Made in America
By Shawn Dell Joyce
Recently, ABC News asked commuters at Grand Central Terminal to remove items of clothing they were wearing that were made in China. Many of the commuters realized that they would soon be standing naked since more than 98 percent of all clothing sold in the U.S. is from China. It is difficult to buy anything that is not made in China today, since the U.S. imports almost half its consumer goods from that one country. Yet we Americans pay dearly in social costs for those cheap imports. We have lost most of our manufacturing jobs, and local industries to overseas exporters, mainly China.
ABC is launching a new show that examines goods made in America, and just how pervasive Chinese imports are in our country. They took a typical American home and removed everything that was made in China: food, rugs, furniture, linens, etc. The family was soon left with a house emptied of everything but the kitchen sink and a few other fixtures that were the only U.S. manufactured goods.
The flood of imported goods from China has nearly tripled since 1997. During that time, China quietly surpassed the United States as the world’s top polluter. China has no real environmental safeguards in place to protect drinking water from contaminants, no labor laws to keep children out of sweatshops, no legal ethics to keep entrepreneurs from producing dangerous products.
Most of these products wind up on U.S. store shelves without much testing for safety, leading to massive recalls. More than 60 percent of the recalls issued this year and 79 percent of toys recalled last year by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission were from China. But those products were just a tiny drop in the flood of 17 million shipments of everything from Chinese organic produce to medicines to housewares to toys.
These inferior and often dangerous goods supplant locally made goods on store shelves because they are often cheaper than American made goods. What few consumers realize is that the costs we don’t pay for at the cash register must be paid for by our community and country through the loss of local industry, jobs, and economic impact.
When we opt for a cheaper import, our dollars flow out of our community and fund a system that degrades people and the planet. Our small businesses suffer, manufacturing jobs leave, and we find ourselves with boarded-up storefronts in our downtowns. This economic exodus further devalues our currency and increases the demand for “cheap.” It’s a vicious cycle, and one that we must end if we want to see real economic stimulus.
ABC’s “Made in America” is issuing a challenge to become aware of all the Chinese goods in your home, shopping cart, and on your body. ABC points out that if every American spent an extra $3.33 on U.S.-made goods, it would create almost 10,000 new jobs in this country. Make it a point to read labels and spend a little more to guarantee America’s economic recovery.
“You cast a vote every time you open your wallet,” notes ABC News. What kind of future are you casting a vote for? A future where your children work for Chinese companies or one where America has local industry and jobs again?
