Made in America no longer (MSN Slide Show)

MSN Money ^ | Minyanville

[Repeat Offender]

It's the kind of summer moment that makes you happy to be an American: You've just cracked open a Miller beer, wiped your hands on your Levi's 501s and broken out the good old Rawlings baseball for a few rounds of catch, and all seems right with the world.

But what's wrong with this picture? Other than a suspicion that you may have traveled back to 1951, what's amiss is that the brands in question -- yes, even that baseball -- are actually foreign-made. Minyanville takes a look at 10 iconic brands that are as American as Dutch apple pie.

[Repeat Offender]

Be sure to click all the way to the end, so long as we have stupidity in such a cheap abundant supply these folks will always have a niche in the US (unfortunately). It's just a shame that outside of the NEA and Congress, being stupid doesn't pay the bills.

Kishore3456#3

Friday, September 25, 2009 6:16:41 AMWe need to get over with the "Made in America" craze. Its now officially a global economy, so it does not matter where the product is made, what matters is that the brand is alive and doing well. If these brands had continued to be made in America, they most probably would've gone bankrupt by now. So, be wise and invest in these global companies and reap the benefits.

I don't know, maybe the poster is talking about unemployment benefits? Its kind of hard to buy stock in a company with no job and no money (at least none of your own).

[Retired Greyhound]

If the govt insists on reaming businesses, they will have no choice but to move their operations elsewhere.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Some of this is misleading — cases where the brands belong to multinational conglomerates, but the product is still made domestically.

[TWohlford]

My feather mattress said “Woolrich” but it wasn’t made by Woolrich — just some offshore (Chinese?) company that was hired by Target to make it.

[DonaldC]

When the dollar a day labor dries up, I’m sure this will stop.

[Trajan88]

Regarding Rawlings baseball gloves... I've played with a Rawlings since little league (early 70s). The last glove I purchased (~1993) was a Heart O the Hide PRO 6-RH (made in America of course).

Rawlings' top of the line glove is now made in Phillipines and it is $250+. I called Rawlings and asked them how they cannot make money by producing the same glove in the U.S. and charging the same price.

The minion at the call center said she didn't know... I told her to pose that question up the chain and I would like a call back with a response. I'm still waiting for the call 2 years later.

My next glove purchase will be from Nokona (made here in Texas): NOKONA

[FormerACLUmember]

"Made in America no longer"

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Agreed. And it’s happening up and down the line.

Local Government: Nanny Staters sitting on city & county boards are banning smoking in bars, fast food restaurants, etc., destroying local businesses while they ADVOCATE for making pockets of people who suck up tax dollars like a Hoover (if you build it they WILL come!), creating a huge GAP in local people that are even the least bit employable in the first place - and the businesses are LEAVING.

State Government: Create a totally unfriendly environment for business through high taxes, fees, regulations, etc. - businesses are LEAVING. And even if they find another state to re-locate to, how many times are you going to move your whole operation to another state? That’s not profitable!

Federal Government: Mandates from above what States should do while dangling wads of cash in front of their faces, 99.999% of the time ending up as a detriment to businesses, and - businesses are LEAVING.

I mean, really, once you’re chased out of your town and your state, WTF are you going to GO? You’re going to leave the Country!

Morons.

[Repeat Offender]

Some of this is misleading — cases where the brands belong to multinational conglomerates, but the product is still made domestically.

Yeah... some are no longer American owned. But, Americans still work there. However, it was interesting that Huffy and Rubbermaid weren't listed, but buildings were. I guess the buildings were imported whole?

Anyhow, I thought it interesting at the mention of it and some of the 'meh - I don't care' comments.

[Retired Greyhound]

See the rust belt (MI, OH, PA) and CA upstate NY for proof of this.

[theymakemesick]

I always salivate over the Nokona’s at Academy. Beautiful leather and workmanship.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I know. It’s happening to Wisconsin, too. We used to be a HUGE manufacturing state, and now we ain’t got chit...thanks to the Democrats.

[familyop]

Ping.

[Citizen Tom Paine]

My shock came when i found out that TI and HP no longer made calculators in the US. Gasp!!!! Try to get an old TI calculator repaired also. Woolrich buffalo plaid shirts made in China!!!

[pissant]

Yeah. Not only have we outsourced large swaths of manufacturing and manufacturing technology to the chicoms, we are now in a position of begging them to buy are treasury notes. pathetic and mortally dangerous.

[familyop]

"It's just a shame that outside of the NEA and Congress, being stupid doesn't pay the bills."

..."NEA" meaning National Education Association. ...right? I'm mentioning that, because so many corporate-government-academic pushers have recently tried to take the focus away from the monstrous costs of failed government education for the pecuniary interests of their own family members (teachers, administrators, all) while sponsoring so much attention toward the National Endowment for the Arts (also a wrongful receiver of funding but not nearly as much funding or damage to families).

[nascarnation]

You’re very correct.
The article is poorly written and conveys much misinformation.

[Brilliant]

We still make the best media propaganda.

[panaxanax]

I noticed a new label recently. “Born in the USA” What the heck does that mean? The idea for the product came from here??

[familyop]

"Yeah. Not only have we outsourced large swaths of manufacturing and manufacturing technology to the chicoms, we are now in a position of begging them to buy are treasury notes. pathetic and mortally dangerous."

Look at it this way. The revenues will dry up. We'll have to suffer the last ditch efforts of bureaucrats to replace those revenues by way of false charges, huge property tax hikes, and the like. But even those revenues will go out with bangs.

And if they try to administer us with foreign troops afterward (for lack of revenues),...well, that just wouldn't work. Such action would cause both our country and those of "trading partners" to explode. BTW, for more than a year, foreign national laborers from quite a number of other countries have been saying (only to us American laborers) that we are being brought into international slavery along with them. They haven't seemed to be very pleased about it, either.

There it is, bluntly. And me...? I'm just getting out of the way, because I already spent several years trying to nicely warn the retards in charge. ...ain't getting involved in any way in any stinkin' SHTF scenario.

We should've done Iran, made peace between our own neighbors (even with us "unemployable" "Neanderthal" American family men, "breeders" that we are) and started producing useful things right here in the USA.