Are You an American ? Are you.......

[4sarge]

How many here own foreign weapons?

Glock Guilty also have intimately known HK's, CZ's, Benelli, Beretta, Taurus, etc.

 

[SirRealism]

american businesses are relying on patriotism to sell things now and it's sad. if they would just make a quality product people would probably buy them. I buy the best product my money can buy foreign or domestic, it doesn't matter to me what matters is the quality and some companies don't realize that and are going under.

Yes, patriotism is a poor reason to buy a product. Well said. I'll take it a step further and say that it's very unpatriotic to charge fellow Americans more for a lesser product. Now, before anyone gets honked off about the whole "quality" thing, let me just say that I don't mind paying more for some American products, when I think an honest effort has been made to keep prices down. For the most part, this isn't the case with American cars.

I'm 41 yrs old, and I remember telling people 15-20 yrs ago that the American auto industry will at some point implode. This isn't an "I told you so", but just intended to point out that, at a young age, with very little business savvy, I knew there was a good chance the unions would kill GM, Chrysler, etc.

I don't really consider it a crisis when there were people saying for years that this is a bad business model. The writing was on the walls.

When the economy tanks, as a small business owner, I have to cut my pay significantly. Like 50%. And now I'm told it's my job to bail other companies AND buy their products? I'm not comfortable with that.

 

[jeremy]

I think one of the things that tinks me off the most is that Government in the '80s kept GM and Chrysler in business. And we are doing it again.

 

[4sarge]

Yes, patriotism is a poor reason to buy a product. Well said. I'll take it a step further and say that it's very unpatriotic to charge fellow Americans more for a lesser product. Now, before anyone gets honked off about the whole "quality" thing, let me just say that I don't mind paying more for some American products, when I think an honest effort has been made to keep prices down. For the most part, this isn't the case with American cars.

I'm 41 yrs old, and I remember telling people 15-20 yrs ago that the American auto industry will at some point implode. This isn't an "I told you so", but just intended to point out that, at a young age, with very little business savvy, I knew there was a good chance the unions would kill GM, Chrysler, etc.

I don't really consider it a crisis when there were people saying for years that this is a bad business model. The writing was on the walls.

When the economy tanks, as a small business owner, I have to cut my pay significantly. Like 50%. And now I'm told it's my job to bail other companies AND buy their products? I'm not comfortable with that.

Agreed. I own a Honda MC, 2 Suzuki's (GM Partner), a Kioti (Cummins Partner), a Mazda (Ford Partner), Chevy Dually and foreign made ammunition. Tried to buy the wife a Ford or Chevrolet PU and they just would not deal. So she is driving a new Nissan. The UAW has sold out America and their workers are doomed for failure

 

[jennybird]

Let's see, Ford didn't take any bailout money did they?

Ford? Are you kidding? I've owned 5 Fords in my life and they were all junk. They don't call em "Fix Or Repair Daily" and "Found On Road Dead" for nuthin. (I know there are loyal Ford owners out there and I mean no disrespect. We all have our preferences.)

I now own a Toyota. And yes, it was made right here in America. It's been a fantastic car, I have no regrets at all, and I highly recommend them.

Call me what you will, but remember, my car was just as much "made in America" as GM, Chrysler and Ford who's parts are made outside of the US too. Just cause their name is American doesn't mean they're made here.

If Ford, GM and Chrysler can't keep up, they're going to lose. Oldsmobile was the best thing GM had, and they gave the line up a while back (shortly after was when I switched to Toyota). Now THAT was a shame. Olds had some huge old clunkers, but they lasted forever. Bad move on GM's part in my opinion.

I do my best to buy American. But I work very hard for my money and refuse to waste it on sh!tty products. Period.

 

[tyler34]

I guess my final thought on this would be american companies never did anything to help me in good times why should I help them in bad times? because we are both american? not a good enough excuse.

 

[SirRealism]

When you get done busting the Unions then take out OSHA and do away with the rest of the Labor laws that we have fought so hard to get and we will be like China and your 5 year old can get a job for pennies per hour to help feed the family......................


I go out of my way to buy American and Union when I can

I'd never want to become like China, but if our unions had made REAL concessions before it was too late, there wouldn't have to be talk of busting them. In reality, there's no need to bust them. Just let the businesses fail.

My business would fail if I charged more than my services are worth. The same thing applies to unions, CEOs, mid-level managers, janitors, teachers, paperboys, and gun store owners. If they charge more than the market will bear, they'll fail at some point.

I look at it this way: All the people who are upset about union excess, about corporate bailouts, and about CEOs who make too much... we have now formed our own union

Just a different perspective.

 

[Lucas156]

Ford? Are you kidding? I've owned 5 Fords in my life and they were all junk. They don't call em "Fix Or Repair Daily" and "Found On Road Dead" for nuthin. (I know there are loyal Ford owners out there and I mean no disrespect. We all have our preferences.)

I now own a Toyota. And yes, it was made right here in America. It's been a fantastic car, I have no regrets at all, and I highly recommend them.

Call me what you will, but remember, my car was just as much "made in America" as GM, Chrysler and Ford who's parts are made outside of the US too. Just cause their name is American doesn't mean they're made here.

