Thread: Is it even possible to support "locally produced" these days?

So, I recently moved to the US. As I intend to have a permanent future in the US, I aim to support local/US products if I can. Since I came from a 220V area, I need to buy a few small kitchen appliances. I like the KitchenAid look&feel, so decided to go with that. An American icon right? Wrong. I picked up their 4-slice toaster (does a great job!), but 'made in China'. Nothing wrong with that, as the Chinese will produce at any quality standard you pay for, but I was hoping to support some local factory worker.

Maybe I should've asked JMS first.

I do intend to pick up an American car. I live just 5 minutes from work, so my V8 won't dent the environment more than the pretentious self-righteous Prius weeners that live 50 miles out.

What I do like is that one can get a lot of local produce here.

edit: Some stuff just has to come from abroad. Nobody knows how to make a proper espresso machine besides the Italians.

American car? I could be wrong, but I thought at this point it could be argued that some models of Toyota assembled in the U.S. are more American than many "American made" cars. Again, maybe I'm wrong on that.

There are some sites if you Google them that serve as repositories for products of all types made in USA. The selections are depressingly scant relatively speaking.

Chris L

I think that globalizatiion is just unavoidable. I read that the increase of productivity in US has been coming not as much from increased efficiency but from outsourcing production, effectively reducing the amount of US labour that is involved, basically just a strange formula.
Of course, when you're buying from american company you are supporting an american company no matter where their production is. AFIK they pay taxes on their profits to the US government and if they are publicly traded their stock is owned by US entities, so presumably it's good for US.
Plus supporting China is also good for US since that's where US borrows money from (actually depending on your politics and short or long term views you may consider it a bad thing).

But yeah, the world is changing no matter what and what you support as a consumer is not so simple.
Personally I'd rather support depending on the way of conducting business and not so much what nationals are involved in it. If a chinese, or mexican person can do a given job better than an american I'd rather he be rewarded for it.
The same way as I choose my friends based on their character not based on say their nationality, political views, or religion.

As far as food goes there is a lot of farmland just outside the bay area. If you are willing to take a drive and are not to shy you can likely find fresh milk, eggs, veggies and fruit directly from the farmer.

Sounds like you need to take a trip either up north of the Bay or down south. You can get good wines from either Sonoma County or on the Central Coast. How's that for locally made? The best wines on Earth?

If you want industry, you'll have to move inland a bit...The Bay area of CA is too restrictive and expensive to promote industry. Fresno and Los Angeles seems to be two areas that promote industry in CA.

Always been a fan of CA-wines, so I'm happy to be close. In the local shops I can buy a fair bit of CA-grown stuff, and for the fruits and veggies there's a nice farmer's market close by.

But for the outsourced production: It's all well and good that somebody in the US is the major stock owner. That'll mean there's enough money coming in there with a few admins and accountants and lawyers happy to do the work, but I'd have thought that a flagship (or at least, what I perceive to be, I can be wrong there) product marketed with a rich American heritage is produced in the US. It doesn't just keep the money coming in on the top of the pyramid, but keeps a few blue collar guys & gals in a job.

I can understand that the American autmotive industry dug its own grave, with rising labour costs and other regions catching up left and right. It would be nice if the American workers can be competitive when it comes to productivity. The decline of production of goods is, in my view, an issue for economic health.

edit: Globalization is also a daily reality. I'm in a project working with some guys here in California, India, China and the UK.

Originally Posted by Hillie

The decline of production of goods is, in my view, an issue for economic health.

I don't think it's that simple. Who do you think wields more economic power - the 30,000 employees of Goldman-Sachs, or the 100,000 employees of General Motors? Blue collar jobs are fine, but given the opportunity I bet the most blue collar workers would rather have a white collar job instead. I tend to be pretty cynical, but I'd say the only 'blue collar' jobs that are important for economic health are the military (I know they're not thought of that way, but on socioeconomic scale they seem to fit that category better).

What it comes to food i'm with JMS here. Local food is still easily available.
Everything else is more complicated. We can't stop globalization, but i will at least try to avoid products that are made in far East. I would rather see jobs staying in EU and USA than us becoming only market area for third world factories.

Not that i had reason to complain of goods made in India, China or Pakistan. I think they have skills and technology to produce stuff of high quality as well but why should they bother? They produce low quality junk products as long as we are willing to buy it.

Yes when it comes to foodstuffs it's easy to buy U.S grown. Most areas have farmers markets or farms not that far off. Of course alot of produce this time of the year comes from South America.

As far as durable items (that's joke) I'm not sure what's still made in the U.S anymore. I know there are some specialty items made here, some textile and clothing and other boutique and high end things. Jewelry can still be found and regional stuff like American Indian made Jewelry and carpets can be found though there are counterfeits.

Buy local, huh? Well in Minnesota in winter that's mostly rutabagas, squash, and snow cones. A rutabaga flavored snow cone leaves a lot to be desired, but it doesn't hurt the diet any.

Then there's squash (what happened and what's for for dessert) and road kill. Can you use ketchup or must everything be local?