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These past two week we had the delight of "Whaling" with the Delaware dolphins. Every time we went out there they were frolicking, feeding and bringing great joy to watch.

On the other hand - tonight I have been watching "The Cove" an oscar winning movie about the yearly wholesale slaughter of around 23,000 dolphins in Japan. That's each year!

Maybe as a small group - "Whaler Fans" - and to a large extent boaters - we might affect some small change and influence by once again not buying Japanese out-broads (central theme here) and also their cars and what have you. (Even if they are manufactured here in the U.S.) Some may scoff but then again others don't eat meat, buy German products, eat battery farm eggs (Billions recalled recently) and what have you in the way of activism.

Buying American should be a theme we remember everyday for the sake of our manufacturing base. (Have you seen American cars recently - outstanding!)

I don't buy Japanese products for many reasons but I'll add the dolphins to my list as my friends look at me like I'm crazy when I discourage them from buying foreign.

Comments?

Oh- yes- Watch The Cove and it's complimentary programs on Animal Planet - very enlightening.

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Mark,

OK, I will bite.

My first question will be, "If you feel so strongly about buying American, why didn't you put a Mercury Outboard on your boat when you repowered last year?" The Optimax and the Verado are both excellent products, and your boat could handle the weight of either.

Perhaps that is not a fair question, since the focus of your initial posting is not buying Japanese manufactured products. However, you then stated "Buying American should be a theme we remember everyday for the sake of our manufacturing base. (Have you seen American cars recently - outstanding!)". Given this line, I don't think my question is off base.

Full disclosure - we own a Toyota Sienna minivan and a Dodge Durango. This is the 3rd Toyota Sienna we have owned. It is far and away superior in every way to any American made minivan IMO. Each time we have looked for a new minivan, we have started by evaluating American brands. Each time we have come back to the Sienna, which has far superior fit and finish, features and reliability (as compared with friends who have purchased other brands). We put well over 100,000 miles on each our 2 previous minivans, and I expect we will do the same with this one. Other than basic maintenance, we have never had a problem.

I would love to buy an American made minivan, but I would never subject my family to an inferior product because of ideaology. At this point, I expect this will be the last minivan we will own (hooray) and we will not have to go through this exercise again. There are plenty of well made American cars to choose from.

I think the number of Boston Whaler owners is too small to make a difference to Brunswick. Remember, too, that those of us with older, classic boats are constrained by the weight of modern outboards. There is only 1 American made 2 stroke outboard, and it appears that many classic owners feel as strongly about Mercury as they do about Japanese manufacturers.

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I fly my American colors on my arms everyday with two tattoos. I also buy American made products but I will agree with Dan on some points. German and Japanese vehicles are well made. I have owned American trucks for years now and would never consider buying any foreign brand. I think the U.S. make decent trucks but the cars are a diffent story. Just my 2 cents.

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Yes, the Japanese slaughter of dolphins (and whales) is shameful.

"Buy American" as a solution/protest is a nice bumper sticker slogan but woefully ignorant of a multitude of facts and ignorant of the way business is conducted in the modern day.

"l'll take that all-American Chrysler van over that furrenn Toyota!" But wait: That Chrysler has about 82% domestic content, while the Toyota has about 85%.

Well, OK, you say, but the profits are American on the Chrysler, while the Toyota's go to Japan, right? Wrong, the Chrysler profits actually end up in Germany.

Ford is the best bet for "keeping it domestic" (as much as possible with today's global sourcing) with some GMC models up there too, but that doesn't give you much of a choice, and I always thought freedom to choose was an American value.

http://www.automotiveaddicts.com/inthenews/07-10-06.html

John K.

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Good points all.

I have a question. What brand of television do you own? I own Sony televisions. Again, I have nothing but phenominal experience with Sony consumer electronics products.

We use a Nikon Digital SLR camera.

Mark, you are a photographer, and make your living with a camera. I have taken a look at your website and your work is beautiful. What brand of camera do you use?

The point of my questions is not to single anybody out, especially Mark. I am attempting to show how difficult it can be to "buy American". In many instances, there is no American manufacturer competing in that space.

It can be hard to tell when sitting behind the keyboard when you have crossed the line, so I will offer an apology in advance if you feel I have done so. This is why I try not to have provocative "discussions" online.

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It's a tough issue. The market for buying American made products with all the imported products from the oversees countries. The U.S. market gets smaller every day.

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Where did you see The Cove?

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In 2001 I purchased a Evinrude 70 four stroke. Later found out it was a Suzuki . Had real good luck with it so that is why when it came to repower I went with a Suzuki. BG

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Johnny, The Cove was on Animal Planet last evening. Interesting and enlightening show to say the least.

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I saw "The Cove" last night, real sad. Also I drive a Ford truck and wouldn't consider any other Truck brand either.

I always try to buy American but in reality, is there much of anything that is truly 100% American made nowadays.

We are in tough times right now.

Anyway, I can only hope that the international community steps in and tries to persuade Japan against their cruel tactics of killing these beautiful animals.