If Ford, GM and Chrysler can't keep up, they're going to lose. Oldsmobile was the best thing GM had, and they gave the line up a while back (shortly after was when I switched to Toyota). Now THAT was a shame. Olds had some huge old clunkers, but they lasted forever. Bad move on GM's part in my opinion.

I do my best to buy American. But I work very hard for my money and refuse to waste it on sh!tty products. Period.

Hey buddy I like ford. lol I drive a ford truck and love it! but like you said we all have our preferences.

 

[jeremy]

There is a world of difference between Ford's car and truck divisions. I agree with Jenny as far as the car division, they are total cr*p. Ford trucks on the other hand well what is it they say "Quality is job #1". I have not had a bad one yet. I have tried others GM, Dodge, even a Toyota. I always come back to Ford for a Medium Duty truck.

 

[jennybird]

Hey buddy I like ford. lol I drive a ford truck and love it! but like you said we all have our preferences.

I have the utmost respect for that. And I sincerely thank you for respecting my preferences too.

 

[jennybird]

There is a world of difference between Ford's car and truck divisions. I agree with Jenny as far as the car division, they are total cr*p. Ford trucks on the other hand well what is it they say "Quality is job #1". I have not had a bad one yet. I have tried others GM, Dodge, even a Toyota. I always come back to Ford for a Medium Duty truck.

You are very right. All my Fords were cars... never had one of their trucks.

 

[jeremy]

The Toyota truck I had was not really tough enough for the application that we attempted to use it for. That 1 ton in the back of the truck in the commercials is BS. At least when you do it on a pretty much daily basis. LOL

 

[Scutter01]

I won't buy another Ford car after my Taurus fiasco. Sitting in my garage overnight, the front spring decides to explode. It was an engineering defect which was covered under a silent recall (although they would only pay for one tire). Two months later, the rear spring did the exact same thing, again while sitting in my garage. That was inexplicably not warranted. Aside from those two major issues, the dang thing kept having all kinds of little quality issues and failures.

I've had more than one person tell me that their trucks are solid, though. Having driven a Ranger a few times, I wouldn't want to buy one, although they all ran forever.

 

[jeremy]

I used to have a mustang GT. I spent more time working on it than driving it. Sad.

 

[jennybird]

I won't buy another Ford car after my Taurus fiasco. Sitting in my garage overnight, the front spring decides to explode. It was an engineering defect which was covered under a silent recall (although they would only pay for one tire). Two months later, the rear spring did the exact same thing, again while sitting in my garage. That was inexplicably not warranted. Aside from those two major issues, the dang thing kept having all kinds of little quality issues and failures.

That's that fix or repair daily thing I mentioned earlier.

 

[dburkhead]

I have a Subaru made right here in Indiana.

I have a Ford Explorer.

I have a Mazda Miata--a company of which controlling interest was owned by Ford at the time it was made (don't know about the current situation).

I buy the car that best fits my needs for the best price I can find. If GM or Chrysler wants me to buy a GM or Chrysler product than they can produce and sell cars that best fit my needs for the best price I can find.

I don't feel any particular inclination to subsidize inferior (in terms of meeting my needs) overpriced (in terms of what I can get elsewhere) cars as some form of charity.

 

[jennybird]

Arm America, where'd you go? You got awefully quiet.

 

[Scutter01]

That's that fix or repair daily thing I mentioned earlier.

In my GARAGE! I wasn't even driving it! Seriously, I mean what the hell?!

 

[ATF Consumer]

While I'd like to give US companies my business, I will buy what best fits my needs, whether they are foreign or domestic...price mostly trumps all other purchasing decisions.

It is the government and the unions who have mainly destroyed manufacturing in the US. Some companies have been overtaken by the unions and can't do anything without an act of congress.

They want us to buy American, but the American products cost too much. That is the government's fault for high taxes as well as union's control over pay and benefits.

Yet, you can buy anything from overseas and most likely pay less for it...
Does the US government tax imported goods as much as they tax domestic goods?

The government and unions should not be in control of such things as pay, as those need to be determined by the economy's supply and demand.

As a company, if the union tells you that you must pay at least xxx $ to each employee, and if those positions do not provide producing power to earn that wage, the company loses by 1 of two methods.
1. Lower the price of product to be competitive with the foreign market, making less profit than competitors.
2. Sell at higher price, losing profit to foreign competitors out selling at a lower price.


Government and unions are just bad.

 

[dburkhead]

That's that fix or repair daily thing I mentioned earlier.

My Explorer, which is my daily driver, has been in the shop exactly three times in the three years that I've owned it:

1) Rear lift gate damaged because my wife didn't watch what she was doing in opening the garage door and the edge got snagged by one of the door hinges and twisted..

2) While in the "care" of it's previous owner hail damage was repaired and whoever did that repair didn't connect the vents from front to back correctly so that the heater/AC also fed to the rear seats.

3) Rear ended by a Lexus (needed to have the plastic bumper cover replaced, basically).

I'd hardly call that a stunning example of "Fix or Repair Daily."