On Monday, February 28th, ABC began a series on the World News with Diane Sawyer called “Made in America.” John and Ana Ursy of Dallas, Texas agreed to accept the challenge of working with the ABC team of David Muir and Sharyn Alfonsi to furnish three rooms of their home exclusively with products that are made in America. When the team examined everything that existed in these three rooms and removed all foreign-made products, the result was a virtually empty house – no beds, no tables, no chairs, no couches, no lamps. Only the kitchen sink, a vase, a candle, and some pottery remained.
The questions posed by the team were: Is buying American-made more expensive? What staples are no longer manufactured in the U.S.? And what difference would it make if everyone promised to buy more American-made products?
The results were somewhat surprising. The kitchen was the most difficult because there are only a couple of companies still making major appliances in America: Viking Products provided the stove, and Sub-Zero and Wolf provided the refrigerator, microwave, and oven. They couldn’t find any coffee makers made in the U.S.; Bun-a-Matic assembled a coffee maker out of parts made offshore. There are no TVs made in America and no light bulbs. General Electric closed the last plant making incandescent light bulbs in the U. S. in July 2010. The team was able to furnish the bedroom with all American-made furniture, lamps, and bedding for less money: $1,699 compared to $1,758. All in all, the team found more than 100 manufacturers still making various consumer goods in America, and viewers submitted names of many more. You can view the companies on an interactive map of the USA.
When one of the ABC reporters, Sharyn Alfonsi, examined the toy box of her own child, she didn’t find any American-made toys in it, so the interactive website provides the names of some U. S. toy makers, such as Green Toys in San Francisco that makes toys from recycled milk bottles. There are six other California companies shown on the interactive map: Pure-Rest Organics, making organic bedding in San Diego, Harveys Handbags in Santa Ana, Maglite Flashlights in Ontario, Danmer Custom Shutters in Los Angeles, Glass Darma, making handmade drinking straws in Ft. Bragg, and Sergio Lub Jewelry in Martinez.
Why does it matter if we buy American-made products? First, our addiction to imports has helped create our high trade deficit, especially with China, where most of the consumer goods we import are manufactured. In 1960, imported foreign goods made up just 8 percent of Americans’ purchases. Today, nearly 60 percent of everything we buy is made overseas. In 2010, our overall trade deficit was $97.8 billion, up from $374.9 billion in 2009 but nearly 30 percent below our highest deficit in 2008 of $698.8 billion. Our trade deficit with China has grown from $ $83.8 billion in 2000 when China was granted Most Favored Nation status to a record high of $273 billion in 2010.
Second, American-made products create American jobs. Each time you choose to buy an American-made product, you help save or create an American job. There is a ripple effect in that every manufacturing job creates three to four other jobs while service jobs create only one to two other jobs. We’ve lost 5.5 million manufacturing jobs since the year 2000, and the number of manufacturing jobs dropped below 12 million in 2010, down from a high of nearly 20 million in 1979.
You may be thinking, would what I do make a difference? American activist and author, Sonia Johnson said, “We must remember that one determined person can make a significant difference, and that a small group of determined people can change the course of history.” Eleanor Roosevelt echoed this sentiment saying, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Remember that our country was founded by a small group of people that did indeed change the world by forming the United States of America.
Here are suggestions of what each one of us can do: First, look at the country of origin labels of goods when you go shopping. Most imported goods are required to have these labels. Many manufacturers have tried to get the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to relax the rules determining what’s “Made in USA.” After two years of public hearings, studies, and reports, in December 1997, the FTC reaffirmed: A product will be considered Made in U.S.A. if “all or virtually all made in the Unites States” only where “all significant parts and processing that go into the product are of U. S. origin.”
Buy the “Made in U.S.A.” even if it costs more than the imported product. It is a small sacrifice to make to insure the well being of your fellow Americans. The price difference you pay for “Made in USA” products keeps other Americans working. If the product you are looking for is no longer made in America, then avoid countries such as China that has the goal of becoming the world’s “super power” in the 21st Century by winning either an economic war or a military war with the U. S. When you take our trade deficits with China into consideration, it would not be an exaggeration to say that American consumers have paid for the bulk of China’s military buildup. American service men and women could one day face weapons mostly paid for by American consumers. Instead, patronize impoverished countries such as Bangladesh or Nicaragua, which have no military ambitions.
