[Pages 166-170]
To complain
about our horrible U.S. economy and no jobs for American
workers is one thing. To blame it all on the greedy blood suckers is just
wrong! Since they have moved jobs off shore, built factories and facilities and
invested heavily in our ultimate demise . . . the mega-rich are making billions
from their cheap labor strategy. Buying from the mega-rich and the
multi-national corporations who provide services and manufacture in the U.S.
does funnel more money to the top, but far worse than that could ever be is
buying goods and services from their off shore operations! It’s like rewarding
them and the foreign nation for greed and taking American jobs. Far worse than purchasing
foreign made goods and services from U.S. companies sourcing off shore is
buying imported goods from foreign companies.
Going
forward in order to revive the American Dream — Americans on many occasions will
have very difficult buying decisions to make. Much like within the political
arena, our purchases will oftentimes have to be the lesser of two evils. Nothing
whatsoever could be more destructive to the American Dream than taking American
money off our imaginary American Monopoly board. Every time we spend one single
dollar off shore we’re sending even more jobs off shore and hurting our economy
because collectively all those dollars add up to billions.
No one in America has any right whatsoever to allow
their blood pressure to rise or complain about the mega-rich and the jobs they
are sending off shore when they themselves just returned from the store with
bags full of foreign sourced goods. Every time this critical issue is mentioned
within America, you get the exact same replies such
as: ‘it’s too expensive to buy American made products and services’ or ‘I can’t
find any American made products and services.’ For 99 percent of Americans both
statements are, quite frankly, just “a damn lie!” and every America knows it. The vast majority of
Americans have never paid the slightest bit attention to even attempting to buy
products and services from within the U.S.A. We act as if turning a product over
or around to see where it was made it just too much trouble or clicking on a
different website to find a U.S. source may wear out our mouse
finger.
We
Americans are consumers! We live to consume, we love to consume and we’re going
to keep consuming which is why, on average, we have less than $2000 put away
for retirement. The point is . . . we’re going to buy stuff or bust! We just
have to get that money out of our wallet.
From
personal experience, I have a friend who has no children and “financial freedom”
and every Saturday rain or shine she leaves in the morning, buys stuff all day
long and returns at dark with a car load of stuff. There is “stuff” under every
bed, “stuff” in corners, “stuff” in the attic, “stuff” in storage, “stuff” at
relatives’ houses and more “stuff” on the way. Most of the boxes and bags never
even get opened again, but from an economic perspective — she’s awesome! The
question is for what economy . . . because it’s not the American economy.
In 2009
Americans bought $374.9 B more goods and services off shore than we exported
and sold to other nations. As far as trade deficits go for America, 2009 was a very good year, largely
due to the Great Recession. It wasn’t because we actually got a brain, looked
at the label and source of the goods and services we buy, it was because we
actually curtailed our overall spending for a year.
Now the bad
news! In 2010, Americans exploded our trade deficit to a record $500+ B. We all
have to dumb as rocks to spend this kind of money off shore during the Great
Recession! Even if our economy was performing well, we’d be stupid to do it,
but off shore spending during the Great Recession is the dumbest, most mind
boggling activity in the history of America.
Much of it
is driven of course by the mega-rich and their media machine that go to great
lengths to make everything off shore look more exotic or appear cheaper than
American made products. “Euro styling” on the high-end grabs the affluent and cheap
on the low end lures all socio-economic strata. Let’s take cars, for instance,
anyone that has actually been to Europe knows a BMW and a Mercedes are nothing more than a European
Chevrolet. They line every street in Germany, up one side and down the other,
even Mercedes taxis are everywhere. There is nothing whatsoever “exotic” about
a Mercedes or any other European car. In American however, both brands along
with anything European is a must-have status symbol. They don’t make better
cars [at least not any longer] and all American’s are getting for the extra $20
K are shipping charges and a status symbol. That Mercedes emblem may as well be
a crosshairs in a rifle scope aimed at our American economy. Admittedly some
European brands as well as Japanese manufacture in America, but the profits go off shore.
On the low
end, it’s all about “cheap.” Cheap stuff that fills landfills and lots of stuff
we don’t even need. Asia
drives the biggest portion of our foreign trade deficit and it’s killing the
American Dream! We’ve gone so far down this dead-end road that in many cases no
American alternative exists on the shelf, so the next question is: do we really
need whatever it is? Quite often, the answer to that question is the same one
you give your child, which is ‘no, you don’t need it and no you can’t have it!’
It is of course naïve to think that some products, such as cheap clothing, will
ever be made in America again. Labor intensive cut-and-sew
functions would make shirts or pants a cost prohibitive purchase if they were
performed in the U.S. Some American made clothing does
still exist and buying whatever is left is critical to our economy — just like
purchasing anything else that says “made in America.”
