BUY AMERICAN!?

Buy American! What exactly does that mean in today's "global marketplace"? I have been asking myself this question for some time now and cannot seem to answer it.

First off, let me just say that without a certain American automobile manufacturer, I would be writing this blog on a legal pad and posting it on the telephone pole on the corner, not on my very nice Mac! I am just asking some questions and start some discussion on the issue.

We just recently purchased a new (albeit, gently used) vehicle. For the sake of this post, let's pretend we bought it brand new. The car is a Saab 9.3 SportCombi Aero. Here is the question: Why is it OK to purchase this foreign made (more detail to follow) car just because GM owns a majority of Saab, but not a Honda built in Ohio (insert any transplant here)?

Our Saab has less than 1% of it actually built in the US. When the car is driven off the boat, they add some stuff on the dock and then ship it to the dealer...this would be that <1%.

Now remember, even if GM made "good" money on the sale of a Saab, that still puts very little money back into the US economy, don't forget, all the people who made the car live and spend their money in other countries.

My neighbor just purchased a Honda made in Ohio. I am not exactly sure how much of this vehicle was made from US parts, but I am going to take an educated guess and say it is more than 1%. I am very aware that Honda is a Japanese Corporation and that the profits will go back to Japan. But hear me out... The workers who assemble that Honda live in Ohio. Even though we all hate Ohio, it is in the US. They have homes, pay taxes, and buy groceries in Ohio. The money that my neighbor used to purchase his foreign automobile will have a far greater positive impact on the American economy that our purchase of the Saab will ever have.

We could even look at the Crown Victoria that my Grandparents drive. Made in Canada. Those workers live in Canada, go to restaurants in Canada, spend their money in Canada. Yea, the profits from the purchase of the car come back to Dearborn, but what has the greater impact on the country's economy?

I am by no means an economist, but I would have to say that the people who produce goods (in industrialized countries like the US, Canada, Germany, etc) have a far greater impact on that country's economy that the people who own the company producing the goods. What I am trying to say is that is seems that buying the Honda produced in Ohio would have a greater positive impact to the US economy than buying the Saab.

Of course if people who advocate buying American did the research to make sure that the American product they are buying has a majority of American produced parts and was assembled in America, this would truly be "Buying American". But the person who actually does that is very rare. I know people who will not buy compact fluorescent light bulbs because they are all made in China, but they drive a Ford not assembled in the US! I think that is crazy.

In today's marketplace it is impossible to strictly buy American and we should try do so whenever possible. To go even farther, do not just buy American, but buy locally produced and grown products. But, buying a foreign owned product produced in the US might not always be the bad choice...