In addition, you would be reducing your “carbon footprint” by buying a product made in America instead of a product that is made offshore that will use a great deal of fossil fuel just to ship it to the United States.
If you have a “Made in USA” appliance that needs repair and all the new ones are imported, try to get it repaired. If it can’t be fixed, and it is a small appliance that you can live without, then don’t buy a new one. We Americans buy many things that we really don’t need just because they are so cheap. If a product that you are considering purchasing is an import, ask yourself, “Do I really need this?” If you don’t need it, then don’t buy it.
If you are willing to step out of your comfort zone, ask to speak to the department or store manager of your favorite store. Tell the person that you have been a regular customer for x amount of time, but if they want to keep you as a customer, they need to start carrying some (or more) “Made in USA.” products. If you buy products on line or from catalogs, you could contact these companies via email with a similar message. Your contacting a company does have an effect because there is a rule of thumb in sales and marketing that one reported customer complaint equals 100 unreported complaints.
Buying American has been made even easier by a new guide to buying American – “How Americans Can Buy American: The Power of Consumer Patriotism” first released in March 2008 and updated in 2010. Author Roger Simmermaker says, “Supporting American companies leads to a more independent America. Ownership equals control, and control equals independence. We cannot claim to be an independent country or control our own destiny if our manufacturing base is under foreign ownership or foreign control. A nation that cannot supply its own needs is not an independent nation. If we are to claim independence from the rest of the world and truly be a sovereign nation, we must begin supplying our own needs once again.”
According to Simmermaker, “buying American” is not just about buying “Made in USA.” “Buying American, in the purest sense of the term, means we would buy an American-made product, made by an American-owned company, with as high a domestic parts content within that product as possible…’American-made’ is good. ‘Buying American’ is much better!”
One of our greatest statesmen, Thomas Jefferson, stated, “I have come to a resolution myself, as I hope every good citizen will, never again to purchase any article of foreign manufacture which can be had of American make, be the difference of price what it may” (pg. 9 of Simmermaker’s book).
Simmermaker has made it easy by listing companies and their nation of ownership and view his list of American owned companies at his website: www.howtobuyamerican.com. In addition here are some other websites.
As American consumers, you now have more American choices so you can live safely and have more peace of mind. It’s high time to stop sending China our American dollars while they send us all of their tainted, hazardous, and disposable products. If 200 million Americans refused to buy just $20 each of Chinese goods, that’s would be a four billion dollar trade imbalance resolved in our favor – fast! In the ABC World News program, Diane Sawyer said, “if every American spent an extra $3.33 on U. S. -made goods, it would create almost 10,000 new jobs in this country.” The ABC World News series “Made in America” continues with a look at the garment industry the week of March 7th.
Manufacturing jobs are the foundation of our middle class, and we are losing our middle class in state after state. From December 2000 to December 2010, 22 states have lost a third or more of their manufacturing jobs. Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio have lost 38 percent of their manufacturing jobs, New Jersey 39 percent, North Carolina 42 percent, Rhode Island 44 percent, and Michigan 48 percent.
We cannot afford to export our wealth by buying imports from China and finance our more than 10 years of deficits by borrowing an average of $1.553 billion every day. We cannot lose our manufacturing base and be able to remain the world’s “superpower.” In fact, we may not be able to maintain our freedom as a country because it takes considerable wealth to protect our freedom.
Remember, the company you save or the job you save by your actions may be your own. More importantly, you can play a role as an individual in saving our country’s sovereignty by following the suggestions in this article.
I believe that Vizio is an american company that makes tvs.
I had never heard of Vizio previously but check then out on the web and found out that they make LCD HDTVs. I will keep that in mind.
Good read Michele. Thanks.
Sadly, “buying American” is a catch-22 these days with the economy what it is. The willingness to pay a little extra to buy American gets harder every month as we (read our Government) continue to print money like there’s no tomorrow.
The resultant inflation impacts just about everything we buy and will cause less and less people to pay that little extra to buy American.
Matt