You don’t
need a PhD in economics from Harvard to figure this one out. A small snap shot
tells the larger story: in 2010 just an 18 percent rise ($48 B) in our trade
deficit with China cost Americans between 512,000 and
566,000 jobs according to an EPI estimate. By that measure a $500 B overall
trade deficit = 5+ million American jobs. Admittedly this example is loose
math, since all our foreign trade deficit is not with China, but you get the idea.
The bottom
line is that we are sending millions of good American jobs off shore — no
matter how many excuses we may want to make to the contrary. The buck begins
and ends with each American consumer who collectively drive at least 70 percent
of our U.S. economy. We are killing the
American economy and we are the ones sending the majority of American jobs off
shore. It’s inconvenient and a little more expensive at times to buy “made in
the U.S.A.,” but we can’t blame this American
Dream killer solely on the mega-rich. This killer sits squarely in the lap of
every single American consumer.
Sorry, you
can’t buy a new Land Rover because they were just bought out by a company in India and you can’t have a new Volvo
because they were just bought out by a company in China. It’s called “conscience buying”
and a little voice has to get programmed into your head — every time you touch
a product or prepare to order a service — that little voice has to say: ‘is
this the best I can do for my local economy and America?’
The
ultimate point here is that money makes the world go round and money talks. It’s
sad that an American will walk into a voting booth, vote for millionaire A or
millionaire B and believe that has some economic benefit. Then leave the voting
booth, drive to Walmart and purchase their child the latest iPod made in China. Every vote counts, even if it’s
for the lesser of two evils, but the dollars sent to Apple for an iPhone
benefit Apple stockholders, China’s economy via manufacturing “jobs,” low wage
“jobs” at Apple retail stores and a sliver of white collar workers. As is
always the case, the media is quick to deify someone like Steve Jobs once they
have passed away and the throngs of Apple groupies are all too quick to go
along, but where is the reckoning for the outsourced slave labor camp Apple
runs in China know as Foxconn? The name on the door may say “Foxconn,” but the
biggest bite of money hammering out the production inside is from that red
apple logo on your latest toy. A place so horrible, with wages so low that
people are jumping to their deaths as Apple groupies “bop to the beat” of their
iPod and download the latest cool iPhone “app.” As we now worship the “dearly
departed” Steve “Jobs,” lest we not forget that he was about money first and
American jobs second, even though he accomplished much to be admired for during
his lifetime.
Although
extremely inconvenient for all the Apple groupies in America, the next time you turn on your
iPhone, just for a moment, remember that is was made in a Chinese slave labor camp
known as Foxconn. When you’re searching for the latest greatest cool “app,” see
if there is one called “American Jobs.”
Breakout Resource(s):
Life at China’s infamous iPhone
factory
Every
dollar spent in the right place makes a positive difference for America because collectively it adds up to
billions of dollars each year. When we buy a chocolate bar, we check the number
of calories for some reason, but with products and services we just grab? Buying
American whenever and wherever possible has to become a religion in America and we have to become devout going
forward. We as a people look at a label to check for calories when we already
know something is fattening, but to turn a product over to seek out its point
of origin is too much trouble? Instead we just grab! That has to change going
forward and many resources for addressing the trade deficit will be provided in
Part II: The Resistance. While you may not believe it, if we refuse to buy
foreign made goods and services, as well as accept functions such as call centers
off shore, American companies will have no choice but to produce those goods
and source those services with labor from within the U.S.A. Americans as a
whole do absolutely nothing whatsoever at present to force the issue
with our wallets. Money rules and we call all the shots with our wallets, but
only if we use the power in our hand.
In turn,
foreign companies doing business in the U.S. will also have no choice but to
produce goods and source services via American workers. Toyota and BMW, just to name two foreign
companies, already produce cars in the U.S. Apple iPhones and iPods sold in the
U.S. need to be made in the U.S. and it can happen in less than a
year. Just stop buying them and see how fast Apple starts creating jobs in
American instead of China. At a minimum Apple can at least manufacture
the ones sold in the U.S. within the U.S., but it won’t happen as long as you
support Chinese slave labor with your money.
Believe it
or not, because we still have the largest economy in the world, we’re still in
charge . . . not the corporations and the mega-rich sourcing off shore. In
order to rape us, we have to be willing to help them. In a few short months, we
can bring any company to its knees with the votes in our wallets called dollars
— no politician required. Not only can we force them to hire Americans, but we
can force them to pay a living wage as well. Presently, via our buying habits,
we’re our own worst enemy . . .
Breakout Resource(s):
AmericanMadeMatters.com
AmericansWorking.com
Still Made in USA
USAonly.US
MadeInAmericaStuff.com
MadeInUSAForever.com
MadeByYankees.net
Made in
the USA Foundation
BuyAmerican.com
