In a perfect world, American children would all want to succeed, and work for it. I got to an alternative school called the Center for Advanced Learning every other day. We had some Japanese Exchange students from a similar school called the Super Science High School came over for a week to see what our facilities are like and do a wind turbine project with the senior students. Most of them knew only the basic English, and we sure as heck didnt know any Japanese. I saw how they worked with the teachers though, they got done in 2 days what most of the seniors couldnt do in 2 weeks. They were in unfamiliar settings, and they still were able to out think, out work, and overall out do us. Course Im sure that they were probably some of the best students in that school, but it was still an eye opener. I go into school, and people cant give a report on how to use a pipe wrench, and they wonder why the teacher gets mad at them. Sometimes I wonder what this country will turn into when my generation "grows up" if they ever do.

And for the record, I hate Walmart

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Southren by birth. American by the grace of God. do i need to say anymore. I buy local when i can. then i go to what ever nation wide source is avaiable.99% of the time i am able to purchase american made products. just keep in mind. the american made product you buy today .may save your job tomorrow.

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Necessity is the mother of invention!
But lack of funds ,is the great motivator.

I couldn't agree with you more on all accounts of your post. Well said.

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While I prefer to buy American or atleast assembled in America, it's not always so easy to do it.

I agree with Jen in some ways about American's being lazy. I also think that alot of American's feel it's beneath them to work in dirty, and laborous conditions when they can "work smarter, not harder". After all, that seems to be one of America's most common themes.

I guess we can't have our cake and eat to after all.

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Sure we can, at the price of losing one of the major things that enabled us to have this country in the first place.

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"For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised, He is to be feared above all gods" Ps. 96:4

There is a very important arguement that goes hand and hand with this question.

Up until now we have assumed that American made products are the best hands down... What if our products were cheep and not made with the highest quality materials? As smart consumers shouldn't we buy the best made product on the market. This doesn't mean that we buy the product with all the latest bells and whistles, unless of course we want that one. What this means is that we buy the product that is going to last the longest.

Heres where the moral delima comes in for me.
A great hypothetical would be American automotive manufacturers. Should we buy from the big 3 in Detroit, or foreign? The American made product quality has declined significantly in relation to foreign made vehicles in recent years. Should we send the message monetarily by not buying their product and telling them we want higher quality cars, or should we just buy them and have the faith that they will improve on their own?

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If you look at the purchases by Americans right now the typical American is buying foreign over domestic. Better gas mileage due to high gas prices is probably the biggest reason for this. Next is that a lot of people feel the quality of American made autos has fallen behind the foreign makers.

I admit I do not drive an American made vehicle, I drive a Saab but my wife drives a Trailblazer. For me I liked the Saab the best out of all the cars that I test drove when I bought it and I drove a lot of cars of all makes and models, foreign and domestic. For my wife, she liked the Chevy Trailblazer and gas mileage be damned (as my wallet groans). She wanted a SUV so we had space for going to our cabin and for our "children" (1 Black Lab, 1 Golden Retriever) So for us it came what worked best for us. So Maverick I definitely have to agree with your first part on what you wrote.

I'm somewhat torn on this subject. While i'm all for buying american products, i can't justify spending more for a product that does the exact same thing. That said, if the quality level is different for that product i'd get the nicer quality one, depending on what it is. What i get pissed off about is when little tiny things cost an enormous amount for no reason at all. Like a plastic bucket from home depot. my god, they wanted like 4.99 for a bucket when i could get one at the dollar store that would do the same exact thing. Now if it was the ".50 cent" difference as in mill's example i wouldn't have an issue, it's a no-brainer. But when it's 5x the amount, i'm going wherever. I can't justify that kind of price jump.

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Owner of "Midnight" (Red items purchased from A5OG members):
A5MP5k-PDW With R/T| Polished Internals | JCS Red Hot Powertube w/Delrin Front Bolt | TechT Upgraded Cyclone - Vortex/Lightning/QEPH/Squishys | OpsGear MP5 Mag & Folding Stock | NCStar Red Dot sight w/ UMS raised rail | X7 Hopper / R5 Hopper | Palmer's Female Stabilizer w/Lapco mount | Lapco "Apex ready" Bigshot w/Apex tip | 8" Lapco BS w/ Suppressor Shroud| Flurry Emmissary Tactical Vest & Reaver Shinguards - camo'd |Crossfire 68/4500 HPA |Proto EL Olive Thermal Goggles
Other Markers - Spyder Imagine LED / ION

I'd buy american made (or american worker made) we have to realize that some over sea products are also made in America. Look at the Toyota plant in Kentucky. And other similar plants. The owners may be overseas but some of the workers are really our neighbors (Americans) so where is the line drawn? I'm American by birth and damn proud of it!!!

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Did you smoke your lunch or just bump your head? HAVE A NICE DAY!!!

As a father of 3 children and alarmed with recent events with lead paint in toys from China. There is something to be said about buying American, and goes beyond saving US jobs. There is a standard that all manufactures need to adhere to when manufacturing products (including food) here in the US, that are not followed or enforced in other countries. It is not only the cheap labor that attracts companies to go outside the US, but the way they can manufacture and produce products, which is much cheaper. Certain pesticides on food are allowed to be used in Mexico, but not the in the US. Evidently lead paint is allowed to be used on children’s toy's in China, but not acceptable (for good reason) in the US.

I would encourage everybody on this fourm to receive email alerts from Consumer Product Safety Commission, on recalls of products (CPSC Home Page). There have been recalls every week, since I signed up last month, on lead paint in children’s toys, all manufactured in Peoples Republic of China.

~G Man