Save American jobs....start with a grasshopper & a Train wreck.

[blackjack2564]

My cousin a school teacher sent me this.

I have already been trying to do it for quite awhile................


"A physics teacher in high school once told the students that while one grasshopper on the railroad tracks wouldn't slow a train very much, a billion of them would. With that thought in mind read the following, obviously written by a good American.

This probably sounds crazy, but just yesterday I was in WalMart looking for a wastebasket.. I found some made in China for $6.99. I didn't want to pay that much so I asked the lady if they had any others. She took me to another department and they had some at $2.50 made in USA . They are just as good.

Same as a kitchen rug I needed. I had to look, but I found some made in the USA and they were $3.00 cheaper. We are being brain washed that everything that comes from China and Mexico is cheaper. Not so. That is also why I don't buy cards at Hallmark anymore. They are made in China and are expensive. I buy them at Dollar Tree....50 cents each and made in USA .

Check this out. I can verify this because I was in Lowe's the other day for some reason and was looking at the hose attachments. They were all made in China . The next day I was in Ace Hardware and just for the heck of it I checked the hose attachments there.They were made in USA .
Start looking ...... Read the labels on everything!!

In our current economic situation every little thing we buy or do affects someone else - even their job. So, after reading this email, I think this lady is on the right track.. Let's get behind her!

My grandson likes Hershey's candy. I noticed that it is marked made in Mexico now. I don't buy it any more.

My favorite toothpaste Colgate's made in Mexico . Now I have switched to Crest.
Good idea . . .. One light bulb at a time.......

This past weekend I was at Kroger. I needed 60W light bulbs and Bounce dryer sheets. I was in the light bulb aisle and right next to the GE brand I normally buy was an off-brand labeled, "Everyday Value". I picked up both types of bulbs and compared the stats. They were the same except for the price. The GE bulbs were more money than the Everyday Value brand but the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that GE was made in MEXICO and the Everyday Value brand was made in the USA in a company in Cleveland , Ohio .

So on to another aisle - Bounce Dryer Sheets... Yep, you guessed it, Bounce cost more money and is made in Canada . The Everyday Value brand was less money and MADE IN THE USA! I did laundry yesterday and the dryer sheets performed just like the Bounce Free I have been using for years and at almost half the price!

So throw out the myth that you cannot find products you use every day that are made right here in the US A.

My challenge to you is to start reading the labels when you shop for everyday things and see what you can find that is made in the USA - the job you save may be your own or your neighbors!

If you accept the challenge, pass this on to others in your address book so we can all start buying American, one light bulb at a time!

Stop buying from overseas companies. We should have awakened a decade ago!
Let's get with the program and help our fellow Americans keep their jobs and create more jobs here in the USA .

I passed this on . .. . Will you??? PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "



One thing I have noticed for years:
Most hardware parts I get for my rockets are better priced [or the same] at places like Ace & True Value locally owned[ & the money stays in our local economy] than the big box stores HD ,Lowes, Menards.

It's always much easier to find stuff, there is a larger selection and ALWAYS someone to help you that knows where stuff is!

It is true, we can help our own economy by simple every day choices. Maybe not with everything but certainly many, many items.

CJ

 

[karlbaum]

Take a look at this video clip. Small steps by many can save jobs.

https://cdnapi.kaltura.com/​index.php/kwidget/wid/​0_04vzdsr5/uiconf_id/5590821
cdnapi.kaltura.com

 

[COrocket]

I like True Value and ACE for rocket parts also. They are especially good for buying individual screws and hardware for avionics bays, something HD and Lowes doesn't do.

 

[troj]

We have a Westlake nearby and there are times I'm in there four times in a week, for specific hardware bits and pieces.

I have dozens of little green boxes of nuts and bolts from there!

The big box stores are terrible for nuts and bolts unless it's something they can sell a lot of.

-Kevin

 

[ClayD]

theres a fastener shop "family owned" nearby i have been going to since i was 4...

its like a miniature McMaster Carr...

 

[Fe Dude]

The big box stores are terrible for nuts and bolts unless it's something they can sell a lot of.

-Kevin

Amen!

