Comments about ‘Local First urges Utahns to shop at small, independent businesses’

It's a good cause and supports U.S. based business, but people will vote with their short-term interests and buy Chinese. Our jobs will be lost, our economic base will continue to deteriorate, guys like WalMart will get mega-rich even more, and we will become weaker, all because we wanted the best deal. That's what's been happening to America for a while. And what do we do to those who point it out? We call them names. We attack unions and others who push for rights. We apologize for the huge multi-national companies who pollute and take huge sums of money overseas, even paying off those committed to destroy us. Wake up people.

IF our companies have to pay 38% in taxes how do they compete with countries with a flat tax or lower taxes. It is hard. Put our taxes at 12% like Ireland and a lot less business would go to China, and low and behold the tax revenue here would go up.

Would be a wonderful world if corporations/big business paid as much as 12%--but you can drive a Mac truck through US tax loopholes. No company pays the high rate. On the other hand, if they like the protection of the US for their overseas & tax exempt offshore interests, maybe it would be worth it to pay a high tax rate.

People like to pay less, simple enough. If you can't compete nowadays you may just have to fold up shop, or deliver an inferior product to remain cost competitive which will eventually lead to you folding up shop. Shopping local is a nice idea, but if you are not mobile today you are really putting yourself in economic harm's way. Sadly despite Esquire's take, union's sometimes do cause the demise of a company all in the name of protecting the worker. If a union pushes too far so that the company cannot be cost competitive and still deliver a quality product do not be surprised when that company fails and people blame the unions. There is a fine line between demanding fair and equitable salaries and benefits, and what many unions demand of corporations. Unions can be like the government with the amount of red tape involved in getting something accomplished even when it is in the best interest of the employees. Both sides have responsibility, and yet both sides love to point the finger at the other while they slowly disappear...

Buy quality American products made from American parts from whatever source and from where ever you can at the best price is the only way to support an American resurgence. Quality plus price equals value. Just buying for price equals junk and that is what to many of us have been buying. But, with less money, the quality component will re-emerge and the competition between foreign and domestic will take care of itself. This fight about unions, and big corps. is mostly just talk. Consumers and meeting their demands has been and will be the driving force. And, urging someone to buy local just because it is local does not make for a wise purchase decision.

Of course local small businesspeople would prefer that I buy local because they want to stay in business. But exactly how does that benefit me? The article does not connect the dots. Just because someone wrote a book arguing that shopping at a big box retailer is bad for me does not make it so.

I'll buy local if the price is the same as the alternative option, but I won't be a martyr just to benefit someone else's bottom line.