The other day, one of my blog readers phoned to inform me his coffee maker had met its demise.
The avid coffee consumer had made up his mind – to pursue the purchase of not only a new caffeine provider, but an American manufactured product. To his utter amazement, every brand of this device, retailing at all major department stores, were manufactured overseas. Surprisingly, a majority of the products originated from the environmentally sound, worker friendly country known as Red China.
Price was of no object to this consumer. In his pursuit of an American made device, he considered all price ranges. The bottom of the line maker, which when used would probably leak from every pore, to a high end deluxe super model capable of everything but adding the cream and sugar. Alas his search was in vain. So he settled for a foreign made product under the disguise of an American name.
This information should come as no shock to anyone who has tried to buy American and failed in their attempt.
The Big Three (or is it two) import the majority of the electronics enhancing the “American Made” automobile. The large portion of the clothing we adorn is made by third-world countries, where the labor practices are deplorable. The computer, keyboard, speaker, monitor and phone on this writer’s desk are all manufactured, with American names, overseas.
It should come as no great surprise to us we have a massive trade deficit. It has been years since we led the world in the trading of manufactured goods. Remember, we once topped the world in the production of steel, automobiles and other consumer goods.
Is there an answer to this ever expanding dilemma, or are we doomed to be dependent on the rest of the world to provide the goods we need for everyday survival? This is one of the root causes of the financial problem we currently face. Let's see what the new Congress and Administration can do to change this trend.
Check the link provided today. You will absolutely be amazed just how many American companies import the goods we consume daily. The amount of companies listed that make coffee machines is impressive. Why Black and Decker makes a line of home appliances is baffling. Do the blenders double as a circular saw or a variable speed drill?
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/popups/exporting.america/content.html#a
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2 comments:
Just recently the talking heads at Fox News made the ridiculous claim that the average family saved somewhere in the neighborhood of $3500.00 per year by shopping at Walmart, so buying cheap imported goods at these places has got to be good for American families. I've got a couple of things to say about this, as I think it's relevant to todays topic. First of all I don't believe it. If we assume that Walmart is 50% cheaper than other outlets, and I know I'm being generous here, that means that the average family must spend at least $3500.00 per year on the types of consumables,electronics and trinkets that are offerred at these places, nearly $70.00 each and every week. I don't know anybody that sqanders that kind of money on a regular basis, and if they do, it's probably put on a credit card, and we all know how good those things are for the aaf. The trade-off for filling our lives with all the cheap gizmos is that we no longer support our own working men and women and $20.00/hour jobs are being traded for $10.00 an hour jobs at places like Walmart. How much crap could YOU buy on that salary. I find it interesting that allthough our government has done nothing to protect our manufacturing capabilities, even coffee makers, there is at least one business that is taken care of ....coffee roasters. Coffee farmers all over the world don't get squat for their beans. The real profit is in roasting, packaging and distributing. That is why there is a Value-added tariff of around 50% on anything but raw beans brought into this country. Doesn't seem fair to me.
Good comments Craig. I'm proud to say (and can say honestly) that my product is 99.5%. The other .5% is generally from the times when I have to pick up some ply-product that is "Made in China" and I'm talking from "non-BigBox " sources. I have toured plywood processing/assembly facilities and it absolutely amazes me that one could ship this product overseas for assembly and ship it back again for less than handling the whole process in-country. This is a highly automated industry (yes, I know, less jobs) to begin with but it simply HAS to take more steps to pull and ship it before completion. I realize we are talking different types of goods here but it translates to the same end...fewer jobs and fewer people to consume the goods.
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