I hear this argument all the time, that in order to help the economy recover we need to buy American products, especially cars. This is bullshit for a number of reasons. One is due to the fact that we live in a global economy almost anything you buy or use has at least one foreign part to it. For example, your car, while it is assmbled in America making it techincally "Made in America", might actually be using car parts from China, or electronics from Japan, etc. The same can be said of any product. Furthermore, buying sensibly IE saving money in a recession can do the economy loads more good than buying American, because when you save money by buying a cheaper and more efficient product (not true of all products, but many foreign products are superior to their American counterparts) you can spend that money into the economy, or invest it into a bank which in turn loans that out to a small business. Thirdly, buyign "foreign" can directly affect your local economy. For example, if you bought a Nissan or a Mercedes-Benz car, you would actually be buying American labor because these "foreign" companies have actually opened shop in the United States. Thanks to the wonders of globalism, even though you might not think it, by being a smart and aware consumer you're actually helping out your country, regardless of what sorts of products you buy.
Supporting home-grown industry helps in three ways. First, it is good for the trade balance, second it helps secure domestic jobs. And last, it reduce the need for hauling a product from the end of the world to your shop. So, where I got the option, I buy as locally as possible. The beer I buy are locally brewed, right here in my city. Though the label and recipe is Danish. The food I buy, except some pre-made sauces, are all made domestically. When the Farmers Marked is in town every first weekend of the month, I stock up on locally made cheese, salted meat and sausages. As for cars, European naturally. Nothing better when weighing build-quality and milage. Price is good too, as long as one avoid the prestige-brands. Only money bleeding out of the euro-zone from me, are somehow related to computers. Hardware and software. Though that said, quite a lot of the specialist software I use are european. And games ofcourse. Battlefield series, Silent Hunter series, IL2, Hearts of Iron series, OFP/ARMA series, all from european studios. Come to think of it, only the CoD series have seen some of my money reach US shores with regards to my gaming addiction... Buying locally is a grand idea, provided the products you need or want are made locally.
You're just looking at cars. You think it's "really stupid" to buy local produce over fruit/vegetables that have been shipped in from Argentina? You think it's "really stupid" to buy clothing from a local designer, instead of something at the mall that was made in a sweat shop? When I buy from a local producer, 100% of the profits stay in my community and 9 times out of 10 I get better quality. When I go to the mall, and buy something from the Gap, the profits go to overseas investors and shareholders, and I get an overpriced item of clothing that will probably fall apart in the first 10 washes. There are some benefits to buying globally, but we're not the ones seeing those benefits. Cheap, imported goods do nothing to help our economy. They just feed our consumerism.
No doubt. I cook alot, and I always buy local grown produce whenever I can (which is ~95%). It's just better quality, noticeable better quality. Clothes by local indie designers last longer, look way better, and are always cheaper. Plus no one else is gonna have that shit since it isn't mass produced. But I'm with you on the car thing, for what it's worth. I drive a Toyota they decided to call a luxury car, slapped an "L" badge on, and upped the price of. Scaaaam.
Ah yes the wonders of globalism, the op thinks globalism is wonderul. Globalisation destroys national soveriegnty, inhibits production in 1st world countries and creates a fourth world, globe, where everyone is a slave, its a global power grab, you don't have a clue what globalism is, do you OP?
