Politics What Do You Think Of The Quality Of American Products Overall

Do you think there is a correlation between American political affiliation and the choice to buy American-made or foreign cars?

Well, this a false problem. What is American-made?A Toyota pick-up is Japanese, right? Ah, no. It’s built by Americans in San Antonio Texas.A Honda Odyssey is a Japanese mini-van, right?Not exactly.It’s built just north of Toronto, Canada. By Canadian workers and welding robots.I’ve shot a commercial in the factory, it’s impressive as hell.The only truly Japanese car I worked on when I was working for Honda was the Acura NSX, which were built in Japan. The Accord, which has sold a gazillion models, is made in Ohio.Some people may want to be consumers based on their politics, but it’s not that simple. Look at what’s going on right now with Harley-Davidson who can save a diaper-load by shifting some manufacturing to Europe.I think in small things, you can express yourself by your shopping. I refuse to buy clothing made in China, a) because it’s crap and b) because the workers are practically slaves. But I learned that now in Italy the old crafts-people who could sew — the real old school artisans — are retiring and dying, Young people don’t want to do this work, so they are bringing in Chinese workers (Hong Kong had a lot of fashion manufacturing skill before the Communist takeover).So we are paying for Italian clothing made by Chinese in Italy?My point is that wearing the flag by our retail purchases is not so simple as it may appear.There was a big scandal in Canada when it was discovered that the little Maple Leaf lapel pins the government gave out to guests were actually made in China.Embarrassing or what?So wear your American Flag tee-shirt today with pride, but check the label before you make a speech about it. Happy 4th.

If Americans have the overall perception that products are poorly made in China, why are they still buying them?

I don't think people are always stupid when they puting down their own money.There are some products that you want reliabilities in first place, but there are also stuff you don't really need to care much about quality -- sometimes you can even think getting job done within a decent cost is a good quality by itself.  Think about a cup, or a plastic spoon, do you really want a high quality one that lasts forever, or simply cheap one that get the job done, but still cheap enough that even throwing it away won't be an issue at all ?

Why is it that American products tend to be less reliable or of lower quality?

""""Are you kidding?  Compared to what; the crap from China?""""Was what I was going to write, until I saw you are talking about cars specifically.  But I could not agree with you more about American made cars.  I think it's because of anticompetitive cars by car political lobbying and their unions.  We restrict the numbers of foreign cars allowed to be impprted; American factories don't have to actually make a decent car to be "successful" and so we all suffer.  (Especially when suddenly Mazda and Toyota have to open factories here to keep under the quotas and quality suffers.)

Do Democrats think that Donald Trump possesses any good qualities?

I honestly think that a majority of Democrats probably couldn’t name a good quality about him.However, some good qualities would be:He is astute at manipulating the media. Ever notice how much screen time and attention he gets? Arguably, this is why he won the election in the first place.He seems to be good at negotiating, or at least kind of “toeing the line” until he gets his way, kind of like with North Korea. However, North Korea is now a threat again, so clearly his tactics haven’t been completely effective.I’m not sure about this one, but… he knows how to appeal to the masses of Americans. His language is very basic, so many people can understand him easily. Anyone with even a middle school education can understand what he says. (Whether or not this is intentional is up for debate)

What do you think of Indian politicians burning made-in-China goods and threatening to search every Indian house to destroy made-in-China products?

Its completely useless, destroying already bought chinese goods is damage to our own economy only . Because we have already paid for what we bought .Politicians want to benefit from everything! they dont care wether its usefull or not, instead of educating people ,they will misuse this type scenario for their own benefit!not only that,burning chinese made plastics leads to air pollution…this is the one thing that greedy politicians need to understand!!Instead we should minimise buying of chinese goods and look for alternative made in india goods!!

Do Americans think that foreign goods are better than those made in America?

Until the middle of the 20th century or so, shipping was expensive enough that imported consumer products were typically luxury goods such as fine china, high-end cars, and top-shelf booze.This began to change in the middle of the 20th century as the price of shipping plummeted due to Containerization (one of the unsung technologies of the 20th century that truly changed the world), as well as mid-century high labor costs in the US versus other countries.So, in the 1950s and 1960s, there was a lot of inexpensive - and often low-quality - imports from Japan and Germany as they rebuilt their factories and chose an export-driven model for postwar re-industrialization.By the 1970s, quality had “caught up” in cars and motorcycles, particularly since the major American car companies were having many sorts of quality issues due to aging factories, inferior shop-floor techniques, and ideas like Planned obsolescence.Toyota and Honda in particular built their reputations of high quality at this time. Also, Sony built a reputation for high quality consumer electronics starting in the 1960s.On the other hand, there are foreign brands that were regarded as low quality, such as the Yugo, so the perception of quality was more brand-by-brand versus being “all foreign stuff is better than all domestic stuff”.Nowadays, quality differences in cars tend to vary more from manufacturer to manufacturer versus “foreign or domestic”, although the perception of Toyota and Honda cars, in particular, as being higher quality by many hasn’t completely changed.