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That is the series Blood Dolphins isn't it? It stars Ric O'Barry who is in The Cove but I wasn't aware the actual documentary filmed had aired. Everyone seems to mix the documentary film up with the Animal Planet series on the same subject.

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I also don't believe in killing dolphins or any animal for prophit. What a shame.

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Ya JohnnyCW, I meant to say "Blood Dolphins". My bad.

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I see Planet Green has the actual documentary on tonight right now.

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The Japanese are small time compared to the number of fish killed by Americans just as by catch to water pumping facilities.

You may have read or know a little about the California Aqueduct system that brings water from Northern California to the Central Valley and Southern California. Bet you did not know that the pumps used to suck the water from the Delta in to the aqueduct would seem to kill many more fish then 23,000 annually. (I wish that we only killed 23,000). There are multiple pumping facilities in the Delta region. Here is a chart showing just one of those facilities and the number of fish trapped over a 3 year average and the percentage of those fish that were salvaged or saved over a 3 year period.

http://www.usbr.gov/pmts/tech_service...ecies.html

What is not documented is after those salvaged fish were saved very few of them go on to live productive lives. After the trauma of being trapped and transferred to a different water supply many die in transit or when they can't re-acclimate to the new waters. Keep in mind that this chart is representative of the years 2000 through 2003 and pumping has increased 35% or more since that time. Increased pumping causes even higher death rates among fish.

Take a look at the number of Striped Bass that got caught in those years 771,000/year and only 11.8% get saved. But remember not all saved fish make it and this is in only one of the multiple pump facilities. We used to get some really large runs of big Striped Bass here. They are a lot harder to find now.

How about Chinook Salmon once the pride of the California fishery and now just a shadow of it's former glory. 31,900/year trapped and only .488% get saved. These fish used to have runs so big it looked like you could walk across their backs as they moved up the rivers. Now we get lucky if we can find them.

By the way only two pump facilities have the capability to trap fish. The other facilities just chew them all up.

Pretty sad state of affairs and the farmers keep asking to increase the pumping even more. As a matter of fact one of their advertisements asks that all the water in the Delta should be diverted in to the pumps so that none of the water gets wasted going to the ocean thereby killing off all migrating fish species.

Before we complain about the Japanese fisheries and their practices we need to get our own backyard in order.

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I think the poster is more concerned about the dolphin species than recreatonal fishing.

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Great to know though, I had no idea...

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As a response to the original post, let's make a simple assumption: In the US and Canada, tomorrow morning people stopped buying, and refused to buy, a Yamaha, Suzuki or Honda outboard. No more Japanese outboards purcahsed here.

All the buying and boat building traffic would immediately go to Mercury and Evinrude, both made in Wisconsin.
Mercury and Evinrude would immediately have to ramp up production to meet demand, and hire several thousand workers between them, to say nothing of all the new parts suppiy workers needed. This would be good for us, reducing the huge cost and losses from people unemployed. More taxes would be paid to our governments. But Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki would have to lay off this same amount of workers, which would be bad for Japanese workers. Less tax money for the Japanese governments.

So you decide which is best for you personally and the US economy. Most will make the wrong decision, or simply not care about what happens in Wisconsin or Japan.

But don't worry, Japanese engine lovers. It's not going to happen, since basically Americans are one of the most economically ignorant nations in the World. Most voters have no clue why our economy has crashed. What in the world is the EFFECT of a Trade deficit? What's that? Hey, if someone wants to loan me money I could never pay back, I'll take it. They never look in the mirror. It's much easier to simply and fashionably blame someone else, beginning with the President, or Congress, or greedy Corporations, Wall Street and Unions. As we have now learned, for some reason none of these folks have solved the problem. Why? It's really not because they are incompetent, although that's what we want to think. Vote the bums out for the solution? Because it begins with the spending, borrowing, lifestyle, and purchasing habits of all of us, as Nation, and it's much easier to blame it on someone else. So things will not get better soon, and may get a lot worse as interest bills come due and taxation at all levels skyrockets to pay them, and pay the loans back.

We need to design and make things in this Country that people want to buy, or will buy, even if considered inferior, and until we do that, the Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Koreans and oil producing countries will continue to be breaking our backs. It may already be too late to fully recover. Can we ever pay back the Trillions ($13,000,000,000,000.) they have loaned to us, from profits mostly made FROM us? Not likely. Once they get it, they don't give it back, except as a loan. Anybody that thinks unemployment will shrink, housing values will come back up, and taxes will go down, is pipe dreaming. Not until Mercury and Evinrude get all of the outboard business! Good luck on that one.

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My E-TEC states on it "Assembled in China." Many of Mercury's engines are made in China, Japan or Mexico. A quick search leads me to believe that only the MerCruiser I/Os are made in Wisconsin.

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Like I mentioned earlier in my post, there isn't much that is Made in America anymore. It's a sad situation and until us, as Americans, ramp up manufacturing and engineering, we will continue to be in the situation we are in now.

The news reports everyday paint a gloomier picture of our economy.

This seems to be part of the "Wealth re-distribution" that our President so often talks about however it's not wealth redistribution to other Americans; it's wealth redistribution to the rest of the world. Of course the wealth re-distribution wheel started turning way before our current administration took office; it's just that it started moving full force once they were sworn in.


