Buying American made only

[Erratus]

First of all, my stance on buying American. I don't buy into it. Even before I started looking at communism, I was staunch in this line of thinking. I don't have any preference where a product is made per se. More, I use the country labels to judge how the product was made. If it was made in India, where there is little worker's rights, then the company making it was probably exploiting and abusing workers beyond how they usually do. So I try not to buy goods made in countries with little worker protection. But in first world countries, I have no preference. I don't really care if something was made in Canada, Spain, or America. I don't see why an American is more deserving of my money than a Canadian (or any other nationality).

I'd imagine this view is pretty common among communists, at least the part about not favoring Americans over other nationalities. I do know someone who says she is a communist, but does strongly prefer American made goods, even over other countries with equal or superior worker rights. She does have a patriotic streak (although that is muffled by the idiocy of our country). Maybe I am putting too much emphasize on this, but the idea that we can't be worried so much about our country but rather with the working class around the world seems important.

[Ocean Seal]

First of all, my stance on buying American. I don't buy into it. Even before I started looking at communism, I was staunch in this line of thinking. I don't have any preference where a product is made per se. More, I use the country labels to judge how the product was made. If it was made in India, where there is little worker's rights, then the company making it was probably exploiting and abusing workers beyond how they usually do. So I try not to buy goods made in countries with little worker protection. But in first world countries, I have no preference. I don't really care if something was made in Canada, Spain, or America. I don't see why an American is more deserving of my money than a Canadian (or any other nationality).

I'd imagine this view is pretty common among communists, at least the part about not favoring Americans over other nationalities. I do know someone who says she is a communist, but does strongly prefer American made goods, even over other countries with equal or superior worker rights. She does have a patriotic streak (although that is muffled by the idiocy of our country). Maybe I am putting too much emphasize on this, but the idea that we can't be worried so much about our country but rather with the working class around the world seems important.

This seems fairly reasonable, but the thing is communism is not a lifestyle. Being a working class person you shouldn't impoverish yourself in an attempt to pursue a communist lifestyle. The thing is, most goods are made in the exploited parts of the world. Somehow I doubt that your pencils won't point to some part in Asia, and that you computers weren't made by Chinese sweatshop workers. You can't avoid this, the solution isn't changing the way you live, the solution is revolution.

[Smyg]

Even if something isn't manufactured in a developing country, chances are that the materials for it will have been produced in one.

[Susurrus]

The rationale I use for buying that sort of thing is that the workers are more likely to be treated at least marginally better in a country with labor laws, rather than a Chinese or etc sweatshop.

[RedRose]

One thing to note however, while obviously I do not buy local for nationalistic reasons, I do try to buy as much local produce as possible. When I mean local, I mean my local butchers, green grocers etc. This is mainly for environmental reasons as I know it hasn't been shipped halfway round the world before ending up here. Plus, it tastes damn good.

[Zav]

First of all, my stance on buying American. I don't buy into it. Even before I started looking at communism, I was staunch in this line of thinking. I don't have any preference where a product is made per se. More, I use the country labels to judge how the product was made. If it was made in India, where there is little worker's rights, then the company making it was probably exploiting and abusing workers beyond how they usually do. So I try not to buy goods made in countries with little worker protection. But in first world countries, I have no preference. I don't really care if something was made in Canada, Spain, or America. I don't see why an American is more deserving of my money than a Canadian (or any other nationality).

I'd imagine this view is pretty common among communists, at least the part about not favoring Americans over other nationalities. I do know someone who says she is a communist, but does strongly prefer American made goods, even over other countries with equal or superior worker rights. She does have a patriotic streak (although that is muffled by the idiocy of our country). Maybe I am putting too much emphasize on this, but the idea that we can't be worried so much about our country but rather with the working class around the world seems important.

I buy local. If it isn't made for export, it's probably a good product.