How hard is it to buy things made in America? I’ve been saying it is almost impossible, and now at least one journalist has tried it and agrees with me. I am a member of the generation that saw commercials on TV every evening, usually during the family prime-time hour, with catchy tunes telling us to look for the USA on the label (and “look for the union label — remember those?), and so I have tried to buy American as much as possible. It always made sense to me to buy things produced in your own country with the hands and effort of workers living right here, but for the last decade or so, this has become more and more difficult as everything I seem to pick up is made elsewhere … usually in China. The real kicker is that products proudly proclaiming to be made in America are made from things from elsewhere (once again, usually China). As America continues to produce less and less goods, it’s only going to become more impossible to buy things … food and products … that aren’t made in China.
I wish more people would consider the ramifications of buying imported goods. If everything you eat, wear, and have in your home is made half-way around the world, mostly in one country, what happens if they decide they don’t want to trade with us anymore … or if a war breaks out and we are on opposing sides … or they just want to mess with our economy … or a natural disaster (or war) wipes out manufacturing plants or farms overseas? Sound far-fetched? It isn’t. Not saying anything of these things are destined to happen in my lifetime, though I do imagine they are possible, but I do have some concern for the well-being of my country and its citizens even after my heart stops beating. Silly, I suppose, as after I am dead, I will likely not care at all whether America survives or dies. Sentimentally speaking, I’d like to think the USA will go on long after I am gone (though not, necessarily in its current crappy form).
Ever hear the old adage about not putting all your eggs in one basket? Well, that’s what the USA is doing. It’s buying far too many goods from one country, and should something happen to stop that flow of goods (or even just slow it down), the USA will have a problem, maybe even a crisis. Just something to think about. I don’t have a solution. I don’t know how to change it. All I can do, all anyone can do, is try to buy American made products and when possible, locally made and produced ones. As I have found out over the last month or so, even that is difficult, time-consuming, and sometimes impossible … occasionally, it is prohibitively expensive for your average American. I doubt my change in purchasing habits will have any larger effect. I don’t even know if everyone did it there would be any measurable effect. I am beginning to think we are all just screwed and stuck with sub-par goods from foreign countries (though believe me, I don’t really rank American foodstuffs or consumer goods all that much better in the grand scheme of things).
Here’s the money quote from the story … found on a Monopoly box:
“Made in the USA with dice and tokens made in China.”
That sums up so much of the consumer goods and foodstuffs found on American shelves these days. Made in the USA, except for some of the vital parts. So … even seeing a Made in the USA label is no longer even a guarantee that something is actually an American product. All dollars seem to lead to China.
It makes sense for all of us to buy locally when we can. Even in terms of just the carbon foot-print, it makes sense. But we have to pay for it becuase it will cost as much as we would expect to be paid for making it and there’s the problem. We want cheap stuff so we can be rich on other people’s poverty.
With China, we are having the same teething problems we had in trade with Japan inhte ’50′s and ’60′s. They were cheap and they made lots of poor quaility stuff, not to our standards, but we consumed it.
I can’t help but think though, that complex interdependent trade relations (for non-raw materials) will lesson the chance of war, spread freedom and reduce poverty on a world scale.
These are all mind-numbingly complex issues. For instance, though I’m not a union guy at all when it comes to me and my thinking about the Western World at this stage of the game, it’s unions and worker standard’s that they can impose on imports that will actually reduce poverty and the imperialist descaration of the second and third string ecomonic producers like China. Likewise, it will bankrupt the world for oil, but the Chinese might be better off for a few years with the fridges they buy with the money they make off selling us cheap shoes.
We were very lucky, you and I being born during a charmed interval when the cold-war stopped global wars and there was still enough goop around to build plastic stuff and run cars and air conditioners. There is something about having your wrists in the bread dough that does make you think about what you really thought you needed and how much better off you can be doing things for yourself with some effort and dedication. Most of the people on the orb would kill to have dough to kneed, they don’t need it flown in from either New York or Bejing, they need clean water and hot surface.
Argh, enough politics, I’m making Italian loafs (Chewy, elastic, stringy and tough. A yeasty workout for the jaw with huge bubbles and miles of glutten goodness.) :chef:
If you’re looking for thousands of American-made products in one place, check out http://www.shopforamerica.com. It’s a great site.
Oh wow, that is so cool! Thank you!!!