I'm aware of all the rationalizations for buying foreign-branded stuff ("they have factories here" etc.).
For me it's not about rationalization, but who made the products and the fact that they have jobs that my money is going into. The brand is mostly just a name, although if pride of ownership is the issue, then reputation is more important to me than nationality. Given the choice between a crappy American brand and a good foreign brand, all else being equal I'd go with the latter every time. Of course, for me it would be best if the brand were both American AND good, and fortunately this is not difficult to find among the minority of American companies that still manufacture products here.
But as a lifelong American and a lifelong believer that America still is the greatest country ever (and feeling not one iota of shame over that), I get great satisfaction out of owning American-made products even if a foreign-branded product is ostensibly superior, or cheaper.
Pride and satisfaction in inferior products?
And anyway, price is only one component of value.
That's true enough, and since it is hard to compete with developing countries on the basis of price, then value would have to entail quality in addition to whatever value we assign to a product being made in the USA. I look at both, but from what you've said the latter appears to trump the former.
What I want is the quality of American-made products to stay high where it's already high and improve where it's not so great, and that's not going to happen if we support American companies that produce inferior products.
"American-made" is always my first choice. After that comes stuff made in countries that are America's allies or are at least friendly to us. That puts anything made in Red China (Yes, I still call it Red China because it's still run by the ChiComs) 'way down the list.
I agree with this as long as the quality is there. I'm certainly not keen on transferring wealth to a country that is, in some fundamental ways, our enemy. I have nothing against the Chinese people or culture, by the way--just their current system of government.
After some searching, I found an American-made HDMI cable (there is only a single source for these), but it cost twice as much as a thicker Chinese-made cable I was also considering. I decided to go with the American-made cable because of its tighter specs, and I have to say the fact that it was made in the USA made it easier for me to fork over the dough.
By the way, having said the preceding, I still bought this superior-performing American-made cable (from Blue Jeans Cable) for LESS than what a consumer electronics store (e.g. Best Buy) typically charges for an inferior Chinese-made cable of the same length.
