patrick.net

What would happen if everyone in our country slowly began shifting their purchase choices to only purchase products that were made with labor located in the United States and only from companies that are headquartered in the United States and are predominantly owned by stockholders that reside in the United States? I know it is difficult to find out sometimes where a product was manufactured and assembled, and where the company that made it is headquartered, and who owns the company, but an additional caveat to the hypothetical could be..."If you can't determine where it was made, where the company that made it is located, or who owns the company, then buy the product only at a last resort." If you can get by without the purchase, then consider it patriotic to not purchase it. If the product is clearly made here by a company that is located here, and is owned by citizens of the US then consider it your contribution to the repair of our country's future viability. I'm not saying legislation gets passed and tarriffs put in place...I'm asking what would be the result of people restricting their purchases according to the guidelines above, just as a random whim amongst our population, gradually over the next few years?
I guess I'm asking you what your opinion is of how a collective shift in the purchasing mentality of our country's citizens would affect the various state of 1) demand for loans...2) demand for products made in the US by companies located in the US and owned predominantly by US citizens...3)Demand for labor in the U.S....4) Product Quality in the U.S. .... 5)The amount of investment in new plants and equipment made in the United States ...6) The proportion of the workforce centered around importing goods from other countries...7) The demand for foreign goods... 8)The amount of capital being invested by US entities abroad ...9) The affect on development of other countries of the world ...10) The demand for US Treasuries... 11) The demand for manufacturing information to be supplied with products sold in the United States..........And additionally, what do you think the affect would be on every other area of our country's economy, and political direction as well. I would just ask you to use what you know to examine the question and if you have the time, tell me what you think with all your experience and knowledge would be the effect of such a change in purchasing mentality. Again, I'm not talking tariffs or artificial incentives, I'm just asking if, no matter how unlikely that it would happen in reality, people of the United States just started restricting themselves to buying products that match the criteria I mentioned, much like the mentality has gone the opposite direction in the last 40 years. For example, I remember my mother said to me..."I'll never buy and American made car again" back in 1980. I can remember her saying it so clearly. What if everyone started saying "I'd only buy a foreign vehicle as a last resort, and if they didn't make a vehicle here in the US by a company headquarted and owned in the US that was fuel efficient in order to reduce imported oil, then I would do my best to get by without one." What would happen if everyone started thinking that way? I mean, isn't our cumulative trade deficit reasonably in correspondence to our national debt for the past 40 years? Think about it and if you have the time give me your opinion.