Guess what was blocking my driveway this afternoon?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ May 23 2007, 02:23 PM) [snapback]448353[/snapback]</div>

Your right. But I don't think the attitude is confined to just Americans. I believe you will find that is mostly the case in most countries. Give any consumer the choice between a locally more expensive produced product and the cheaper imported one and they'll buy the import nearly every time. Oh, you'll get lots of lip service about patriotism and such, but when no one is looking, the import wins almost every time. No one "goes" to Walmart, but everyone shops there.

Remember, we all do drive Japanese imports. We could have bought American but...

Rick
#4 2006

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(viking31 @ May 23 2007, 02:52 PM) [snapback]448425[/snapback]</div>

I know, but I refuse to apply some sort of sliding scale to the problem, where it becomes okay for us to behave in a certain way 'cause everyone else does so.

What's next, US manufacturers making cheap clones of Toyotas (as the Chinese do with copies of small Honda engines, for example)...?

Dumping heavy metals into the water so we can make cheaper bicycle frames?

Is this really the legacy we wish to create for ourselves (and leave for others to clean up)? I hope not.

As far as buying American goes, I really do do my best to do so (and I've NEVER, EVER shopped at WalMart!!). But sometimes (like with the Prius) I also feel it's my duty to convey my dissatistfaction with current domestic offernings by buying imported. Personally, I've held stock in Ford for quite some time now, so I do feel that I'm still making a contribution to their (apparently failing) cause.

I think the "The future is going to be better than today" part of the American Dream of the past has been perverted into "The future is NOW...why should I wait any longer for my version of the American Dream to come true when I've got a $22,000 credit line on my Visa card?"

I'd humbly suggest that the problem lies here.

Besides, we see our government regularly overspend its budget, operate in deficit spending, even cook the books, and still make ends meet somehow...why should we as individuals be any different?

 

burritos,

Not cool for you. No crime in letting the lawn mover just roll out down your drive is there?

You know what gets me the most is when these people waiting for their kids will drive like bats out of hell after the get the kids in these tanks of vehicles.

What also gets me is that when I go to the store and park in a perfectly nice spot. Then come out with a door ding from an SUV or big fat 2 door car. Happened 3 times now. Without proof I can do nothing.

Ticks me off, since I take so much time to leave the equal amount of space on each side of my PRIUS to avoid this.

I now park way far from these lazy inconsiderate people and just get the extra exercise.

Also avoids the +$500 damages from these idiots that cannot open doors.

Good luck

 

I've been known to just let the air out of people's tires. I'll leave a note, though, so they don't go tearing off into a utility pole with a car filled with kids.

"Dude, your tires are all flat. Better get that fixed."
:lol:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ May , 05:28 PM)</div>

You seem like a nice person, but your doom and gloom is off the scale. You are starting to sound like a AGW cult follower who is convinced the oceans will be boiling in 10 years.

Has America been getting more and more polluted? I was under the impression that our water supplies, rivers, air and such have been getting cleaner ever since the late 60's or so when pollution control and Superfund became part of our vocabulary. What areas of the nation are now polluted to such an extent that the quality of the area is worse/declining than before?

While you may not shop at Walmart I am willing to bet you still have many foreign made items in your house. Your clothes, shoes, lightbulbs, electrical outlets, the very computer you use to surf the web, etc. are most likely made overseas. Much of our food is foreign produced.

You mention US factories might dump toxic metals and such in rivers to make cheap products. You can do that in China and many other developing countries but not in the US and expect to get away with it. Yes, I am against factories polluting the air and water but this is one of the major reasons (and the lack of government mandated wages) imports are much cheaper than US made products. It is just a fact of our current state of the world.

You mention our budgets is overspent, deficits are common, etc. Well, so what? This has been going on for decades. Yet the economy is and for most of those years been very strong. Interest rates are very low, inflation is very low, unemployment is very low, the stock market is hovering near record highs, etc. all signs of a very healthy economy.

You maybe young but I remember Jimmy Carter days as President as if it was yesterday. Interest rates at near 20%, inflation off the charts, gas lines/shortages, unemployment rampant. Not a good time to live in America. Funny how history seems to gloss over these "minor" bumps...

Rick
#4 2006

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(viking31 @ May 23 2007, 08:41 PM) [snapback]448650[/snapback]</div>

I'm not, though. They even said that some coral may survive, but it won't be coral anymore but a 'soft polyp.' I guess that would give us 'polyp reefs'?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(viking31 @ May 23 2007, 08:41 PM) [snapback]448650[/snapback]</div>

I do, of course, it's pretty difficult not to. But I do think about my purchasing decisions in this context before acting, choose the American alternative if possible, even if it costs more (I even spec'd Auto Meter gauges for my Pinto, for example, and they were EXPENSIVE!). I'll bet it's more than most Americans do (and I hate to put it like this 'cause it sounds immodest, but since you asked...)

And...foreign produced food?!? What's with THAT? We subsidize agrobusiness so much here in the USA, and we STILL have to import so many things?!? Actually, I buy locally grown whenever I can and have been messing around with slow food, so I can safely say that much of what I eat is indeed produced in the USA, and lots of it even within NorCal. This, particularly, is very important to me and I'm VERY focused on it right now.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(viking31 @ May 23 2007, 08:41 PM) [snapback]448650[/snapback]</div>

I'm saying that we should rise above those folks...and you're saying that we should sink to their level? I don't like the sound of the latter. Why not go one better, and remove ALL environmental restrictions, in the name of productivity?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(viking31 @ May 23 2007, 08:41 PM) [snapback]448650[/snapback]</div>

The savings rates of a large number of American families is below zero. The buying power of the Dollar has sunk dramatically since the end of WWII. Sure, there are jobs for everybody...'cause now everybody has to work, since Dad's salary is often no longer enough. And through it all, most people are not socking *anything* away for a rainy day or retirement...they're living paycheck to paycheck.

None of this seems to indicate individual financial health, and tends to contradict the rosy glow of our "robust" economy. Why is everybody in deficit spending if the economy is doing so well?

Actually, it may be their own fault, if you'd like to discuss that...
[smile]

Actually, I'm 44 and remember Carter painting Air Force One white as a sign of austerity (and obliterating the classic Raymond Loewy paint job that Jackie Kennedy helped design!)...helicopters breaking down in the desert...it was pretty sad. I'm not a fan of his administration and wonder if, based upon your mention of it, you may be miscategorizing me politically.

I'm anything but a pessimist. I think we've still got the strength and momentum to compete and win...maybe even to redefine the economic playing field. I wish that we wouldn't squander it any more than we are already. I think an America that can say 'no' to temptation with greater frequency will be stronger and more positive, too...so, if this is doom and gloom, then I guess that I am that.