Clay Mclendon wrote in reply to my "Buy American" crack:
> You mean buy American as in BFG? A subsidiary of Michelin... a FRENCH
> company? Or did you mean Hoosier? I know BFG's are made in America,
> but does that make it an American tire? Just pointing out that it isn't
>always
> as simple as it seems. No flames intended! ;-)
Thanks Clay, and the others who politely pointed out that Michelin is
indeed based in France. While I am not knowlegable about the entire
ownership structure of this huge corporation, (I'm sure there is an
American in there somewhere) I do know that there are precious few
entities this large that are truly nationalistically pure. (I doubt
that this is actually a word) My lord, just look under the hood of your
(fill in the name of favorite American car company here) car and count
the American parts. This is not new news of course.
In today's world, most things like this are a blend of all that is good
(or cheap) from all over the world. When I refer to "BFGoodrich" as an
American company, or even Chrysler for that matter, in my mind they are
American because they were founded and grew and became succesful in
America. The fact that BFG doesn't even really produce anything in it's
root form is not relevent in today's world, IMO. They are rooted
here...they are American. This formula is not true for all companies of
course, but I think you get the idea.
I was under the impression that the tires were actually produced on our
side of the pond however. Am I right on that? That makes it American
enough for me.
PLW
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