Regarding job layoffs in the U.S. Joe Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock (MADE IN JAPAN) for 6 a.m. While his coffeepot (MADE IN CHINA) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor (MADE IN HONG KONG). He put on a dress shirt (MADE IN SRI LANKA), designer jeans (MADE IN SING APORE) and tennis shoes (MADE IN KOREA). After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet (MADE IN INDIA) he sat down with his calculator (MADE IN MEXICO) to see how much he could spend today. After setting his watch (MADE IN TAIWAN) to the radio (MADE IN INDIA) he got in his car (MADE IN GERMANY) and continued his search for a good paying AMERICAN JOB. At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day, Joe decided to relax for a while. He put on his sandals (MADE IN BRAZIL) poured himself a glass of wine (MADE IN FRANCE) and turned on his TV (MADE IN INDONESIA), and then wondered why he can't find a good paying job in.....AMERICA.....

-- Sissy Sylvester-Barth (jerreleene@hotmail.com), May 02, 2001

Answers

How true, how true!! We all need to think about what we buy when we buy it. Are we really doing what's best for the American people or are we just buying what the commercials are telling us we need to buy.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), May 02, 2001.

did you hear about eh US Army going to wear black berrets now? ALl made in the phillipines

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), May 02, 2001.

The government has recinded their order for the Chinese berets. They are calling back all the ones that have been distributed. But it is not only clothes and appliances..it is also fruits and vegetables grown outside the US with pesticides that we have banned here. If people would go back to eating what is in season, it would be better for all. The farmer and the consumer.

-- cordy (ckaylegian@aol.com), May 02, 2001.

It is truly unfortunate that our way of life has become so dependant on finding cheap labor in other countries... Most of us couldn't AFFORD to buy 100% American made products anymore.

EVERYTHING we use has parts made in other countries, at least it seems that way - even so-called American made products. Just think about what Joe would be doing if he sat down to his computer instead of his calculator...

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), May 02, 2001.

As Sue pointed out, this country has priced itself out of competion. Check out the back of your computer. Odds are the closest to U.S. made will be "Assembled in USA with domestic and foreign manufactured components". I have found myself assembling equipment that was made up totally of foreign made components. These were used due to higher reliability than domestic made parts. This trend started over 30 years ago with the start of the technology boom ( remember the pong games and Atari game systems)but actually got its start right after WW2. An engineer at Bell Labs began studying variability and how to set control limits in the 1920s. Later W. Edwards Deming with Western Electric made advances to these studies for what came to be known as Statistical Process Control manufacturing management style. U.S. manufacturers while incorporating SPC to some extent did not embrace the theory as enthusiasticly as the Japanese did when Deming presented the concept to them in 1947. The U.S. didn't really begin utilizing the system until the recession in the 70s when it became neccessary to revamp the American manufacturing operations for increased competiveness. With the current economic conditions this country will see more changes in both our manufacturing and an increase in the agricultural production also. BISF is starting to be popular here, but has been used in foreign countries for quite some time.

-- Jay Blair in N. Al (jayblair678@yahoo.com), May 02, 2001.

Hey Jay,What is BSIF? Daryll

-- Daryll (twincrk@hotmail.com), May 02, 2001.

Meant BISF. Daryll

-- Daryll (twincrk@hotmail.com), May 02, 2001.

BISF is Bio Intensive Small Farming. Square Foot Gardening, hydroponics and sprouting are all examples of it. Some techniques claim to be able to provide for up to 30 people from 1 acre. Square Foot Gardening can produce the equivelent of a 1 acre traditional garden in an area of about 20 x 40 feet. Countryside had an article on BISF two or three issues ago.

-- Jay Blair in N. Al (jayblair678@yahoo.com), May 02, 2001.

As a Canadian I see much the same thing here with regard to imports. Many products that I used to buy were made in Canada or the USA and now they are mostly imported. We live in a world ruled by the large Corporations and not by Government or Community. But in many ways we are to blame for our fate. We are always buying the cheapest product not the best. A product made in Canada or the USA in my mind are both of equal quality and are produced under similar costs to the manufacturer as both of our countries enjoy a similar standard of living. If we continue to support cheap imports we are digging our own graves.

-- Gary in NS (ggiles@north.nsis.com), May 03, 2001.

So who's producing the cheap goods in the third world? The U.S. corporations. The profits come home to keep the stockholders happy and the jobs are overseas. No american workers would take jobs in the sweat shops that the corporations are happy to profit from. If you want to blame somebody, don't blame the consumer.

-- Dorothy in KS (dot@yellowbrick.com), May 03, 2001.

I would not venture as far as to "blame " anyone for what has come to pass. Events over the last eighty or so years have simply shown how the "brass rings " have been caught or missed. I see many here domestically taking jobs now at a much lower rate of pay than they were making 10 years ago and look at all of the folks here at the Forum trying to back away from the current economic twisters. I believe many folks, me included always thought our economically secure position would always be solid when actually it is everchanging and the changes are coming much faster with current communication modes that are available. No one is to blame, everyone is affected. A person can't be blamed for trying to save money, a corporation can't be blamed for trying to reduce costs and increase competivness and profits , raising the GNP of their country. Everyone will always make choices to best suit their own situation at the present speculating the future.

-- Jay Blair in N. Al (jayblair678@yahoo.com), May 03, 2001.

All Joe's worldly items don't add up to a sack of rat feces. They are junk items and you all know it. This crap "made in Japan, Germany" etc. doesn't impress me. I hear people touting their praise, but unfortunately most of those people have never put their effort into producing one damned thing in this country. Sure they may work at the phone company or Burger King, but I hardly call that manufacturing. Most wouldn't know the first thing about pride in their product. I don't mind telling you that there are plenty of people in this country that produce some awful fine things that can hold their own against any other on the planet with no overseas components whatsoever. Don't dispair we are still out there. You may have fallen prey to Japanese brainwashing, but we haven't. "You get what you pay for".

-- Glenn (gj_usa1@yahoo.com), May 09, 2001.

Who is Joe??? and what in the world does he have to do with my life???

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), May 09, 2001.

I think Sissy was trying to make a point with "Joe", and a good one, too. My comment is that we all have way too much stuff. Our ancestors didn't have closets stuffed with clothes, twenty pairs of shoes, three cars, a TV in every room, etc., etc., at least not unless they were very rich (I know they didn't have cars or TVs, but they had their equivalents in one form or another). Most things were made locally or by the family for their own use. Prices were quite high relative to average income, which is why people didn't fill up their homes with unnecessary junk, excess of everything, and so on. They had what they needed, and took care of it, and things had to be made to last because often one such purchase was all a person would make in his or her lifetime. So, if we want to make a commitment to "buy American" maybe that means we will buy one new pair of jeans each year instead of twelve? Or make our own dining table and chairs instead of plunking down three thousand dollars at the furniture store?!? You have to decide what you want, a house full of stuff, or a sound local economy. The same goes for sustainable local agriculture -- do you want to continue supporting large monocropping farms thousands of miles away, or do you want to spend a little more and buy from locally grown produce, in season, at the farmer's market? I realize that many of you are growing your own food anyway, which is great, but if you aren't, think about what I just said. Some of these little homesteaders, struggling along, could make it on their farms, if the local community supported them better. And in the long run, the local community would benefit, too, from having a reliable, healthy source of local food that wasn't vulnerable to the rising costs of transportation, let alone some strike or natural disaster that interrupted transportation. Enough soap box. I'm preaching to the choir anyway!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), May 09, 2001.

Thats interesting Kathleen, that scenario sounds not unlike what happened in Europe when the Romans pulled out!

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), May 09, 2001.