Anyway, back to Whalers and Dolphins.

While watching "Blood Dolphins" the other night, I saw a few clips of the TV show "Flipper" and saw a few shots of the mighty 13' that started the Boston Whaler legacy. I wonder who now owns that or those 13's now or where they are located?

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Whether or not something is made in America has little to do with technical competence or infrastructure. The trade deficit has a lot more to do with changes to international trade policy--strongly championed by administrations of BOTH parties--with the strong support and urging of large corporations who find the revised regulations beneficial in their efforts to move to lower cost manufacturing over seas but still be able to bring profits back into the U.S. Along with profits, the other driver is the American consumer, whose demand for lower and lower prices so they can consume more and more drives the producers to find cheaper ways to produce.


As opposed to, say, the previous administration's wealth redistribution of tax dollars to the military industrial complex, often without legally mandated competed contracts? And just what are some examples of the current administration "moving full force" compared to previous administrations?

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Gage, re-read my post. I didn't blame our current administration for setting the wheels in motion, in fact it started in the 90's. Also, I could go on and on in defense of the military actions that took place with the prior adminstrations military actions especially since I lived it and served two tours in the middle east....I'm retired military. However it's the current adminstration that boasts of it's wealth redistribution initiative.

Back to Whalers and Dolphins please....

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I don't believe any sanctions would stop the Japanese from
the mass killings. It's in their culture to harvest from the sea(tuna, swords, etc) with their large factory ships. That's like India telling us to stop killing cattle(not going to happen).They must change their way of thinking.

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I saw it last night on the green channel (the treehugger channel)

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My comment: Your maybe right about the dolphins but you are flat nuts when it come to cars and manufacturing.

First, the domestsic companies have a hell of a long way to go before they can match Japanese quality. The values of used cars is the true measure of quality. Until a Chevrolet holds its value as well as a Honda/Toyota/Subaru they can't honestly claim quality. Sorry, that is just the way it is. How may people who claim the big three build a quality product have ever actually owned a Toyota?

Second, they are all huge multinational companies, so who cares anyway? Americans can buy stock and own a pice of any of them. My Toyota way assembled in the USA. The UAW website includes my Toyota in the union made list. Check how many GM parts source from Mexico and China. Who is the parent company of Chrysler?

Third, as things stand today, it is porbably more "American" to buy foreign than a GM or Chrysler. Bankruptcy laws were violated in the bailouts. What happened to the concept that everyone is equal in America? Instead we find that big labor's politcal connections make their jobs superior to ours. Recall a concept called free enterprise...this ain't it! Recall Obama firing GM's CEO? That's called a State run business and it is not the American way....regardless of ones view on buying American.

Fourth, globalization is just an excuse loosers in Detroit make for thier problems. The truth is more jobs were "outsourced" to the Carolinas, Kentucy, and Tennessee than to China or Mexico. Too many Americans want to blame their troubles on Japan, China, India, Mexico, or whomever. Get over it. Our problems are of our own making. American companies which can see realilty are thriving in the age of globalization...but they aren't run by cry babies looking into the past.

I could go on and on.

So, I feel just fine about my Jap car and Mexican Merc. You go ahead an buy whatever the hell you want. Don't judge the rest of us for doing the same.

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I agree. Every culture is different. It is what it is.

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It's all about a company being able to make the profit they need to make to attract investors or to otherwise remain a viable player in a given industry. When our government makes it difficult to make a profit, through high taxes, the company moves elsewhere. Why else would a company go to the tremendous cost and trouble to move to another country?

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Cheaper labor.

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While the combined (Federal and state) corporate tax rate is among (if not) the highest in the world, the actual taxes U.S. corporations pay is about 2.5% of GDP. On the other hand, the average taxes paid by corporations in the majority of other "rich" countries is around 3.5% of GDP. U.S. corporations are lightly levied by comparison, and have become so partly through creative accounting and partly through the efforts of moving costs (i.e. cheaper labor) overseas.

Of course, if you say something wrong often enough ("U.S. corporations pay the highest taxes", as opposed to the more accurate highest tax rate) people will stop questioning its accuracy.

John K.

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Whether or not something is made in America has little to do with technical competence or infrastructure. The trade deficit has a lot more to do with changes to international trade policy--strongly championed by administrations of BOTH parties--with the strong support and urging of large corporations who find the revised regulations beneficial in their efforts to move to lower cost manufacturing over seas but still be able to bring profits back into the U.S. Along with profits, the other driver is the American consumer, whose demand for lower and lower prices so they can consume more and more drives the producers to find cheaper ways to produce.


As opposed to, say, the previous administration's wealth redistribution of tax dollars to the military industrial complex, often without legally mandated competed contracts? And just what are some examples of the current administration "moving full force" compared to previous administrations?


Sounds about right to me.

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From a consumer point of view, buy the products that best suit your needs, and let the free market function as it should.
From a political point of view, boycott the products that offend your moral sensibilities, and let the free market function as it should.