21st Jul 2012, 11:41

The only other way is to take a couple of college Economics courses; evenings are available. You can see detailed case examples, and then can finally realize the actual percentage of profits are directed accordingly. Hiring some employees, but sending the bulk of the profits home to corporate headquarters. You will be enlightened, seeing where the money goes. Good luck.

21st Jul 2012, 15:17

Actually, no one DOES care. That is why the U.S. is in such a sad state financially. We are sending all our money to other countries. We are currently headed for third-world country status (especially if Republicans get their way).

21st Jul 2012, 18:40

What are you confused about?

Yes, the Fusion is based on a Mazda 6, just like the Pontiac Vibe and the Toyota Matrix, Mitsubishi Eclipse and Plymouth Laser; it's called a joint-venture.

As far as Chrysler, they were owned by Mercedes, but not designed or tooled by them, except some various engines found in a Ram. The same thing goes for GM purchasing Saab (why they ever did that, I don't know).

22nd Jul 2012, 09:21

Yes, the car companies are massive. People see a manufacturing plant in their area, and think that some jobs are the result. But most of the money goes back to its origin. Just because some bolts were turned here, does not mean we got as much as the country that owns them. When I bought a VW made in Mexico, what country owns VW? The parent or corporate is in Germany. They got the bulk of the profits, not Mexico. Get it yet?

23rd Jul 2012, 09:49

The problem here is that whatever you buy these days, regardless of brand - guess what? All companies who build cars in whatever country, have to and do invest in those countries. They build factories and facilities to make cars, parts, and electronics. They hire domestic companies to furnish parts as well. They all have engineering, design, marketing, and testing facilities in different countries as well. At the end of the day, if a factory worker in the US gets paid and has a home and whatnot, does it matter WHICH factory he/she works in? If the answer is no, then that's pretty much the end of the argument.

23rd Jul 2012, 17:33

I long ago had to accept the fact that many Americans citizens simply do not care about helping their own economy. Saving a few dollars is more important than saving American jobs.

Yes, a handful of Americans are employed by Japanese car companies. For each of those employees, there are ten times as many who work for American car companies. We have become such a math-illiterate country that we apparently don't understand that 10 is more than 1. Every time we buy a product manufactured by a foreign corporation, we take money out of the pockets of our own citizens.

People argue that "Nothing is American-made anymore". Baloney. The computer I am typing on was built not three miles from my home by an American company. When I shop I seek out American companies and give them my business. All my appliances, heating and A/C equipment, furniture, electronics and yes, my cars, are all manufactured by American industries. It just seems right to return to my own country a bit of the bounty that working here has given me. I deeply regret that so few of my fellow citizens share that view.

24th Jul 2012, 09:29

Maybe this will help if anyone is interested in seeing how the American manufacturing sector has been doing. Look at the charts and see for yourself http://www2.itif.org/2012-american-manufacturing-decline.pdf

Look from 1950 to present. Less people employed, and consider manufacturing that once had 3 shifts down to 1 or gone. The part that amazes me is there is great domestic cars like my new Ford available made in U.S.A., and I switched a while back over my Japan models becoming average to less than average in quality.

Anyway, check out the link. I was buying imports myself, so I never cared; it was my house and my driveway, right?

24th Jul 2012, 10:44

As someone who grew up in the South where we not so long ago did not have automotive factories, I can assure you that yes - we DID care that companies like Toyota, Honda, Nissan, as well as BMW, Mercedes, and now Kia, Hyundai, as well as the myriads of automotive part manufacturers decided to build plants there. We DID care that they in fact made cars, parts, and electronics HERE in the South using American workers, American parts, and American engineering to build products that in turn poured money into the regional economy. The South is now perhaps the fastest-growing section of the US, and some of that has to do with the explosion of manufacturing in the area.

So yes, we do care about American-made products, and yes - we DO make products here, and the workers who earn an honest wage in those plants and factories do count, just as much as any other worker working for any plant.

This is a non-argument.

25th Jul 2012, 11:54

There is a big reason why there are now less American workers working in American factories: Automation. A good example is the electronics industry, or automotive manufacturing for that matter: flip any vintage radio, stereo, or household appliance from the 50's over. The chassis is wired with sometimes 100's of hand-soldered components wired together with 100's of individual wires. It took a small army of workers to make that piece of equipment. Fast-forward to today. That same radio is probably assembled by robots on a factory line. Most if not all of the components are stamped onto a board - again by automated machines - and then shipped off to whatever stores sell them.

I happen to own an American car from the 50's. The whole thing was made by hand. All of those welds were done by someone with a hand-held welder. We're talking many 100's if not at least a few thousand welds. All done by hand. Fast-forward to today. Cars run down an automated line of robots that do most of those welds. A lot of the components are made the same way and then assembled by workers down the line. Factories simply require less physical labor since so much of it is automated. The irony is that when we talk about " Made in USA" or wherever, in many cases we're talking about the location of a plant where a lot of robots and machines work to automatically put together machines with a much smaller workforce of workers in between. A lot of the robots themselves are either American or imported themselves.

Hence the reason why arguments like these are antiquated. It's become so entirely global in scale. Cars are made using global platforms, with models often sharing the same platform used by totally different brands. In many cases the same global parts supplier will also provide parts for other brands.

In that regard, how come nobody makes such a big deal about any other manufactured product? Electronics, household appliances, clothing, tools, and even foodstuffs are all made all over the place with globally sourced components. I never hear people say things to and extent that an American brand washer and dryer is better than an imported model. Thinking of it that way, it makes this argument all the more ridiculous. What if I were to make up some story or pull anecdotal evidence about a toaster?

"Oh yeah, well my Grandpappy owned an Merican' toaster and it lasted forever and then he bought an import toaster and the knobs fell off immediately!"

Pretty silly, right?

Well the same goes for cars and trucks. It's a global business employing a global workforce.

In the end, buy what you want. It's really as simply as that.