Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General A final farewell to all CEGers

I'm not one of those "only buy american" types but please do explain how that is racist. I mean, c'mon there's a huge difference between someone having pride in their country and wanting to support it's products and someone wearing a pillowcase on their head and hating someone because of their color or background...that's just ridiculous really.

Some people are genuinely concerned about where their car was built; someone on this forum a year or two ago said that he couldn't bring himself to buy a Focus because they were being made in Mexico at the time. I still disagree; I'm going to get whatever I think is the best buy for me, out of both fiscally conservative leanings and just plain selfishness. I can respect his values, though.

OTOH, these people who scream "BUY AMERICAN!" when they really mean, "I'm a redneck and having an American name on my car is an important part of my image, even if the car was built by enslaved dissidents in North Korea" are always going to draw my ire. They're idiots at best and racists at worst. Again, though, a genuine "buy American" philosphy is hardly racist.

--T.J.

Everyone loves to point out that Camrys and Accords are built in the US. But what does that really mean? The majority of the parts come from Japan. The vast majority of the engineering, marketing, sales support, etc. was done in Japan. And finally, the majority of the profits go back over there too.

Pretty much all an "American built" Accord gives to our country's economy is the wage of the person that assembles it. And if I'm not mistaken, assembling a vehicle is a drop in the bucket when you compare the materials costs, engineering, and general overhead. I would bet we're talking 1% of the car's sticker price (though I've often wondered the exact amount and have never seen a number. should be easy enough, just take the total value of cars produced and contrast to the salary of the assembly line workers in the plant).

So don't take this as "racist", you should feel free to buy whatever you want in a free market economy. But PLEASE do not KID yourself that an Accord is MORE AMERICAN than a Mexican assembled Contour.

Brian
99 SVT

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Pretty much all an "American built" Accord gives to our country's economy is the wage of the person that assembles it.

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But those Americans have a JOB. Isnt that important?

(shrug) I don't have a problem with my money going to a Japanese zaibatsu; however, and it's been a long time since I've read anything on this, we do need to persue a more aggressive trade policy with Japan, China and probably some other countries. Having their products available to American consumers is a good thing, no question about it. But we need to grow some balls (hell, maybe we did and I never heard, again it's been a while since this has been talked about) and not be afraid to get into a trade war. We're running massive trade deficits and letting other countries piss on our heads with their massive restrictions on American imports.

Trade is good. Shipping jobs to underdeveloped countries is short sited and stupid and will come back to bite our economy in the ass. BUT, I'm sure we have a lot of opinions on trade here, ranging from anarcho-capitalists to protectionists so maybe we should start a new thread...

--T.J.

That racism accusation is quite unfounded. The 'Buy American' campaign was not born at a backyard B-B-Q of sheet wearing hicks (probably not anyway...). It was a call to arms by the unions to support union labor, and embraced by the politicians at the time to shore up the domestic economy. Keep American dollars in American pockets, and support American workers kinda thing. It was Nationalistic in nature, not a racial divide. After all, not every American worker is a white guy from Mississippi.

Let's keep things in their proper historical perspective and not practice revisionist history.

I'd like to throw in that I live in a large GM area...quite a few friends work for GM. I refuse to buy their product due to the stories I hear about their days at work & the people surrounding them. It's awful hard to trust a vehicle built by people that keep liquor in their lockers & brag about sleeping most of their shifts in the broom closets, fighting, driving the tow motor while drunk & damaging very expensive supplies amongst other questionable activities...oh but they're in the union

I guess the way people brag about this stuff really burns my arse...I'm sure it happens w/ alot of vehicle manufacturers, I also realize there are people that do a good job too, unfortunately I know of very few.

Maybe that's a lame excuse not to buy a car but it leaves a bad taste after hearing this crap. I admit I am jealous of the wages (although mindless work doesn't appeal to me)...especially for the lack of effort put forth