There is a Fastenall a stones throw from where I work. They are great for the oddball fasteners and forged eye bolts. The Ace is a little bit of a hike, though.

 

[sandman]

I like True Value and ACE for rocket parts also. They are especially good for buying individual screws and hardware for avionics bays, something HD and Lowes doesn't do.

A local Ace and True Value are within 3 miles of my rural home. Lowes and Home Depot are 20 miles away. At the price of gas that's about $7.00 away.

Both local hardware store allow my business to open a "company account", Just put it on my bill.

Lowes and Home Depot will send me to the service desk and have me fill out a credit app. and apply for a store credit card...no thank you.

My business (Roachwerks and Excelsior) gets a bill every month, if I buy something, with no interest tacked on!

My local hardware stores, both of them, always have a pot of coffee brewing in the corner (Ace usually has donuts and homemade cookies!)

An added bonus! when I buy lumber and large hardware locally, delivery is free! No sheets of drywall in my wife's car!:wink:

 

[alexzogh]

Once a month Ace Hardware usually put's out a 50% off coupon nationally, good for one item in the store similar to Michael's, or Hobby Lobby but with a retail value limit.

This months happens to be this Saturday:

https://www.acehardware.com/coupon/index.jsp

Usually good for an oddball tools like multiangle vises, or titanium drill bits I couldn't justify the cost of at retail.

 

[boomtube]

Once upon a time I bought $9 pocket T-Shirts that lasted five years; now I buy $5 pocket T-Shirts that last nine months.

I don’t remember voting on this. I don’t remember walking into a Sears or J.C. Penney’s and finding two bins of T-Shirts one bin made in the USA and priced $9 and one made in Bangladesh and priced $3. I’m pretty sure I would have noticed this.

The EPA and OSHA have done much to drive manufacturing overseas; the U.S can’t even make sandpaper anymore because of EPA rules. Canada and Finland don’t seem to have this problem.

The U.S. can’t manufacture CFL bulbs because of the mercury in them; yet we are being forced to buy them whether we like it or not.

 

[foamy]

An interesting read that pertains to the thread at hand:
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?_r=1

 

[BartDoe]

I agree with the sentiment of the letter posted by the original poster. In fact I do this myself. But I doubt the truth of the story with regards to Wal-Mart, circa 2012. I think you'd be very hard pressed to find USA made, non-food items.

In late 2010 I wanted to buy some scissors for the workshop, and I had ended my several year Wal-Mart embargo and found myself there. Ideally I wanted something I could use to cut fiberglass and heavier cardboard. I was flexible though and willing to pay a few more dollars for a USA made version. I seem to recall finding ELEVEN different scissors type implements in crafts, office supplies, hardware, and housewares. Almost every one was made in China, the other couple were from a similar geographic location (ie, Asia). NONE made in USA.

FWIW, I now review my hardware (read: tool) purchases, and where possible, buy the US made item. The easiest item for most rocketeers is probably the one I'm most familiar with: Hobby Knife Blades. Excel: MADE IN USA. X-ACTO: China. This is based on the text printed on the back of the packages, purchased within the last three years...so either company could have changed place of manufacture recently...but I doubt it.

 

[McKailas Dad]

But I really like my Cesaroni cases! (Canada)

Pretty fond of Estes rockets, as well...(China)

While I do try to support American jobs and products, sometimes it is unavoidable to buy things that are 'un-American'.

 

[tightwad]

BlackjCK2564 FOR PRESIDENT!

What do you guys think? Lets get this country back in the hands of the people not corporations!

Vote blackjack2564 for PRESIDENT

 

[sylvie369]

Quality products made within a few miles of my home:

https://ale-house.com/beer/
https://cedarcreekwinery.com/ (okay, that one I'd have to drive to - the others are in walking distance)
https://greatlakesdistillery.com/vodka.htm
https://www.cheesehead.com/

Hey! This is easier than I thought!

 

[Astro-Baby]

Dont get me started

 

[blackjack2564]

Well ya can't do it for everything, BUT it sure will help when ya can.

Besides.... we all know Canada don't count....they are our buddies! LOl:wink:

There are several countries that have been making fine products for many years, but we need to get away from the total dominance thing! [China].

