One Light Bulb at a Time

[Keith B]

Got this in email and want to share. I have been doing some of this, but will apply the practice to everything I buy from now on.

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A physics teacher in high school, once told the students that while one grasshopper on the railroad tracks wouldn't slow a train very much, a billion of them would. With that thought in mind, read the following, obviously written by a good American ..

Good idea .. . one light bulb at a time . . . .

Check this out . I can verify this because I was in Lowe's the other day for some reason and just for the heck of it I was looking at the hose attachments . They were all made in China . The next day I was in Ace Hardware and just for the heck of it I checked the hose attachments there. They were made in USA . Start looking .

In our current economic situation, every little thing we buy or do affects someone else - even their job . So, after reading this email, I think this lady is on the right track . Let's get behind her!

My grandson likes Hershey 's candy . I noticed, though, that it is marked made in Mexico now... I do not buy it any more. My favorite toothpaste Colgate is made in Mexico ... now I have switched to Crest. You have to read the labels on everything ..

This past weekend I was at Kroger. I needed 60 W light bulbs and Bounce dryer sheets . I was in the light bulb aisle, and right next to the GE brand I normally buy was an off-brand labeled, "Everyday Value . " I picked up both types of bulbs and compared the stats - they were the same except for the price .. The GE bulbs were more money than the Everyday Value brand but the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that GE was made in MEXICO and the Everyday Value brand was made in - get ready for this - the USA in
a company in Cleveland , Ohio .

So throw out the myth that you cannot find products you use every day that are made right here ..

So on to another aisle - Bounce Dryer Sheets . ... . yep, you guessed it, bounce cost more money and is made in Canada .. The Everyday Value brand was less money and MADE IN THE USA ! I did laundry yesterday and the dryer sheets performed just like the Bounce Free I have been using for years and at almost half the price!

My challenge to you is to start reading the labels when you shop for everyday things and see what you can find that is made in the USA - the job you save may be your own or your neighbors!

If you accept the challenge, pass this on to others in your address book so we can all start buying American, one light bulb at a time! Stop buying from overseas companies!

(We should have awakened a decade ago .. . .. . .. . )

Let's get with the program . .. . .. help our fellow Americans keep their jobs and create more jobs here in the U . S . A ..

[The Annoyed Man]

The problem is that, thanks to undereducated hippies who could have never graduated from high school 50 years ago because they're stupid enough for government jobs, you can't buy a regular light bulb anymore. Now you have to buy the fluorescent ones.... You know... the ones that are so dangerous to the environment that your city won't let you dispose of them in either your trash or recycling?

Feckless idiots.

[USA1]

one grasshopper on the railroad tracks wouldn't slow a train very much, a billion of them would.

Gross.

(We should have awakened a decade ago .. . .. . .. . )

Let's get with the program . .. . .. help our fellow Americans keep their jobs and create more jobs here in the U . S . A ..

Every dollar we can keep in America adds up.
I still think that "Made in America" is something to be proud of.

[dicion]

one grasshopper on the railroad tracks wouldn't slow a train very much, a billion of them would.

Gross.

I dunno, doing the math, that many grasshoppers would weigh ~66,138.6787 Pounds. (Using an average of 300 milligrams per grasshopper, apparently a good average according to the internet)
Also, it wouldn't be very dense, it would be sort of a squishy pile of grasshoppers... So if the train weighed more than that, and was going fast enough... I just don't know...

[USA1]

one grasshopper on the railroad tracks wouldn't slow a train very much, a billion of them would.

Gross.

I dunno, doing the math, that many grasshoppers would weigh ~66,138.6787 Pounds. (Using an average of 300 milligrams per grasshopper, apparently a good average according to the internet)
Also, it wouldn't be very dense, it would be sort of a squishy pile of grasshoppers... So if the train weighed more than that, and was going fast enough... I just don't know...

uggh...the popping sound.

[jimlongley]

one grasshopper on the railroad tracks wouldn't slow a train very much, a billion of them would.

Gross.

I dunno, doing the math, that many grasshoppers would weigh ~66,138.6787 Pounds. (Using an average of 300 milligrams per grasshopper, apparently a good average according to the internet)
Also, it wouldn't be very dense, it would be sort of a squishy pile of grasshoppers... So if the train weighed more than that, and was going fast enough... I just don't know...

