Made in America?

Made in America? Not a likely prospect.

Shoes made in America? Looking at the labeling, nearly all say Made in China. In particular, tennis shoes are decidedly imported from that country. You might find a brand, such as New Balance, that is made in America but you have to look hard and long. Understandably, a disclosure states that some items used are from other countries.

Jeans made in America? Expect to read the words Made in Mexico for nearly every brand. I recently found a pair, which I did not purchase, that advised me that they were made in Mexico of USA. What does that mean? Have illegal immigrants already laid claim to parts of our country?

Other clothing made in America? There are a vast variety of clothes imported from foreign nations, but I found none from our very own. Korea, Bangladesh, Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, Honduras, Pakistan and Jordan are all primary sources of products that contribute to the number of unemployed American workers. There are also other lesser-imported countries.

Foods grown in America? Grocery stores are now required to advise us the country of origin. Canadian grown produce is easier to accept than those imported from countries outside our hemisphere but I refuse to buy navel oranges from South Africa! I support the idea of “going green” but products coming from such a distance that are surely picked green short-change my expectation of getting the fullest amount of vitamin C. For at least one company, peaches are grown in Greece and packaged in Thailand!

Automobiles made in America? You can easily make a long list of manufacturers that fit in this category going back to the 60s when Volkswagen made its mark with the Beetle. Toyota inundated our car dealerships in the 70s. Since then, the volumes have multiplied. We appreciate the quality of workmanship and innovation of these automakers but our Big Three have become smaller in stature.

Oil drilled under American soil? Perhaps a small percentage, but we do a greater amount of transforming foreign liquid gold to amber tanks of petrol, whenever our aging refineries are working to their limited capacities. Our economic well-being is at the mercy of yet another group of countries that could bring us to ruin. Our presence in Iraq proves how our leaders are willing to go to war to protect American interests. Our one source of plenty, coal, has yet to fulfill its promise of solving our dependency on energy sources but, as research and development lessen emissions of green house gases and the cost of processing, the potential is astonishing.

Jobs for American workers? As a simple example, computer programmers recently out of college would earn about $50,000 per year but other countries give our corporations a big financial bonanza by exporting these jobs for salaries in the $10,000 range. American workers are not the only losing out on wages and benefits but our local, state and federal governments are losing tax revenues. Perhaps there will come a day when the cost of imports will less expensive when CEOs and other high-paying executive positions become another exported commodity. This means of restructuring might bring pricing down by 10%, although this is a purely speculative figure.

Recently, I was in a furniture store looking at sofas. The sales associate informed me how manufacturing jobs in South Carolina have been eliminated over the years, as fabrics have been another lost cause of employment opportunities.

A $201 billion trade deficit with China alone is surely an alarming concern for the American economy, but without our charitable contributions to developing countries there would be a worldwide recession. American workers are taking the economic brunt of making corporate executives financially richer with every shipment of products and services arriving from distant pockets of the world. You might say Americans are victims of pickpocket thievery.

Exports from America? Developing nations are churning up our coal, hardwood lumber, soybeans and cotton, just to name a few. Large construction equipment is also an important export to other countries as they ascend to their modernization into the industrial age. With coal, we are exporting our own contribution to global warming.

The good news? In the past three decades 250,000,000 Chinese citizens’ lives have been taken out of poverty. No one can deny this is a tremendous boon to humanitarianism even though the political workings in that country are still guilty of crimes against freedom and humanity, still enforcing quotas that limit families to one child; many parents forego giving life to female babies. That’s one equation with an alarmingly negative sum in human life.

Jobs in America? From 2001 to 2006, 1.8 million jobs have been lost to workers in China. On a pie chart, the total number of jobs lost show an even larger piece of the American dream given to international interests. In the next few years, analysts predict another 3.3 million jobs will be lost. In September, Wall Street acknowledged the total job loss of 4,000 workers instead of the expected 115,000 gains. Regardless of the causes, be it the slowdown of construction jobs or foreclosure of homes due to questionable banking operations or continued loss of American jobs to foreign countries, investors reacted with a downturn of the Dow Jones. Call it the Downward Jones Average reaction to sensitive economic news.

I suppose it’s not surprising how Wall Street investors gleefully up the stock price of a corporation when workforce reductions are announced.

Loyalty to America? All I have to mention is that dirty word Mattel, the first of a number of toy makers to have put health risks above the safety of children to satisfy the sales of playthings. I view it was a treasonous act to every worker in America, and child, when Mattel fell to their proverbial knees with an apology to China for the lethal toys manufactured in that country. Symbolically, I can imagine the executives at Mattel have a morning chant of “I pledge allegiance to the Workers of the Peoples Republic of China…” Profits take precedence over the safety and well being of American children. Shame on Corporate America.

For the average American, perhaps one of the best investments these days goes beyond traditional thought. Save those products with labels that still say Made In America, go through the closets for items soon to be collector’s treasures. Don’t worry about the condition because most antiques show some wear. In mint condition, they become priceless.

Save those old toys that have been set aside for a yard sale. Hand them down to younger children and breath a sigh of relief that you have taken the only step to ensure the safety of American children. You can never assume that anyone other than you and your extended family will keep your kids out of harms way.

Made in America? Not likely.

PARCEL POST 2008 @ www.parcelpost08.blogspot.com A New Year. A New Blog.