Buying American...or are you?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Well, let me put it another way, even though it's basically the same answer.

When I bought my Jeep, the profit went to all of those places I mentioned. All of those Mexican workers who built the engine, all of those Canadians who supplied parts, all of those American workers in Toledo who performed the final assembly, all of those fine folks in Daimler-Chrysler management who run things, and all of those stock holders must get paid somehow. That's where the profits went. Plus a little something to the dealership, plus a little something to the bank that provided the loan so the dealer could get the Jeep in the first place, plus a little something to the designers, plus a little something to the advertisers.

Oftentimes, you can't just trace where the profits go, especially for complicated businesses such as the automotive industry. Money comes in from profits, investments, government subsidies, side businesses, sales of stock, etc. Money doesn't go into a company in separate pipelines and remain separate as it passes through.
 
so the board of directors for Toyota don't reside in Japan?
All of the fat cat CEOs that make 6 - 7 figures don't live there, how about the engineers?
the corporate headquaters that pays big taxes to the Japanese government????
the buck doesn't stop in Toledo, nor in Canada.
the mexican workers, the canadian workers and everyone else involved all worked so Toyota could make a profit.
that is the bottom line.
 
I don't really follow your post. Yes, the board of directors for Toyota resides in Japan, as far as I know. Since I was using my Jeep as an example, I suspect the board of directors for Toyota doesn't see a yen of D-C's profit ... unless, of course, they own stock in D-C.

But even Toyota outsources a lot of work, just like D-C does, so Toyota's profits would be split in a similar manner. Having never bought a Toyota, I don't know where they are made in the US, but I believe they have plants in CA, IN, KY, MD, and OH. Those American workers would get some of the profits, as would the US-based dealerships, banks, and advertisers. In fact, I seem to recall reading that Honda and Toyota have designers who actually live and work in the US. If Toyota has suppliers in Mexico and Canada--and I believe they do--then Mexican and Canadian suppliers would get some of the profits too, as would stockholders who own Toyota stock. They all benefit from the profit, not just the headquarters.

The point is that a lot of products are made by companies in which the dollars (or yen or pesos or euros or whatever) get pretty well mixed and spread around. Case in point: Intel is considered an American company with its headquarters in Santa Clara, CA. But as was said of the British Empire, the sun never sets on Intel Inc. They have facilities in the US, Europe, Australia, Asia, Russia, Central America, South America, India, and Israel.
 
DC or Toyota, my point is the same.
I don't follow your logic....... If you mail me a check for AR parts then the post office shares in the profit?????
I guess so but what's that got to do with the bottom line and where the money goes?
 
Most of Ford's banking doesn't go through the US anyway. Its in the Cayman Islands and other offshore tax havens where the profits go. Its a nice way of keeping the taxman out of it.
 
Another example of how Ford Motor Company continues to ly to the American people and let them down through an inferior product, known faulty products, and lies to the consumer.

I would never buy a Ford for these reasons.

Unless they change, they will continue to lose market share. They are currently at least third in US sales, behind GM and Toyota.
 
hey now, the crap the American auto manufacturers have been pushing on the American public for decades has caught up with them.
I think their sales and market share shows that without a doubt.
 
DC or Toyota, my point is the same.
I don't follow your logic....... If you mail me a check for AR parts then the post office shares in the profit?????
I guess so but what's that got to do with the bottom line and where the money goes?
Click to expand...
Because that "bottom line" doesn't exist. Profits get split in too many directions to associate each car with a single country. Let's take the Pontiac GTO, I love this examples.

GTO, a strong American car right? Nope. It's built in Australia and shipped over here. Plus it uses an engine built mostly in Mexico (even the Corvette uses this engine!). The platform wasn't created in Australia, though. It was designed in Germany for Opel...but Opel was gracious enough to allow Cadillac to use it for the godawful Catera. Pretty much the only American workers making money off the GTO are the dealerships.

Now look at a new Tundra rolling off the assembly line in San Antonio, Texas. That truck was created by American engineers living in Michigan. It was styled by American designers living in California. The car was built by American workers on Texas and Indiana soil with mostly American sourced parts for the American market. It's sold by American dealers only; the Tundra is purely an American model, it was made specifically for our market and exists no where else in the world.

The profits for both of these examples is pretty well spread out but if you see a GTO parked next to a Tundra in a parking lot, which do you figure put more food on the table of American families?

hey now, the crap the American auto manufacturers have been pushing on the American public for decades has caught up with them.
I think their sales and market share shows that without a doubt.
Click to expand...
GM and Ford are not failing because of their health care costs or bad advertising or problems with unions. They're failing because for the past twenty five or thirty years they've been producing crap cars. And we've been buying them. Why buy a Limpala when an Accord will last longer, ride smoother, burn cleaner, save gas, look better, cost less at purchase time and even hold its' resale value far better than any bowtie could hope to?

