Will the world boycot US products -- wait a minute! What products???

[HamdenRice]

This is an editorial from CommonDreams
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0311-30.htm
The Last Straw: Boycott the U.S.
by Murray MacAdam

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The U.S. customs official’s voice dripped with contempt as he grilled my daughter at Toronto airport...

<snip>

After I got over my anger at her rude treatment, I told myself: that’s it. Time to hit the Yanks where it hurts, the only place they care about it: their wallets. From now on, I’m going to boycott U.S. products as much as possible and will not travel there, until they show they are a civilized nation.

Twenty years ago South Africa was a pariah state, boycotted by all people of conscience for its brutal treatment of the black majority. The international boycott of South African products was a powerful weapon in forcing the apartheid regime to change. It gave citizens around the world a practical way of making a difference.

Today a rogue nation defies world opinion by occupying another country for its oil and to wield political power in a key world region. It continues its slaughter there with so little respect for human life that it doesn’t bother counting the victims of its war. It tortures its prisoners of war with impunity. Meanwhile it runs a concentration camp in Cuba where, despite repeated pleas, it refuses to obey internationally respected rules for the human treatment of prisoners. The global supercop dismisses calls for an international criminal court out of hand.

<snip>


A boycott of U.S. products might seem like an extreme step. But many citizens of Muslim nations started boycotting American products when the U.S. invaded Iraq two years ago. They were joined by a growing number of Europeans and even some Americans, led by Adbusters’ Boycott Brand America campaign. The recent near-murder of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena by U.S. troops in Iraq is sure to bolster the ranks of Europeans who boycott the U.S. The British consumer group Ethical Consumer found that 20 percent of European and Canadian consumers questioned in a recent survey said they avoid buying U.S. products to protest the Iraq war and U.S. foreign policy. The Victoria Peace Coalition has endorsed a U.S. boycott.

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My question is: What "products" are there to boycott? As a post in GD laments, the US doesn't manufacture anything anymore.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3259484&mesg_id=3259484

About the only major product that the world could boycott would be Hollywood movies and incredibly bad pop music.

Oh, yeah, one more thing. Paper. Dollar bills, treasury notes -- that kind of paper.

[On the Road]

1. I Believe the US Exports Over $700 Billion of Goods a Year

A boycott is not a bad idea.

[FloridaPat]

2. Cars till carry an US label. Software.Food. Clothing.

We do make a lot of stuff, just not large corporations with large inventories. The cars are mostly made from parts made outside the country, or actually made outside and shipped in from Canada.

But I would guess the boycott would effect things like Nike shoes, Gap clothing, whatever. Even though it is made outside the US, it still carries the US label

[MSgt213]

3. So in other words you have to trace the money. I wonder how much money

is really coming back to the US though since bringing actual money back in means taxes. I wonder if these corporations haven't figured out a way to keep most if not all of their profits off shore.

[FloridaPat]

4. You own a company in the US and a manufacturing plant in Mexico say.

The workers in Mexico get free health care. You don't have to pay that. They get less money and you're not paying SS and Medicare taxes. Your manufacturing plant in Mexico makes a product for $100 say. It sells it to you for $200. You sell it for $250. US taxes are paid on the $50.

[freestyle]

5. We still make lots of appliances, heavy equipment,

construction related items, textiles such as carpet and linens, even cars and clothes. However, we don't export very much in the way of consumer basics, so there really is not a whole lot for the average person somewhere else in the world to boycott.

On the other hand, it is not incredibly difficult for Americans to buy American, and even union made, at comparable prices and quality if they do a bit of searching. There are significant exceptions like consumer electronics and laptop computers which are just not made here at all. The car business is so convoluted that a Honda Civic is more American than a Ford Focus, which is as Mexican as a VW Jetta.