Excellent responses flowing in, keep it up. Yes Im sure this will turn sour for sure, but what the hell. Sometimes the truth is sweet, and many times its sour as hell. Many have hit on some valid points which is what I was looking for in the beginning. I think in the end few will be surprised by the obvious, but it will be the little things that will knock you over......Im still trying to get up after sourcing some of the info.

 

I had a box of fortune cookies that was made in the USA. Seems ironic to me.

 

"Yes Im sure this will turn sour for sure, but what the hell"

What a Ghoul !

 

A week ago I argued on another thread until I was blue on the HD Dunlop Tires.

I said I buy them because they are MADE IN USA. I had bought a used bike that had Metz 880's on them & didn't see any real difference so I buy the Dunlop's & was promptly told Dunlop was a French co. or something. A simple google search shows that they are made at a Goodyear-Dunlop plant in Rochester NY employing American workers.A lot of Co's in USA have some form of foreign ownership these days.

My point again is as long as the product is built, assembled or whatever in the USA and they employ my fellow Americans I will support them. Some people can dispute everything to death. If you want to buy another tire owned by & built in another country that is your right but don't get on here and bitch to me abought the state of the economy in another thread. We (the American consumer)have always been are own worse enemy.

 

You're exactly right. I look for how many American's I employ when I plop down my money. Corporate ownership doesn't mean much these days. Sadly buying a Honda Accord these days has a higher American parts content origin than my preferred manufacturer Ford. My wife currently drives an Accord. It is what it is, and what it is, is creating American jobs.

 

As a consumer, I'd really appreciate a little honesty from the dealer about the item(s) I am going to purchase. After all why would I come back if you decieve me?

 

it is one of the woes of service centered economies that there is not enough production to back it the economy. Granted that certain services can be exported and be handle like a production product.
I think that "Assembled" in the USA counts as production, even though the raw materials may originate abroad, or the initial molding, carving, etc... might originate abroad do to lower production cost, does not mean that there can be no production here in the States (or other countries faced with similar products). The production here should be that of highest quality assembly, garantying superior products made to the highest standard. This would include testing and rejecting any foreign produced components that do not meet the quality desired for the end product.
However to many companies here are profit hungry and have only desire to mass produce cheap products that brake often enough that the customer service, tech support can build a healthy profit, or that a new product needs to be purchased. Another thing that needs to change.
One of the things that needs to return here is pride in the product build (assembled) in the States (or other countries affected by this issue) by producing highest quality goods, and consumers need to demand such products, instead of settling for cheaper, lesser qulity mass produced articles.

 

It is very, very hard to say a product is 100% "Made in the USA". I toured the Harley motor plant in Milwaukee about 10 years ago and could not help but notice that most of the machining stations had Japanese names. So, how far does one push the issue of what is and is not made in America? It can get very complicated when the issues of materials, processes, packaging and even engineering get included.

As a consumer I make an attempt to purchase domestic products, my car is a Chevy, but sometimes the effort alone can be difficult. How many stores will one go to looking for the MADE IN THE USA label on a $25 item. I admit I could look harder.

As an engineer I've seen over the past 10 years a huge shift by American Manufactures to outsource as much labor to low cost counties as posible. Even companies that prided themselves as American Made are forced to go overseas just to stay in business. Consumers, in general, don't really care where something is made. Many people shop at Big Box stores and see no reason to pay more for the same quality of product. And after a few layoffs, those same people can't afford to pay more for American made.

Regarding Harley-Davidson, I believe they are trying to keep a reasonable amount of their labor costs on Motorcycles in the USA. I think the managment knows that the loyalty of Harley Buyers will defect if their Fat Boys and Road Kings come rolling of a boat. Harleys are great cycles, but I would not pay the extra cost for a faux "American" product. It would be likde paying top dollar for an American flag made in China.

Regarding the labels, if a label reads "Made in USA", I think at least 51% (more would be even better) of the processes needed should be from this county. Imports are fine, just don't push them off as American made.

 

I can only think of Moonshine. But the jar it's in may be made in some other country.

 

The point I was making or trying to make but just trying to use layman's terms, the cost of proper disposal puts a dent in the manufactures bottom line. Move it over seas and the companies pollute someone else's back yard. I personally do not think it is right but us as consumers seem to prefer to save money on consumables. I think stupid things like put on a import product a FYI label like, "Chromium was pored into the ground as part of the manufacturing process!" I would think twice but what about the average joe that only cares about the $20 he is going to save?