We're now importing third world products that used to be produced here - Mahindra Tractors

[Stinky The Clown]

I know ..... what's new?

Mahindra Tractors (which are made in India ... but of whom I've never heard) is being advertised on teevee here. Not by some dealership, but by the company itself ..... much as John Deere is (was?)

They used to be a joint venture with International Harvester, but now they're on their own and are a major international player. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahindra_Tractors

Look at this clever ad ..... dissing John Deere and Snapper. I dunno why this bothers me ..... but it does.


I used to play a game which involved asking people to look around the room they're in and name everything made in America. That game isn't one fucking bit of fun anymore.

[Prefer]

1. "I hate foreigners"

"I don't want them pumpinmg my gas or serving my food"
- Ted Nugent

[JackintheGreen]

6. Ah, your caught!

Tractors don't pump gas or serve food? They are inanimate. It's AMERICANS, most likely traitors, that use foreign products. Damn traitors! :sarcasm:

[JackintheGreen]

2. They make good tractors.

Doesn't the market dictate that they should be given the same access to world markets and let buyers decide whose product to buy?

Not that I'm a hardcore free-marketer. I'm soooo not. But I do know a little something about India, and frankly they make good tech.

[originalpckelly]

4. When I think of tractors, I think of Caterpillar or John Deere.

Not Mahindra. I'm sick and tired of this globalist bullshit.

[JackintheGreen]

8. And your computer is made where?

Your shoes? Your car? Your avacados? Your TV?

You're seriously going to play at this jingoistic bs?

[Stinky The Clown]

9. It isn't jingoistic bullshit

Its unfettered globalism.

You enjoy your job and your family's jobs going away permanently?

We make NOTHING anymore ..... except trouble.

[JackintheGreen]

12. I respectfully disagree

The barn door is already open. The world is changing, and jingoistic protections on American production won't change anything. I wish it weren't so.

We could, I suppose, pile protections on protections, work to preserve U.S. manufacturing jobs, etc. But we would have to subsidize out the wazoo in order to make it work (see, for instance, the beef industry). We could entirely seal off the U.S. from outside trade and influence, prevent imports, and pay our workers enough to afford goods produced in country, which will of course be more expensive because we will have to pay the makers of those goods enough to keep those jobs in the U.S. in the first place. Or we're back to subsidies to artificially depress prices.

Or we globalize, and I mean really and truly globalize, not just goods (which effs up U.S. manufacture but good) but wages, standards of living, etc. Indian workers are payed less because goods in India cost less. That doesn't mean they don't still get royally screwed, but an Indian in Bangalore doesn't need to earn $300K/year to live very well indeed. An NRI in San Francisco could struggle to get by on the same amount.

[wuushew]

15. Unless the entire world depopulates such universal affluence is impossible

If you take the entire wealth of the Earth and divide it by the total population you would find that the average American would be worse off then before in terms of per capita wealth.

Since we haven't even figured out how to power our own economy sustainably I fail to see the wisdom of radically expanding the scope of planet wide economic activity.

[Stinky The Clown]

16. Tell ya what .......

..... stay the hell away from any job that is held down by one of my family members .... okay?

There is no way of god's green earth we can ever equalize wealth on a global scale. But the Repubics and the uberuberrich keep thinking its a good idea ........

I prefer not to be a slave prole.

[originalpckelly]

3. What will that redneck Christmas favorite "Grandma got run over by a John Deere" be like?

"Grandma got run over by a Mahindra" no that's just not right.

[Selatius]

5. If they produce good tractors, I don't see why they shouldn't be advertised here.

I'm sure John Deere tractors are sold on most continents in the world now due to globalization.

What you seem to be confusing is products made overseas and sold here by foreign firms vs. products made overseas and sold here by domestic firms. It's the domestic firms that screwed over American workers.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

7. Their TV ad has a guy with a country drawl saying "Mahindra"

It sounds odd to me to hear that name spoken by a countrified, downhome accent. Maybe they're trying to make people think it isn't foreign?

[physioex]

10. Yes....I have noticed that as well.

When Toyota sells their Tundra they use a "down home accent". When they sell the Lexus, they use a "cultured accent".

[BrotherBuzz]

11. We're now importing third world condiments that used to be produced here - Pickle relish

I couldn't believe my eyes when I was reading the label on a jar of generic (Western Foods) pickle relish - product of India. Jeez louise, I know pickles originated in India, but it still bothers me that we can't rip-off a cool Indian idea and make them here in the US. Is a damn pickle that expensive to produce in the US these days? Cripes, a damn pickle! :shrug:

[provis99]

13. don't worry

Maybe American companies can start exporting American-made pappodum and chutney to India? We already export shitty Ramen noodles to Japan; sounds like a plan...

[madrchsod]

14. i won`t eat any product made over seas

unless it`s from europe or japan.

[Stinky The Clown]

17. Why .... don't you enjoy shit on your salad?

[Mojorabbit]

18. Eventually

the price of fuel to ship these products will become prohibitive. We will have to spin up our own production if there is any infrastructure to do it left or be left in a world of trouble.

[Stinky The Clown]

19. Here's a nice story about **preserving** our manufacturing base

http://www.pensacs.com/New%20Pages/history.html

[jmowreader]

20. We've imported tractors for a LOOOOOONG time

Check out Yanmar (made in Japan) or Kioti (made in Korea) tractors. Also, I checked out http://www.billstractor.com, which is the web presence of a dealership selling Mahindras for TEN YEARS.

Now note something: Yanmars, Kiotis and Mahindras, as well as Bransons (made in Korea), are all "compact tractors." If you're looking for something huge, your choices narrow to John Deere and Massey-Ferguson, both of which are American-made. Not much use for a 500-horsepower tractor in Korea.

I will bet, however, that Mahindra doesn't have the Gold Key Program that John Deere offers. I just found out about this one. If you buy a piece of equipment made at John Deere's Waterloo Works, you are given a Gold Key Day...where you get to fly to Waterloo, Iowa, tour the factory, and see the machine with your name on the title coming off the assembly line.

[ThomWV]

21. My neighbot bought one - it lasted less than an hour

The guy who bought an adjoining 33 acres bought one and brought it out there to try to smooth out the road up to this place. It had a small backhoe attachment and a small bucket. The thing lasted less than an hour before the transmission let go. I was suprised, it didn't look like a bad little machine.

[wuushew]

22. kick

:kick:

[Greyhound]

23. Maybe it bothers you because there are several hundred thousand

Wallyworld greeters and blockbuster mangers that used to make a decent living making equipment?