One engine probably would weigh more than that.

I was tooling down a country road in my telephone truck ~55mph, and I noticed a "haze" above the road ahead, terribly hard to focus on and it appeared to be moving. Before I had more than a chance to wonder if I was in the middle of some 'B' horror movie and would hear Jamie Lee Curtis screaming at any second, I hit them.

An entire swarm of bees, just from the pieces and parts I cleaned off the windshield it had to number in the many hundreds if not thousands.

Instant blindness, no part of the windshield left un-spattered as well as the rest of the front of the truck. Got the truck stopped safely and discovered that the goo was too thick to clean off with what I had with me, so I drove to the nearest central office with my head out the window. And it still took a while to clean up.

I don't think hitting the swarm slowed the truck measurably, of course it was hard to tell because I had my foot mashed down on the binders hard enough to make the tires squeal.

[PUCKER]

Excellent points!

Slowly, more manufacturing is coming back to the US, but we need more help, especially in Washington. GO VOTE REPUBLICAN, this is what Congressman Pete Sessions told myself and a roomful of folks in manufacturing last night! It can be done one vote at a time - if this is too political then feel free to delete - but he specifically said last night the plan is to help bring business back by unencumbering them from all of the restrictions, this is one of the reasons why many companies go offshore. Thankfully, many companies are realizing that China is not the panacea that it was once thought to be. "Reshoring" (bringing manufacturing BACK to the US) is happening!

[Keith B]

OK, grasshopper analogy aside, there are some really good points.

While many think one person not buying one item will have no effect on the manufacturer, the main point of many not buying items is to force the store or chain to stop carrying them. Stores closely track which items sell and which don't. If a single product or product line quits moving, they will discount it, then eventually close it out of their inventory. If companies like Wal-Mart and Kroger see the sharp decline in sale of a product and decide a product or line is not viable to carry on their shelves and quit buying it, that will impact the manufacturer drastically.

[SlickTX]

But if we stop buying Chinese they can't keep buying US Treasuries (our debt). If they stop buying our debt, we can't stimulate our economy, pay for everyone to have health care, fully staff the BATF, pay for welfare babies, kill the Taliban and Osama's boys, etc.

[The Annoyed Man]

Actually, my wife just came home today from a local big box store (Lowes) with new lightbulbs and some other items. I received a copy of that same email several years ago, and back then, and she and I had this discussion about buying U.S. made wherever possible.

So, she brought home the lightbulbs, a new glass globe for the hallway light, a step stool, and some wood cleaner/refinisher for our wood panelling.

In reverse order:

• The cleaner/refinisher is the Old English brand. It is manufactured in the U.S.
• The glass globe was made in China.
• The stepladder was made in China.
• The GE indoor floodlights are "assembled" in Cleveland.

GE has apparently received a copy of this email. Here's what the box says now:

Mfd. by GE Lighting, Inc.
Fabricado por GE Lighting, Inc.
GE Consumer & Industrial
Nela Park
Cleveland, OH 441122
Assemblied in USA
Ensamblado in EE.UU

This begs the question: "From whence came the parts used to assemble lighbulbs?" Those could be American jobs too.... ...nor not.

I'm not blaming my wife, because the truth is that I have stopped checking too. It just slips under the radar. Both of us are going to redouble our efforts to buy American wherever possible from now on.

[Purplehood]

I would really look into those generic brands that claim to be made in the USA. I personally suspect that they are not. I would want to read the statements for myself. They may simply have been packaged in the USA.

[ddstuder]

This thread has inspired me! I think I will go buy an AR-15 instead of that AK-47 I've been looking at!

[zero4o3]

I would really look into those generic brands that claim to be made in the USA. I personally suspect that they are not. I would want to read the statements for myself. They may simply have been packaged in the USA.

I am pretty sure you are correct, I know that I work for a company that has "generic" brands which are all manufactured by other larger manufactures and packaged by our company

This thread has inspired me! I think I will go buy an AR-15 instead of that AK-47 I've been looking at!

now thats an idea

[G26ster]

Anyone found a compact fluorescent bulb that works with a dimmer switch?