuff.
The point is, aside from the threat of imminent military attack by the importing country, it should be a buyer’s choice, not the government’s choice either by fiat or artificially hiked prices.
Shopping is an addiction just like so many other habits we have.
I have never spent a penny on Amazon. I survived.
I haven’t been to a Wal Mart in a very long time.
Somehow I get by with what I have..
Good for you! I wish more people would “get woke” to this as a serious issue.
America’s relations with China is cyclical anyway. DJT has called a “top” in the present cycle, and things will soon start to change very noticeably, not only in trade, but in other areas also.
Dog Chow is about the only thing I go to WalMart for.
They have the 50 pound bags that the grocery store does not.
Made in America.
You might try a flea-market of secondhand stuff.
The Communist Chinese Party might not last to the next election according to Steve Bannon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH5QzuzD01A
Another expert on China agrees:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxyVZh_fVVw
I almost never go to ChinaMart anymore. It’s depressing.
Do you have business interests in China?
Or is your bottom line affected somehow by trade with China?
A couple years ago, I was at a store and asked where the typing paper was. What's typing paper??? was the response.
China can SHOVE IT!!!!
A noble sentiment but these days, difficult to observe. It’s one thing to refrain from purchasing elective items but sometimes you can’t avoid buying necessities.
Try buying any hardware (screws, bolts, nails, etc} not made in china. Their quality sucks too, but no choice. Had a new PVC pipe burst in my basement. The plumbing supplier said it was made in china. If you’re having workmen come over for some project chances are they’ll be using Chinese supplies and equipment and you won’t know about it.
Most electronics are made in china. I understand that the granite for cemetery monuments is coming from china. Hear that the corners often break off.
Again I’m in agreement but might modify your message to avoid buying Chinese unless you have no other choice and don’t care about quality.
I am very selective in making purchases and make a concerted effort to determine country of origin. Unfortunately it is sometimes difficult or impossible to determine country of origin because our government favors “globalism” and has been complicit in accepting international agency regulations minimizing or eliminating country of origin information.
Unfortunately many items are no longer made in the USA. When buying something no longer produced in this country I try to buy a used product in good serviceable condition (hand tools are an example). Even if the used product was originally made offshore, I am not contributing to the foreign country in making the used purchase since that contribution was made in the past when the product was originally imported. If I purchase a used Chinese toaster oven, all of the money from my purchase stays in the USA whereas if I had purchased a new product much of the purchase price would have gone overseas. The same goes with apparel. Goodwill and second hand shops are filled with foreign made shirts and trousers in very good condition. Spend $5.00 for a Chinese or Vietnamese produced shirt at Goodwill instead of $50.00 for the same shirt new at a department store.
Refurbishing old products you already own will also reduce demand for foreign products. Refinish or paint old furniture. Buy new grates and burners for an old gas BBQ grill. Buy or make a new lampshade and rewire an old lamp.
Buying used or second hand, when you can’t find a made in American product, reduces demand for new foreign goods and helps the US economy by keeping money inside the country. It also helps your bank account. A win for you and a win for America.
And it’s not just WalMart. It’s everywhere you go, you’ll find crap made in China.
Sometimes I get tunnel vision when shopping, I need drill bits, say. So I’ll run up to the hardware store and buy drill bits without checking and, Yep!, sure enough, Made in China. You’ve gotta keep your guard up all the time, especially with consumables; you don’t want to put anything in your body that came out of China!
But keep up the good work, and thanks for posting!
I shop based on two things: quality and price, emphasis on the former. With prescriptions, I don’t have much choice. I can only afford generics and have no idea where they’re made.
I’m all for keeping tariffs on China forever. It wouldn’t bother me a bit if we had no trade at all with them. Stuff that China makes now can be made elsewhere: US would be ideal, but realistically companies that bail on China will more likely go to other 3rd world countries before coming back to the US. If I had my druthers, there would be no minimum wage here, and no importation of immigrants.
Since I don’t have my druthers, I will continue to go with the flow...
I avoid anything made in China if possible. Our local Walmart has an excellent meat department, the beef is from Colorado and of fine quality.
“I understand that the granite for cemetery monuments is coming from china.”
I purchased a tombstone for my mother’s grave from a local monument company. The firm offered a selection of stone, some foreign, some domestic. I specifically chose a granite quarried in Georgia. The engraving of the stone was performed by the local company. It cost me $50 more than an “equivalent” Chinese import but 100% of the money stayed in the US economy and a Chinese factory did not get the sale.
As for screws there is a company “fastener-express” selling USA made screws. http://fastener-express.com/Made-In-America-Screws.html
There are also a number of internet sellers of cabinet hardware produced in the USA. MSC (another resource selling online) makes PVC pipe as does Charlotte Pipe. MSC also sells nails made in the United States.
Lenovo computers, a Chinese company, manufactures laptops in Whitsett, NC. Element televisions (order on Amazon) are made in Winnsboro, SC. Seura is a family owned company in Wisconsin that manufactures outdoor and waterproof televisions. There are still a number of US manufacturers producing audio equipment: https://americanmadeaudio.com/the-list/
When you have an emergency need, such as a broken pipe, it may not be possible to effect the repair without using a foreign product. If you have time to plan a purchase, in many instances a USA made substitute can be found with a little research.
Not to discourage anyone from avoiding Chinese products or anything BUT the Bannon film I linked earlier shows that if Trump sticks to his guns, the CCP may be gone in several months.
Think Reagan, Star Wars, and the USSR squared.
Yours, mine, potentially everyone's. People don't get that our biggest threat is not trade with China, Mexico, or the Man in the Moon. Our biggest threat is the totalitarian power assumed by our own federal government which is about 80%+ unconstitutional.
In the meantime, tariffs affect your bottom line and mine.
The way tariffs work is the government forces raised prices on targeted incoming goods. It is a form of wage and price control but in this case forcing higher prices.
You might say, “Well that’s not a tax on the consumer”, but effectively it is. The payment of the tariff-hiked money comes out of the consumer’s pocket and goes nowhere but into the government’s pocket.
So then you might say, “Well they don’t have to buy those goods.” But now government is forcing artificially high prices on the market place on goods the consumer ordinarily wants. So now, the consumer is forced to either pay more for what he wants or choose an often lower quality item he would ordinarily not get.
Tariffs force consumers to choose a lower quality:price item allowing lower quality:price products (usually American special-interest products bound by government policies of anti-business regulations, unions, and taxes) to succeed. The consumer loses and special interests win.
Generally, current demand is the level of the current expected standard of living. As always and in this case in particular, government interference in the marketplace (in this case tariffs) lowers the standard of living.
In the meantime, tariffs do nothing to solve the underlying root causes of inferior U.S. products because those underlying problems (anti-business regulations, unions, and taxes) are caused by the same government that is now putting another layer of interference into the marketplace.
And what makes it worse is many think these government measures are solving our long-term root causes. But again as usual, the government will put off what is REALLY needed to fix the root causes which would be GET GOVERNMENT OUT OF THE MARKETPLACE AND QUIT INTERFERING WITH FREE ENTERPRISE.
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