What does this Country build, make, produce other than food and War?

[sarcasmo]

Every time my wife brings home something from the store it says made in China on the bottom. I will usually moan and say, well I guess this might last six months. In the past I have tried to get her to make purchases based on where they are built, lately it appears to me that this is near impossible. We don't even make our own bullets for War, we just make the War.
I am not doing a survey, I am just trying to think of things we actually make. Bissell Vacuums are made right here in Grand Rapids, but the Brunswick Bowling Ball plant closed down and moved to some cheap labor country. I think Harley Davidson's are all made here in the States. Zippo lighters are made in the States too. The only problem is I am running out of products to name. When you go to Target or Walgreens and pick up household items it's hard to find stuff made in the States in either of those two stores. I has been frustrating me to no end for the past half a dozen years. The worst was finding out my Chevy Aveo the greenest car Chevy sells was made in South Korea.
If we make nothing as a Country are we not doomed. When we are complete consumers when does are Country come to a halt.

[sutz12]

1. Prisons come to mind.... nt

[sarcasmo]

2. Which explains the rise in people being jailed.

[mikita]

made me laugh out loud, but sadly true..

I have heard that we now count flipping burgers as part of our "manufacturing" figures.

[Raven]

3. Pollutants

and lots of them.

[sarcasmo]

5. So far nothing that we can buy, or sell, LOL.

[Deep13]

4. CO2 (nt)

[tridim]

6. Movies, music and other entertainment

All of which would probably be outsourced if it were possible.

[Norquist Nemesis]

7. Coffee filters!

I was surprised when I looked at the packaging of my #4 cone filters the other day to see 'Made in USA' printed on them. Anymore, seeing those words on anything surprises me.

[tridim]

10. Get a reusable filter!

Although I'm sure mine was made in China, it's worth it.

[Norquist Nemesis]

26. Oh, I have one of those too

I use it on the weekends when we luxuriate with flavored coffees. :P

It's a PIA to empty and clean though.

[sarcasmo]

11. I usually say WOW, when I see the Made in the U.S.A. label.

[Norquist Nemesis]

30. I have the same reaction. n/t

[sarcasmo]

14. Filters, Entertainment and Music.

What a sad Country the U.S.A. has become.

[Norquist Nemesis]

28. A good portion of the entertainment/film industry outsources

its operations to other countries from what I've read. In particular, the animated films. I'm guessing those Saturday morning cartoons are not small potatoes in terms of market. :shrug:

[Jonathan50]

8. Entertainment

Hollywood leads the world by a big margin in making movies, TV shows, etc.

[bryant69]

9. We produce culture - Movies, TV, Music and so on.

American Music is listened to throughout the world - American TV is popular pretty much everywhere.

I love America.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[The2ndWheel]

12. We're the police

China manufactures everything. India takes complaint calls. Everyone has their place. Global village and all.

[liberal N proud]

13. Japanese cars

More Toyota's are made in the US than Japan. But are the wages commensurate?

And when everyone else is out of a job or working service jobs, who is going to be able to afford those products which are made in the US?

It is how trickle down economics actually works... One man loses job, stops buying goods, that leads to two people losing their jobs which then causes them to stop buying goods and ... you get the picture.

[lectrobyte]

49. Toyota workers in Kentucky plant made more than UAW members last year

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/01/31/toyota-workers-in-us-made-more-than-uaw-members-for-first-time-l/

Last year was the first time that non-unionized workers at a foreign-owned assembly plant made more than members of the United Auto Workers union make on average in a year. The Detroit Free Press reveals in a very interesting article that Toyota paid out bonuses of $6,000 to $8,000 last year at its largest U.S. plant in Georgetown, KY. Combined with the base pay made by a non-union worker at the plant, that equates to $30/hour or $60,000/year based on a 2,000-hour work year. That is more than the $27/hour or $54,000 a UAW member made on average last year. Union workers, or course, hardly received any profit sharing bonuses last year due to the poor overall performance of the domestic automakers.

[liberal N proud]

50. I stand corrected!

Glad to hear someone is getting ahead in America other than the billionaires

[lectrobyte]

51. Yes, me too, although I have mixed feelings. Without the unions, I am

sure Toyota would not be treating their workers quite so well, although what I've heard of Japanese management style and company operations does seem to indicate that they value loyalty between worker and company.

[Kindigger]

15. Peeps

:P

[Red Zelda]

16. Drugs, narrow minds, intolerance

...and stupidity.

[kestrel91316]

17. Felons.

[kiahzero]

18. Lots of things

Cars (while the Detroit manufacturers are moving out of the US, some foreign manufacturers are moving in), food, computers, software.

That's just what I came up with with a few moments of thought.

[sinkingfeeling]

19. Here's a site you'll like. Lists products by category that are 'Made in the USA'.

http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/shoppingindex.html

[liberal N proud]

41. That site is a little out of date

Some of those product have left the country in the past year.

[ClayZ]

20. Ocarinas

www.clayz.com heh heh heh Well, we do make em!

From Mud to Music!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. Capitalism does have it's drawbacks.

I remember seeing a Disney made cartoon, when I was a kid, extolling capitalism. All about the virtues of competition and how it lowers prices for consumers and improves the quality of the goods produced.

I sometimes remember that film when I get into my unbreakable '94 Toyota pickup, turn on my Sony TV, put on a shirt made in Guatemala, or heat my coffee from Columbia, in my micro-wave made in China.

Like most consumers, I buy things with the best quality for the lowest price. I don't bother fretting about where they come from.

