Made In America

Question: How do we support our basic beliefs in freedom by buying goods manufactured in countries who enslave their people to flood the marketplace with inferior goods to sell in our free society?

I suggest you go to Wal-Mart, K-Mart, or just about any other discount chain and check the origin of what you are considering buying. Is the momentary savings supportive of your personal values as an American? Many people don't believe they are degrading freedom when they purchase goods imported from communist countries. It doesn't take much knowledge of politics to recognize the irony in what I just wrote, which leads me to my next question:

Why do we shrug and act like it doesn't effect us?

Come on! Look around folks. We import household goods, camping supplies, picture frames, pencils, socks, watermelons, electronics, patio furniture, kitchen supplies, tools... the list goes on and on. In some parts of the world, the things our industrial base created, these things we call essential are still largely not commonly used. Why then, are we all paying to have those countries manufacture them and ship them to us while so many of us struggle to earn a living to pay not private companies, but communist governments to enslave their people? Is that patriotism?

I've got a great story: I was cutting lettuce one evening with a knife made in China on a glass cutting board (one of those stupid things we do). About the time I realized how stupid this was, the knife blade, not the glass, broke. I've never run across a piece of glass that was stronger than a piece of steel. So, the next time I was at our local Wal-Mart, we decided to replace the knife and pick up a wood cutting board (as to not break the replacement knife). Wal-Mart carries no American made knives. We did find a fine wood cutting board which was no less expensive than those imported from other countries.

I bought a lawn hose when we lived in Missouri. We didn't use it there, the house we rented didn't have a conveniently located spigot. Now we live in Arizona and the first time I washed the Jeep, the hose leaked at the connection point. No big deal, I make a mental note to pick up some rubber washers at Wal_Mart. Upon their purchase, we notice that the package says "MADE IN CHIAN". Apparently illiteracy is not just an American problem, unless the package was printed in the USA.

It seems that the mistakes made in the American auto industry have rubbed off on others. Today, there is a huge effort on the "big three" to be bailed out by the tax-payers. Aren't we already supporting their efforts to profit through NAFTA? I have been a fan of Jeep for some time. I'm not talking about the Mexican built luxury cruisers or the Compass (Jeep has never been famous for building cars). I'm a fan of the Wrangler. AMC got into a lot of hot water with Jeep buyers years ago for using inferior Chinese steel with no rust protection. Now Chrysler is trying to eliminate the Wrangler from it's lineup because it is not a vehicle that they can load with bells and whistles to fool people into buying. Their redesigning efforts largely cheapen the vehicle and reduce it's potential off-road.

Ford made an announcement a few years back, that it was going to replace it's existing assembly plants in an effort to streamline it's operations, thereby reducing it's costs, which in turn would supposedly pass some sort of savings onto it's customers- or at least slow the rising cost of a new vehicle. Shortly following that announcement, it leaked out to the press that Ford was replacing those plants with plants in Mexico. I don't know who Ford thinks will be buying their products, but they should wake up: the only people guaranteed buyers of new cars and trucks are those who build them. As if Ford's engineering and quality control were stellar to begin with.

Now General Motors has a story. It's not a good one. They have been over-extended for years with too many competing products and a huge managing overhead. They approached Chrysler for a potential merger, then backed out as soon as they saw a possibility of a government (tax-payer) bailout. Now that is American! Of course the feds will bail GM out- they just committed to $700 billion to bailout the losses on Wall St. If I'm not mistaken, didn't the tax-payers already bail out the GM pension fund that they unlawfully didn't bother to pay into as part of an employee agreement? Oh, but wait, several airlines were similarly negligent with their retirement funds, so it's only right that GM gets away with it too.

What does this have to do with "Made In America"? Everything. Henry Ford would fire those who made vehicles built with near slave labor. If the company expanded it's horizons to create a market in Mexico, rather than exploit it's people, now that would be something.

Solutions? Corporate America could be forced into solving their own internal struggles by being competitive. Help from the feds could come in the form of taxes placed on imported goods at the discount store or auto showroom where they are sold. EPA restrictions placed on factories, wherever they are built, would likely be enough to cause the big three to reconsider their options for manufacturing facilities. They pollute freely in Mexico with toxic substances and wastes. Any one of these plants would be shut down if the EPA had jurisdiction.

Mostly Ford, GM and Chrysler need to get rid of the slow-minded idiots who currently make millions of dollars running them into the ground. Wal-Mart now has the power to help American business and could be a true hero within our economy by seeking out and supporting small businesses that manufacture things like kitchen knives. Their efforts to utilize natural lighting is commendable in terms of reducing energy waste. I'd like to see them become more of a leader for home-spun small business.

On the whole, we Americans need to be more demanding of commerce and stop being fooled into supporting the corporate arrogance that has a stranglehold on our lives. We should not stop what we started with record voter turnout. Our leaders need to know that we are holding them accountable. This is a simple process that we have become too lazy to do. In the age of instant communication, e-mailing a representative or congressman with concerns is easy, yet it isn't being done nearly enough. The media and politicians have convinced many Americans that they have no voice. This is an illusion they hope you'll buy into. I personally think we are smarter than that.

Final message: pay attention to the origins of the goods you buy. What you see may make you mad. Keep in mind that China, Taiwan and South Korea, (to name a few) are communist states. If you support communism financially, you don't support the freedom that allows you the choice, therefore eventually won't have the choice of freedom.

What is going on?

I've become quite concerned about the direction this country is going. The so called "american dream" has been lost and replaced with something undefinable. This has driven me to start this blog page, hoping to find that I am not the only one fed up with corporate greed, party politics in Washington D.C., and the effects of unfair obstructions our society places on it's citizens.

Let me first say that I am a registered independent, only because I have lost faith in both organized political parties to serve the public (individuals rather than groups). It's not difficult to remain neutral politically when so much of the country has been polarized. I think it's fair to say that politics has become a vehicle on which those who wish to profit ride. As long as the two parties can use the typical retoric against one another, the elitists in our society are free to run amuck, enslaving us to maintain their way of life for them. They use their money to influence our leaders decisions and reduce the common efforts of society to temporary personal wealth for themselves. The most recent evidence of this is the recent upheavals in Wall St. Personally, I'm glad the efforts of the Bush Administration to eliminate Social Security failed.

I digress. I'll try not to make a habit of it. As I age, I become more aware of how events amongst people are interconnected. This makes it difficult to separate one subject from another. I also don't want this blog to become too much of a political one. It's clear we have problems which involve our political system. I have ideas for cures, but that is yet another post (or two). The best news is that people showed up for the 2008 election. It gives me new hope. We also heard some real issues during presidential debates, which was refreshing. Ever notice how far behind the times Washington is? Anyone who grew up during the 1970s knows that our ecology is in trouble. It is also this group that will remember that the oil companies did not create excuses for their prices during the "oil crisis". They also didn't post record profits during that time. Maybe the country had not been stupified enough to believe it- or perhaps it was that sector of the population that had not yet evolved into the perfect machine of deception that it has become.

If these topics are of interest, I hope you'll post a comment or opinion. I'm still building this blog and while I am venting my frustration, I also hope to find answers to my concerns. It would also be nice to know that I'm not alone in my thinking.