American vs Local

A huge topic that gets bounced around in the new media outlits is thus: (at least, in my home country of the United States of America)

BUY AMERICAN! CAUSE AMERICAN IS BETTER THAN ANYTHING ELSE!

'MERICA!

But then we are told in the same lines, generally perhaps even in the same article, that we should buy local. Why?

BUY LOCAL! CAUSE LOCAL IS BETTER THAN ANYTHING ELSE!!

LOCAL!

Here we are given two seemingly similar topics that might seem parallel (ie, the same). Buy things that are near you (in my case, from America) which is buying locally which is awesome for the economy and local businesses. They are not. Let me explain.

For example.

You are dying to own a sweet awesome super-legit solid oak chair. It would look perfect in your living room, you just know it. So you start shopping online and find two chairs that fit what you are looking for perfectly. 

Oh my gosh it's perfect!

One is crafted and shipped from Toledo, Canada and the other Houston, Texas. You now live in Michigan. What woodsmen and distributor do you choose? If you want to buy American, you choose the one from Houston. But if you want to buy local which do you choose? Toledo. 

But wait, that's not American! No. No it's not. But it's local. Local in terms of being in close proximity to the community you live in. Local as in the money going to Toledo has a better chance of coming back to your community thorough Canada/Michigan trade relationships than purchasing from Houston.

Mind-boggling, isn't it? Country made isn't the same as local made. Buying local means buying within a radius that evolves around your community, not just because there is a MADE IN AMERICA sticker on it. If you were to buy from Houston you might not be paying anymore online than from Toledo, but think back to yesterday's post about full cost accounting. What sorts of fees are you not paying that would incur were you to buy from Texas over Canada?

Think about it.

Buy local.