And buying crap.... most houses in the burbs have 2 car garages, but the cars are parked outside cause there's so much junk stored inside.

If ya get quality it lasts, of course when it comes to clothes and fashion......we're all screwed.... most better half's gotta keep up with the times.[unless you lucky like me!]

 

[KennB]

What do you guys think? Lets get this country back in the hands of the people not corporations!

But the SCOTUS and Willard Mitt have said corporations are people, too.

 

[New Ocean]

Actually the ACE near me typically has products that are at least twice as expensive as the products sold at a big place like Home Depot. I see that trend with every local shop, no matter what they sell. The large retailers, rather than take away American jobs, are among the biggest corporate employers in the country. The Ace hardware store near me, on the other hand, employs one grumpy man and his two quasi-incompetent sons, along with a few undocumented Mexican young men. Now you decide if you want to work on an assembly line or at Home Depot... I can't say I want either job really. Id rather work a more enjoyable, higher paying job, according to the time and money I invest in my education and training. The jobs needed to make the stuff we use are not very good jobs. Someone above lamented the EPA regulations here. Sorry, but I actually prefer to buy sandpaper from China and keep our waterways clean. My suggestion: we can afford to export certain kinds of jobs because replacing them affords us a better quality of life. The key word there is replacing them. I don't know that we have been doing so, and that may be the real problem. (But the cause of that is hardly just the government.)

A slightly hyperbolic example...

How many American whalers are there today? Those jobs were lost, but what jobs replaced them? Automotive and other jobs from new technology. Now it is almost as silly to pay an American $25 an hour to assemble something as it is to have them out whaling. The world changes, the job markets change, you need to adapt to get a new job. It is that simple! I can't stand how the blame is always on some other country or some corporation or the government or other Americans who don't buy American. If you don't have a job, what are YOU doing to fix the situation personally? I rarely see Americans willing to really invest the time and effort (and even money) to become qualified to do a new job. They are then forced to do jobs that should be done by teenagers and college students or others who are just getting started.

 

[T-Rex]

Fact: the American Union Worker has priced himself out of the market.

Unions do not negotiate anymore, they intimidate, threaten and bully, inflating the cost of goods and services. Those services, and the production of goods is pushed overseas in order to keep companies in business.

5 years ago, a fuel injector could be produced for less than $1.00, and sold for $20 each. Now they are selling for less than $4 each, and the union wage earners have driven production cost to about $3.50. Those jobs have been pushed to Mexico and China so the Companies can stay afloat.

In order to buy American, the products have to be made here. To be made here, the workers have to be willing to accept a reasonable wage to keep cost down. Society cannot survive if we insist that we are all entitled to more than is reasonable.

Terry

 

[skybuster]

My cousin a school teacher sent me this.

I have already been trying to do it for quite awhile................


"A physics teacher in high school once told the students that while one grasshopper on the railroad tracks wouldn't slow a train very much, a billion of them would. With that thought in mind read the following, obviously written by a good American.

This probably sounds crazy, but just yesterday I was in WalMart looking for a wastebasket.. I found some made in China for $6.99. I didn't want to pay that much so I asked the lady if they had any others. She took me to another department and they had some at $2.50 made in USA . They are just as good.

Same as a kitchen rug I needed. I had to look, but I found some made in the USA and they were $3.00 cheaper. We are being brain washed that everything that comes from China and Mexico is cheaper. Not so. That is also why I don't buy cards at Hallmark anymore. They are made in China and are expensive. I buy them at Dollar Tree....50 cents each and made in USA .

Check this out. I can verify this because I was in Lowe's the other day for some reason and was looking at the hose attachments. They were all made in China . The next day I was in Ace Hardware and just for the heck of it I checked the hose attachments there.They were made in USA .
Start looking ...... Read the labels on everything!!

In our current economic situation every little thing we buy or do affects someone else - even their job. So, after reading this email, I think this lady is on the right track.. Let's get behind her!

My grandson likes Hershey's candy. I noticed that it is marked made in Mexico now. I don't buy it any more.

My favorite toothpaste Colgate's made in Mexico . Now I have switched to Crest.
Good idea . . .. One light bulb at a time.......

