Americans failed to see the connection between products and employment because we manufactured many products to be exported world-wide. With the manufacturing industry practically disappearing, unemployment rates high and consumer dollars short, it may be a very good idea for everyone to allocate some of their purchasing power to American Made products.
Some will immediately call this "protectionism", but the fact of the matter is that there is nothing wrong with protecting your job and those of your neighbors. For those who think protectionism is wrong, just take a look at all the jobs that used to be done in the United States but are now being done overseas: Call Centers, Technical assistance, manufacturing of American named products, construction materials, Industrial tools, Clothing... the list goes on and on and the jobs are gone.
No one is saying we can't own a Sony TV (I certainly do), but when it comes to items made in the USA that are well made and useful, there is nothing wrong with avoiding the Chinese made product and buying American instead.
Buying American made products could save your job, your neighbor's, or create jobs for a family member or friend. In these economic times, the answer is a resounding ‘yes’, you should buy American made products if they are available.
Buying American made products can become complicated since many American companies are nothing more than nostalgic remnants of a by-gone-era. Many American companies are part of multi-national corporations that have shipped their jobs to other countries and funneled the profits to off-shore accounts...Read the rest of the article
1 comment:
Hi Olivia!
Buying local is always a good idea, especially with food and farm products. But as you point out, buying 'American' is so hard to do - it is a complicated world and these days so few things are actually made in America, it looks a hopeless approach.
What people can do is stop buying so much crap we don't really need. Americans have an abysmally low savings rate – this means all kinds of long term problems for the economy, including American companies not being able to get access to the capital required to make stuff in the US. Spending less has a short-term bad effect on the economy but in the long term it is far better.
We need to stop trying to buy happiness by wastefully buying stuff we don’t need (and getting ourselves in debt) and start behaving in a more rational way to make our future a happier place.
Robin
Post a Comment