John Stossel\u2019s blog article on WorldNetDaily\u00ae on November 1, 2011, \u201cThe stupidity of \u2018Buy American,\u2019 is based on a premise so fallacious that one wonders how a usually intelligent commentator like Stossel could have been taken in by it.<\/p>\n
The premise is that \u201cwe should buy things where they\u2019re cheapest.\u00a0 That frees up more of our resources to buy other things, and other Americans get jobs producing these things,\u201d according to the explanation of why \u201cBuy American\u201d is \u201cnonsense\u201d by economist David Henderson of the Hoover Institution.<\/p>\n
First of all, \u201cbuying things where they\u2019re cheapest\u201d isn\u2019t always the best decision on where to spend your money ? the old adage \u201cyou get what you pay for\u201d is more often true.\u00a0 Most of the everyday items that people buy today at \u201cbig box\u201d and other retail outlets are being manufactured in China and other countries in Asia.<\/p>\n
What do you get for your money when you buy products that are made in China and other Asian countries?\u00a0 Clothes and shoes that don\u2019t fit or fall apart, toys that choke or strangle children, baby buggies, strollers, and cribs that maim or even kill, household items that either don\u2019t work properly, cause fires, and explode, and tainted food.\u00a0 The U. S. Consumer Protection Safety Commission<\/a>\u2019s website provides a monthly list of products that have been recalled, and month after month, more than 90% are made in China. \u00a0\u00a0For example, there have been eight recalls thus far in November, and seven of the eight products were made in China.\u00a0 In October, there were 21 product recalls: 12 were made in China, two were made in Taiwan, two were made in Vietnam, two were made in Mexico, and three were made in the U. S.\u00a0 The products ranged from glass bowls and toys to tents, battery packs, and baby strollers.<\/p>\n Recently, a Senate Armed Services Committee investigation led by Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-AZ) reviewed more than 100,000 pages of DOD documents and found that U.S. Department of Defense had purchased counterfeit electronic parts<\/a> (defective and with \u201cback doors<\/a>\u201d) from China in 1,800 cases, running to more than 1 million parts.<\/p>\n Second, buying cheap goods that are made offshore only creates American jobs if you use the money to buy American products.\u00a0 If you just buy more products made \u201coffshore,\u201d you don\u2019t create any new American jobs.\u00a0\u00a0 About the best it does is keep people who work in wholesale and retail employed.\u00a0 That\u2019s why tax rebates and refunds haven\u2019t created the jobs that were expected.\u00a0 Consumers used the extra money to pay down debt, add to savings, or bought the everyday products that are now made mostly in China.<\/p>\n Why does it matter where products are made and why is it smart to \u201cBuy American?\u201d\u00a0 A \u00a0report released in April 2011 titled, \u201cThe Importance and Promise of American Manufacturing, Why It Matters if We Make It in America and Where We Stand Today,\u201d co-authored by Michael Ettlinger and Kate Gordon of the Center for American Progress provides the answer to these questions.\u00a0 The Center for American Progress<\/a> is a nonpartisan research and educational institute dedicated to promoting a strong, just and free America that ensures opportunity for all.<\/p>\n The authors opine that \u201cManufacturing is critically important to the American economy.\u00a0 For generations, the strength of our country rested on the power of our factory floors\u2014both the machines and the men and women who worked them.\u00a0 We need manufacturing to continue to be bedrock of strength for generations to come … The strength or weakness of American<\/p>\n In addition to maintaining our standard of living as Americans, there are several other important reasons why it\u2019s smart to \u201cBuy American.\u201d\u00a0 They are:<\/p>\n Manufacturing is critical to our national defense<\/strong> ? American manufacturers supply the military with the essentials needed to defend our country, including tanks, fighter jets, submarines, and other high-tech equipment. The same advances in technology that consumers take for granted support the military, particularly soldiers fighting overseas.<\/p>\n The U.S. cannot rely on other countries to supply its military because their interests may run counter to its own.\u00a0\u00a0 America cannot risk being held hostage to foreign manufacturers when it comes to products that are essential for its national security\u00a0and the U.S. military. It is crucial that key components and technologies that are critical to the production of U.S. weapons and the related industrial capacity to produce such items be located within the United States.<\/p>\n Manufacturing supplies millions of jobs<\/strong> <\/strong>? Manufacturing <\/a>jobs are the foundation of the U.S. economy and the basis for its middle class. Manufacturing\u00a0provides high-paying jobs for nearly 12 million Americans.<\/p>\n Manufacturing Jobs Pay Higher Wages than Service Jobs<\/strong> <\/strong>? Manufacturing\u00a0wages and benefits are approximately 25 \u2013 50 percent higher than in non-manufacturing jobs.<\/p>\n In an opinion article in Industry Week<\/em> magazine, John Madigan<\/a>, a consultant with Madigan Associate, wrote \u201cJobs paying $20 per hour that historically enabled wage earners to support a middle-class standard of living are leaving the U.S\u2026 only 16% of today’s workers earn the $20-per-hour baseline wage, down 60% since 1979.\u00a0\u00a0 Service and transportation jobs, per se, cease to exist in the absence of wealth. Rather, they exist and thrive as by-products of middle-class incomes buying products and services.\u201d<\/p>\n