This past weekend I was at Kroger. I needed 60W light bulbs and Bounce dryer sheets. I was in the light bulb aisle and right next to the GE brand I normally buy was an off-brand labeled, "Everyday Value". I picked up both types of bulbs and compared the stats. They were the same except for the price. The GE bulbs were more money than the Everyday Value brand but the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that GE was made in MEXICO and the Everyday Value brand was made in the USA in a company in Cleveland , Ohio .

So on to another aisle - Bounce Dryer Sheets... Yep, you guessed it, Bounce cost more money and is made in Canada . The Everyday Value brand was less money and MADE IN THE USA! I did laundry yesterday and the dryer sheets performed just like the Bounce Free I have been using for years and at almost half the price!

So throw out the myth that you cannot find products you use every day that are made right here in the US A.

My challenge to you is to start reading the labels when you shop for everyday things and see what you can find that is made in the USA - the job you save may be your own or your neighbors!

If you accept the challenge, pass this on to others in your address book so we can all start buying American, one light bulb at a time!

Stop buying from overseas companies. We should have awakened a decade ago!
Let's get with the program and help our fellow Americans keep their jobs and create more jobs here in the USA .

I passed this on . .. . Will you??? PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "



One thing I have noticed for years:
Most hardware parts I get for my rockets are better priced [or the same] at places like Ace & True Value locally owned[ & the money stays in our local economy] than the big box stores HD ,Lowes, Menards.

It's always much easier to find stuff, there is a larger selection and ALWAYS someone to help you that knows where stuff is!

It is true, we can help our own economy by simple every day choices. Maybe not with everything but certainly many, many items.

CJ

There's finally another Buy American like my guy out there! Amen brotha'! I will add this that wastebasket you bought, the quality is probably a thousand times better than the one made in china

 

[skybuster]

Once upon a time I bought $9 pocket T-Shirts that lasted five years; now I buy $5 pocket T-Shirts that last nine months.

I don’t remember voting on this. I don’t remember walking into a Sears or J.C. Penney’s and finding two bins of T-Shirts one bin made in the USA and priced $9 and one made in Bangladesh and priced $3. I’m pretty sure I would have noticed this.

The EPA and OSHA have done much to drive manufacturing overseas; the U.S can’t even make sandpaper anymore because of EPA rules. Canada and Finland don’t seem to have this problem.

The U.S. can’t manufacture CFL bulbs because of the mercury in them; yet we are being forced to buy them whether we like it or not.

Do Canada and Finland make many products that we can find here? I'm pleading ignorance since I don't know

As for the light bulbs, as long as our neighbors to the north haven't forced people to switch to CFL's, perhaps during my summer I'll send a few days up there, and on the drive back pack my duffel bag full of light bulbs! Watch the government try and force that BS on me lets see...

 

[sylvie369]

Well ya can't do it for everything, BUT it sure will help when ya can.

Besides.... we all know Canada don't count....they are our buddies! LOl:wink:

My Canadian acoustic guitar has given me more pleasure than all my electronics put together.

And buying crap.... most houses in the burbs have 2 car garages, but the cars are parked outside cause there's so much junk stored inside.

If ya get quality it lasts, of course when it comes to clothes and fashion......we're all screwed.... most better half's gotta keep up with the times.[unless you lucky like me!]

Us lucky guys get to keep more of our storage space as well.

 

[New Ocean]

Fact: the American Union Worker has priced himself out of the market.

Exactly.

 

[Disaster_Guy]

The U.S. can’t manufacture CFL bulbs because of the mercury in them; yet we are being forced to buy them whether we like it or not.

Another piece of poorly drafted legislation. Let's save energy at the price of a regulated hazardous waste. As a matter of fact (at least here in Maryland) it is illegal to use a Hg thermometer or to even sell a vacuum tube containing Hg. Yet we legislate CFLs as the only option. The result is that if you break one and in anyway release Hg into your home, you will be on the hook for a VERY expensive clean-up by a HAZMAT team and HAZMAT contractor.

Fact: the American Union Worker has priced himself out of the market.