Yet both Ford and GM build wonderful cars for the Australian market. The only thing Ford and GM are better at doing is buildin trucks and as soon as Toyota or Nissan release a 3/4 and one ton pickup with a diesel for our market that edge will be gone. I'm not about to give up my Silverado for any other truck but not everyone's a fanboy like I am.
 
DC or Toyota, my point is the same.
I don't follow your logic....... If you mail me a check for AR parts then the post office shares in the profit?????
I guess so but what's that got to do with the bottom line and where the money goes?
Click to expand...
The problem is that it's getting harder to find products made in one country, so the bottom line is that the profit really does go to a lot of different places.

If you mean "Where does the BULK of the profits go?", the equation is different. It could be that over 50% of the profit on a Toyota car goes to Japan, while the rest is split. That's the way it used to be years ago when I was involved in such things. However, it's possible that now, with the increase of production facilities and suppliers outside of Japan, that the biggest separate chunk goes to Japan and the rest is split. For example, Japan may get 45%, the US 30%, and the remaining 25% is split. (These are guesstimates.)

As I posted earlier in this thread, I buy "American" when the quality is comparable to a non-American product, even when the profits are divided. Maybe it's just me, but I don't closely investigate where all the profits go or the size of the profit splits for the products that I buy. I guess. If I guess that the bulk of the profits for a certain product go to Americans, I consider it an American product.

I am not a total globalist. While a certain level of globalism is good, I find potential danger in total globalism. Like any other extreme, too much is usually not good. Companies are not famous for loyalty to any country or system of government; they are first loyal to themselves. I'm not aware of any company that is a representative republic. And as they grow bigger, the risk increases that companies will actually supplant government. Think of the "company town" model applied to an entire country, and you'll see what I mean.

Where do you draw the line? I wish I had that answer.
 
I buy based on quality and value, nothing more. If an American company wants my business they need to earn it. Free market capitalism gives the people the ability to vote with their wallets; suggesting that someone buy an inferior product just because it's made in America goes against the very concept of a free market.
 
"The bottom line doesn't exist"
Are you serious?

Crap cars..........that's what I said.

If I have electronic components made in the cheapest Pacific Rim factory for a fraction of what it would cost here, then have them shipped here with little to no tax or tariff, where is most of the profit going?

In my pocket!
 
perhaps better phrasing would help me get my point across :p

The bottom line is that it's pretty difficult to discern where the profits go. It's not like every couple grand that Toyota profits off a Tundra goes directly into the pocket of a businessman in Tokyo. Those profits get reabsorbed into the company and, if Toyota's like every other major car company, the money mostly stays in-market, meaning that most of the profit made from that truck go to fund future products for Toyota USA.


Like I said, which vehicle feeds more American families; an Australian built Pontiac or an American built Toyota?
 
If I have electronic components made in the cheapest Pacific Rim factory for a fraction of what it would cost here, then have them shipped here with little to no tax or tariff, where is most of the profit going?

In my pocket!
Click to expand...
Then the bottom line is that the profit goes to ... Northern Illinois! :D
 
Like I said, which vehicle feeds more American families; an Australian built Pontiac or an American built Toyota?
Click to expand...

I'm afraid if you drive either of those gas guzzlers you are feeding the frenzy in the middle east.
 
I just bought a new Toyota Tundra because it was the best vehicle for me. Usually I wind up getting pissed when I go car shopping because the sales people try to double talk me. The Toyota salesman (a fellow American) gave me strait up answers to all my questions. I like honesty.
 
All profit, if any, goes to the shareholders. Everything else is a cost.

I disagree about the quality of American cars, having owned both American and imported cars. I think people, especially the print media, are unfair about American cars. If a certain car was a Pontiac, it would be called the product of a committee, strangely designed and stupid. If the same car were a Toyota, it would be called anything but that and they would be asking why American car companies can't make a car like that.

My Ford Escort managed to go 190,000 miles in eleven years with a minimum of trouble and hardly any rust and was still getting over 35 miles per gallon of gas when someone total the car as it sat in my driveway. What more could you ask for?
 
Hey look, I'm not much into the whole buy American when it comes to an auto purchase. Based on what they've sold in the past and the service and slow response to the American car buying public, they are getting what they deserve.
The number of Dodge Ram Pick ups I see far out number the Toyotas, I'd say 10 to 1 if not 20 to 1.
However, when you go into a Walmart and buy nothing but Chinese made goods and clothes made in Pakistan you are definitely not buying American.
That goes for all retailers not just Walmart.
I am very conscience when I buy retail items, but in these times it's hard to avoid buying things made over seas.
 
I'm afraid if you drive either of those gas guzzlers you are feeding the frenzy in the middle east.
Click to expand...
This forum needs a :lol: smiley because that made me chuckle.

For starters the Tundra is about the most fuel efficient full sized pickup you can buy. The GTO, like the 'Vette and most other vehicles with the GM spec T-56 transmission, can easily average in the mid to high 20s due to the massive amounts of torque available and the wide final drive ration.

As to the silliness of thinking that my 14mpg truck is causing more problems than your 30mpg whatever...all I can do is laugh. :p
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top