Domestic
The lines are blurred these days by false assumptions that we Americans have regarding the products we buy every day. Americans are lulled into believing that if they buy a product with an American sounding name from an American retailer that they are actually buying products that were made in the USA.
If you go to Harbor Freight and see all the products there with the product brand name of “Chicago” you automatically think of a steel mill and tool works company in the mid-west where men dressed in gray work clothes stand in line with their lunch boxes as they punch the clock as they enter the tool mill for their shift. This picture may be real, but they are punching the clock in China.
The trouble comes when you think you are buying an American car only to find out it was made in Mexico, yet you can buy many Japanese cars that are actually made in America. In reality those cars may be assembled here, but most of their parts are manufactured in foreign lands.
It seems to me that manufacturing needs to come back to America in order for our economy to get back in gear.
If you are not a big fan of NAFTA and are looking for products that are made in the United States check out this web site.
http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/shoppingindex.html
Remember, it is also a good idea to buy local food as well. Every little bit helps.
posted by The Guy Who Writes This at 4:58 AM
9 Comments:
Thanks for providing the link. I appreciate knowing where I can buy items that are made here in the U.S. I was pleasantly surprised to see ColumbiaKnits on the site. Didn't even know we had a Portland based company still manufacturing in the U.S. May even have to buy a Gilligan shirt from them, I just wish I was as skinny as him now!
Totally off topic - but hope you have a wonderful 2008!
My mom recently went to buy some fudge at See's Candy ... and found it was made in China.
Now THAT's ridiculous!
It's really gotten weird, hasn't it? I bought a pet carrier online a few weeks ago made by PetMate. I expected it to have been made elsewhere, but it says "Made in the USA." A couple weeks later the company I bought the carrier from accidentally shipped me some pet beds also made by PetMate and they too were made in the USA. What I don't know is if the materials used in these products came from the USA, or if they were imported.
Interestingly, a while back I was trying to figure out who made newspaper inks and came across some info on tattoo inks--most of them are imported, and mostly from China! I never did find out about the newspaper inks, but it goes to show that just because something is "made" in the USA doesn't mean that all the individual components of products were made here. Sometimes the label says "Assembled in the USA" which is different than "Made in the USA."--assembled in this case means put together in the USA from foreign-made components.
I work in an industry that services a lot of public and/or government businesses. Many of them are mandated to buy "Made in USA" products whenever possible even if the quality is poor and the cost much higher. It's pretty common for companies to use "assembled" in the USA to get around this problem even if the assembly is one guy in Pittsburgh putting one last nut on a huge piece of machinery that was otherwise made and partially assembled in another country.
Frequently, disturbingly frequently, we find no US source and have to go overseas. Considering what industry I'm in and how fast we'd slide in total anarchy if it collapsed it makes one worry a great deal to see vital components not made even on our continent.
Buy local is a way of life in this part of my state. Not so much down where the most people live though, although more so than many places. W-M and the like are generally unwanted and usually a big fight to keep them out is involved. For most folks here, small manufacturing, or artistic endeavors are their only employment. Thanks for the link:)
I think it would be cool is stores had a Made in the USA section, kind of the way they have an organic section in some grocery stores.
Cool link, Guy- thank you. I am a very big proponent of buying local food, too. I love that our farmer's market in West Seattle runs year round.
Lachlan, every year we take it to a new level. This year we are going to raise chickens and turkeys.
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