Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Made in America
I had an interesting call the other day from a local resident about the issue of buying American made goods. He saw our ad campaign on WHIZ TV about buying locally and he asked if we would also encourage buying American made products. I told him I agreed in principle with what he was suggesting but that we would have to both assess the interest in this (the TV campaigns cost money) and think about the implications. Buying American, and even buying locally, are not simple, cut and dried, black and white ideas in this day and age of the global economy and importing and exporting. But again, I truly do like the idea of buying American whenever possible. Any opinions?
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I have to agree that buying American made products and buying locally are great ideas in theory, but sometimes difficult to do in practice in our global economy. If I buy a Nissan from an American dealership located in Zanesville Ohio that is assembled in another American city by Americans, isn't that still buying American?
ReplyDeleteI agree. How do you define made in America? Hondas are made in America and Ohio, as everyone knows. But is that an American product? Not if you define it as where the corporation is headquartered and where the profits ultimately accrue. But Honda is an important Ohio employer and they produce quality products - made by Americans. You can get in the same box when trying to define local businesses too.
ReplyDeleteThis is the same issue we came across with the Zanesville Local group. In defining a local business, if the business is owned and operated locally then it qualifies. But when you talk about buying American made products it does become a gray area more subject to preference. In the previous post using Honda as an example, a large portion of the price of the product stays here. And local people are employed. This is a good thing in comparison to blatant buying of foreign manufactured products. Using computers as an example (as sold by my company) most people don't realize that the "brand name" computers they are buying are not made in the USA at all. But it is possible to buy an American made computer or laptop that is sold and serviced locally. There are many, many businesses in Zanesville and Muskingum County owned and operated locally that have been in business for many years. These businesses have many talented people. They are like jewels that have to found to be appreciated. A lot of people just don't put forth the effort to buy locally.
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