I have very mixed feelings about unions. I have never been a union member but have worked in management positions of organizations with union representation in the public sector. I feel that unions have (or at least had) their place. This is particularly true regarding working conditions, safety, and similar issues. What I see lately in many areas are firefighters and cops going through layoffs (or in some cases entire departments being disbanded an service contracts being awarded to neighboring jurisdictions) because the union was unwilling to accept a 5% increase in healthcare contributions. Also, here in my home county, the teachers union attempted to use a Christmas bonus to file suit claiming that it gave them the right to renegotiate the contract accepting nothing less than large raises. The result was that the budget line item for that bonus was vetoed by the county executive. Make no mistake, these are not unions looking out for their workers. These are examples as you imply that have destroyed much of the ability to maintain or domestic workforce as a competitive animal.

 

[Zeus-cat]

I can't agree with the idea that we have to always buy American. The company I work for exports a lot of our products outside the U.S. We make airplane parts for Boeing, Embraer and a lot of other aircraft manufacturers. Our parts end up in almost every country in the world; even China. If every country had the philosophy of buy only what is made in their own country we would all suffer for that.

That said, I do avoid many Chinese products if I can. I think many of the products made in China are substandard and made with dangerous chemicals.

I prefer to buy American, but I won't hesitate to buy something from another country if the price and quality are good.

 

[fyrwrxz]

A slightly hyperbolic example...

How many American whalers are there today? Those jobs were lost, but what jobs replaced them? Automotive and other jobs from new technology. Now it is almost as silly to pay an American $25 an hour to assemble something as it is to have them out whaling. The world changes, the job markets change, you need to adapt to get a new job. It is that simple! I can't stand how the blame is always on some other country or some corporation or the government or other Americans who don't buy American. If you don't have a job, what are YOU doing to fix the situation personally? I rarely see Americans willing to really invest the time and effort (and even money) to become qualified to do a new job. They are then forced to do jobs that should be done by teenagers and college students or others who are just getting started.

I have a crew of young men and women at an entry level position. They are well paid for what they do and there are no real requirements to qualify for the position. I am appalled at the lack of drive, for whatever reason, to improve their chances in the future. When the inevitable request comes for general across the board raises, I have actually used the phrase "This isn't rocket science"! Yes, commodities go up and with every Middle East scenario, fuel prices jump and translate into all the other consumer goods right down to bread. Our farmers take it in the shorts daily and the powers to be regulate the crap out of everything with a layer of bureaucracy that's mind-boggling. My guys are paying substantial amounts of their take home pay just for rent because of the housing market. So I can't blame them, but....going to school? Learning a trade? Getting a degree? It's like they've all given up and are just happy to have a job. They all know I retired from aerospace, but I point out I started as an automotive mechanic and went to school at night while raising a family. I'll never give up trying to encourage these folk, but it's hard every day to watch this happen.
So your observations are spot on. I don't think the American Dream is dead,so much as many Americans have become lethargic and complacent. Ask any immigrant why they came to America and to a person they will tell you "for a better life" and they work for it, they go to school to learn English, get a degree, move up. I hope we all wise up soon. I know I did. Just the other day I told my wife "Honey, you know I LOVE your cooking, but no more whale meat, please?

 

[Cyril's Scribe]