But, ain't it grand that we've spread the joys of capitalism around the globe?

"The capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them." V.I. Lenin

[raccoon]

22. I heard somewhere that loading pallets are made in the US. nt

[Double T]

23. America produces trade deficits, national debt, credit card debt,........

mortgage foreclosures, unemployment, horrendous leaders and a weak currency. Mission accomplished.

[mainegreen]

24. Airplanes, semiconductors, steel, clothes, ships, lightbulbs, paper,

computers, cars, trucks, heavy machinery, spaceships, medicine, chemicals, software, furniture, appliances, complex industrial equipment, concrete, lumber, electricity, minerals and so forth.
Our industrial base is not dead yet.

[sinkingfeeling]

29. I think you're wrong about computers. Most are 'assembled' in the USA, but the

components are made outside. Some companies such as Dell and HP and Apple have assembly plants outside of the country as well.

[mainegreen]

33. We still have a living and breathing semiconductor industry.

Some of our production does get exported overseas and then re-imported. Some hardware is strictly import. In reality no computer is made in one country. Overall, though, both from a design, manufacturing and assembly perspective we can still claim we 'make' computers, as much as anyone can.

[KoKo]

46. Appliances and Furniture are almost gone to Mexico or Third World....

NC has closed almost all it's factories. Imported from other countries using their own "rainforest" or other lumber. Maytag just closed it's last plant and the rest are already going or gone.

[HughBeaumont]

25. More methods of offshoring and inshoring jobs, I guess.

[leftofthedial]

27. a flood of lame "culture"

[Ganja Ninja]

31. Foreign college graduates.

Seems like we produce an awful lot of those.

[gauguin57]

32. Candles. Lots and lots of candles.

I think Yankee still makes its candles in Mass. At least that's what it says on the bottom of the Spring Bouquet candle I'm burning right now.

And they gave some money to the Democrats and none to the Repugs, according to Buyblue.org

[Unca Jim]

34. Oh, we make the bullets...

right here (Minneapolis Area) at the FMC plant.

We make a lot of things in the USA. No, it's not the same as after WWII when we made everything because most of the rest of the manufacturing world was decimated, but we still make a lot.

One of the things that has helped me realize that is *not shopping at Wal-Mart, Target, and Walgreens* who don't carry anything of quality. Cheap crap is all made in China.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

35. CEO's and psychiatrists to help them cope with the burdens of wealth.

[Ezlivin]

36. Davis Weather Instruments

I just bought a Davis Weather Vantage Pro2 because it was Made in the USA.

I was shocked to find this out because, like others on this forum, I rarely find things stamped "Made in USA" anymore.

[rustydad]

37. Well

Movies and pornography. bob

[SoCalDem]

38. Sick people with no insurance?

I've heard that that area of our economy is booming

[sandnsea]

59. Health care creates the job growth

All the real job growth in the last few years has only been in the health care industry. All other industries are flat or falling.

[lectrobyte]

39. I thought we'd gone from a net food exporter to a food importer a few

years back.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

40. Oh Nothing Of Course. I Mean, The Thousands Of US Manufacturing Facilities Are Just There For Show.

Yup. All the thousands and thousands of manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and alllllll the employees who work at them, aren't actually manufacturing anything! It's all just a big ruse! They really just all sit around all day and do nothing but play cards! :eyes:

[bryant69]

42. This is an revealing excersise in seeing what DU thinks of America

But those manufacturing facilities could just be making bombs.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[spinbaby]

43. Just off the top of my head...

We produce a lot of coal. All Clad cookware. My Saturn. Sony TVs.

[cgrindley]

44. The best blue jeans on earth

http://www.earnestsewn.com

[KoKo]

45. Mattresses are still made here. Guess they are too bulky to transport.

But, they are still made here. We don't export them, though...so doesn't help "trade imbalance."

[treestar]

47. Is it necessarily a bad thing?

We could have moved into the invention of things or doing more of the mind-work.

Not saying it is so, but it could be. We might not be screwn just for not being the ones actually making physical things.

There's enough junk in the world.

[951-Riverside]

48. Apple Juice.... oh wait

EVEN THATS "MADE IN CHINA".

[hughee99]

52. Wiffleballs! n/t

[newportdadde]

53. We are great at printing the greenback.

[sandnsea]

54. Silly you - apparently all is well in America

from the looks of this thread. All Hail Bush! All Hail Republicanism!!

[havocmom]

55. Stock certificates

CEOs get paid millions for how they can influence law-makers and how they can sell stock certificates.

America is in the worthless paper business.

[BluePatriot]

56. Oil Well Supplies

LOL. Seriously. We export a hell of a lot of those.

[paparush]

57. Movies, Music, and Microcode - According to Neil Stephenson's 'Snow Crash'

[sammythecat]

58. All of the heavy industries,

cars, steel, shipbuilding, and all the smaller companies that support heavy industry, are either in steep decline or almost gone.

Along with that, the middle class is in steep decline and almost gone. The days of the single blue-collar wage earner comfortably raising a family are a thing of the past. To me, this seems alarming, yet it seems most people I work with and know are rather complacent and accepting of the situation. Like it's normal for both parents to work full-time and struggle financially. Well, it IS normal now, but it wasn't, and it shouldn't.

on edit: On a historical note, during WWII our amazing capacity in heavy industry was probably the single biggest reason we were able to prevail. I mention this just as an historical observation. A real WWIII would most likely be decided with a few billion dollars worth of ballistic missiles.