This is a hard thread to reply to but I think this issue is much more broad than "gubm'int did it", or "unions did it", or "corporations did it". This is a global economic trend created by hegemonic, economic, educational, regulatory, governmental, and political forces for the last twenty to thirty years. This is not some simple market trend that can be reversed, this is a sum of forces at play that are greater than this country and the only thing that could stop it is either another combination of global forces, or nuclear armageddon. This is something we as global citizens need to overcome and embrace. I may not have a job when I get out of college working with a car manufacturer as a prospective Electrical Engineer, but I may have a job with renewable energy company, or as a public servant. I have seen some of the children of older families that I know leave college, and they mostly came back home for some time, not because they wanted to, dear lord they probably wanted anything but, but they had little choice. Who would you hire when you could pick your workers? The twenty-something twat with little experience and less practical knowledge, or the forty-something family man who needs a job and is willing to take huge pay cuts and benefit losses to compete for an entry level job in his/her field? As the economy improves further this will be reduced, but this is a trying time for everyone, and it is something we have to live with, and understand better. The United States, and indeed all of the Americas can do better, that is for certain. Yes, we may lose Hegemony, and that may lead to a different future, but what really matters is what we, not some idle concept of "government" or "corporations" do. Buying foreign goods is not un-patriotic, actually most citizens of the United States for a long time bought foreign produced goods and "products made in the USA". This kind of pseudo-jingoistic ethics is an invention of the times. Does it honestly really matter? I purchase a lot of kits for my school from Aerotech, a US-based company, and for myself from Wildman. But I also buy motors from Cesaroni, and composites from West Coast Rocketry, both Canadian companies. As long as you are ethical in your purchases, it should not matter if you are helping a Chinese mid-level worker, a Canadian Hobbyist, or a US businessman. I do not agree with Wal-Marts hiring and benefits policy, so I avoid buying their, simple, I can do with out. US companies have made ethics and environmental mistakes too, just look at Love Canal for a great example. For the times today it should be more about making informed and ethical decisions than just purchasing based on where it was made.

 

[boomtube]

Want to talk about jobs lost to advancing technology?

For roughly 100 years (1850-1950) one in four non-farm workers were employed either by one of America’s Railroads or a company that supplied the materials and services to railroads.

That is 25% of the then available workforce.

What is that figure these days? Probably it is so low as to be insignificant, yet today’s U.S. RRs move more ton/miles of freight each year than ever before.

Very few, if any, of those lost jobs were sent overseas, they were done-in by advancing technology.

 

[New Ocean]

Funny as this may sound, I got my start working as a PA in the film industry. You may never expect this from film, but PAs work very hard doing just about anything for little pay and long hours. That includes lots of physical work, thinking on the spot, and office work all at once. You may rent a box truck, drive it, load it, unload it, and then balance a payroll spreadsheet after lunch. It was the best training for me because A: it built experience in so many places, and B: gave me a taste for hard work. After a while doing something like that, you pride yourself on doing the job right no matter what the pay or conditions. You work hard simply because it is your job and if only for yourself, you want to "DIR." Lots of Americans my age (20s) may never have that work ethic.

 

[skybuster]

A slightly hyperbolic example...

How many American whalers are there today? Those jobs were lost, but what jobs replaced them? Automotive and other jobs from new technology. Now it is almost as silly to pay an American $25 an hour to assemble something as it is to have them out whaling. The world changes, the job markets change, you need to adapt to get a new job. It is that simple! I can't stand how the blame is always on some other country or some corporation or the government or other Americans who don't buy American. If you don't have a job, what are YOU doing to fix the situation personally? I rarely see Americans willing to really invest the time and effort (and even money) to become qualified to do a new job. They are then forced to do jobs that should be done by teenagers and college students or others who are just getting started.[/QUOTE]

Allow me to retort, another hyperbolic example:

manual labor and craftsman skills built America to what it was, I say was since we've gone down the tubes a bit losing world power, bad econ and such. Anyways, not everything can or will adapt. Lets say you're a homeowner. Lets say you have a septic tank, and lets say that it backs up. Now, most normal people lack any and all skills to fix something as labor intensive as this. So, you call someone who dealing with these systems, now let me ask you, do you phone in a long distance call to Beijing and fly a guy to the US who probably lacks any skills regarding fixing or making things (poor quality speaks for this), or do you call up someone a few miles away who actually knows what they're doing and gets the job done, and gets it done right?

Not everything can, should, needs to, or will adapt. There's a reason why people learned these skills. There's a reason why the USA could do anything 30 years ago, but thanks to people who think that "you need to adapt to get a new job" or that these jobs are unnecessary, you're the reason why we're the way we are today. There's a reason why you should support those who choose to instead of betraying them. Around 30% of Americans have a college degree, not all these desk drone or paper pusher jobs are necessary, there's plenty of people who would rather spend their time making something than spending eight hours a day behind a desk not learning anything.

Hell, the main reason why Germany is the power house and has a growing GDP is because they pride themselves on having an industry that delivers quality for a reasonable price. If they can keep a fairly large industrial base, why the hell can't we?