A Modest Proposal to Protect American Production

I was thinking about what the US government could do to protect further erosion of and improve American industry.  I dislike tariffs on some accounts because they are antagonistic, may violate WTO agreements, and may backfire against use with counter-tariffs.  I came up with what I think may be a better idea.

I recently read a blog post that Walmart in China boasts that it sources 95% of its goods sold in its Chinese stores locally.  Well isn’t that swell?  They should even boast to their Chinese buddies that they source 95% of their American stores’ products from China as well!  This got me thinking…  How about legislating a requirement for all retailers in the US that they carry a minimum percentage of inventory that is made in USA.  It could be phased in to give retailers and manufacturers time to adjust.  It would also be an immediate boost to American manufacturers.  We would see an immediate benefit to our economy.

I’m not sure what the right percentage is.  50%?  40%?  Would it be on total value of inventory or total number of items?  Should certain retailers be exempt (probably not).   I would take issue with anyone suggesting that stores that specialize in imported goods be exempt, such as Gucci.  Who cares about them anyway?  All they are is a trade deficit funnel!  I wouldn’t worry about that.  The details could be worked out and I don’t have the conceit that I know exactly what is best, but I do believe in the concept.  I’ve called both my senators about it already.

What do you all think?  Please weigh in!

Just Bought an American Car!

I just bought a Ford Focus SE ‘08.  It was used, had 25,000 miles on it and was listed on Yahoo Autos for $10000.  I researched in advance and found that the Focus is currently assembled in Michigan.  It was also a great value since it has a great sound system and has Sync which lets you use your car audio as a bluetooth phone, as well as controlling your ipod/iphone through the car’s controls.  So it’s pretty cool.

The other reason I got it was because I wanted to buy a car rather than finance it for a change.  When you finance a car, you pay lots of interest (unless you get 0% interest) to the bank.  The bank owns your car, not you, until you pay it off.  Leasing can be even worse.  It was a great feeling to just write a check and walk away with the car.  I think that this recession has taught us that we carry too much consumer debt.  It felt good to decrease mine.  Adam Smith says in Wealth of Nations, that the purpose of lines of credit is to provide merchants with ready money to answer occasional demands for payment.  Rather than keeping a part of their capital in cash, merchants can use the line of credit as a back-up to allow themselves to use all of their capital as circulating capital.  He goes on to say that banks should never finance the lion’s share of any project, as they will be left holding the bag by unscrupulous or incompetent financial adventurers.   Hmmm, sound familiar, doesn’t it?  But I digress…

I’ve been driving the car for a couple of weeks, and I’m quite pleased!

The Sofa Company Rocks! Made in USA Sofas and Sleepers.

We just ordered a sofa from the Sofa Company (thesofaco.com). They have several stores in the LA area and specialize in customizable sofas, made to order. I had shopped online first (on google shopping, with the keywords “made in usa sofa sleeper”) and the prices ranged from $600 on the low end to $1200 and up. However, except at the high end, there were few options. Shipping was also extra and could be quite pricey. We had bought a sofa from the Sofa Company several years ago and it had held up well, so we decided to check them out again.

They have a spacious showroom and the selection of styles, materials and dimensions was endless. We decided on a sofa sleeper pictured below.With the special blue-beige fabric, faux-down cushions, sleeper, extra pillows, tax, and delivery, it came to roughly $1450.  Considering the quality of construction, all-USA-made materials and construction, and the excellent styling, we were satisfied with the price.  Sure, you could get some Chinese-made couch for $500 and it will be made of worse materials, will possibly have toxic chemicals, will help the Chinese people but not ours, and we would have no recourse if there were a defect with it.  The couch comes with a 1 year warranty, but you can buy a lifetime one for only $29 more.  I’ll post an update when we get the couch delivered!

Made in USA Boxer Briefs

I wanted to buy new boxer briefs recently.  I had managed to buy American-made boxer briefs before from a company called Skiviez, at Skiviez.com.  I looked back there again this week but it appears that their boxer briefs are now imported.  They do still have plain briefs that are domestic, fortunately.  Most underwear manufacturing has shifted overseas – almost anywhere from Central America to the Middle East. Brands that you would think are made in USA, such as Jockey, Fruit of the Loom, and Hanes are all imported, as far as I can see from reading product labels.

I did manage to find some athletic boxer briefs that I liked from Patagonia.  These are the Patagonia Active Briefs.  Multiple websites verified that they are made in USA, so I am hopeful that the product will be true to billing when it arrives.  The link for where I bought them is here.

Update 1/3/10 – I received the briefs and boxers, and yes, they are made in usa!  Quality is good too.

Fiskars – Formerly Made in USA

I was looking to get lopping shears in order to prune my trees.  I am aware that many hardware products are made in China these days, although I thought that at least some are made in USA.   I knew that the Corona tools that I had seen in the local hardware store were all made in China, but I was online on hardwarestore.com and found a pair of Fiskars loppers which said “Made in USA” with big red white and blue lettering.  Oddly, the other Fiskars loppers on the website didn’t have that designation.  I called their customer service but the person, as usual, had no idea about country of origin for any of their equipment.

So I blithely ordered the Fiskars loppers.  And they came.  And of course…they’re MADE IN CHINA!  I have to say, I’m not completely surprised.  Even a big MADE IN USA on the website is no guarantee of truth.  The hallmarks of it being made in China were the fact that all the other Fiskars models were Chinese and that all the competitor products are also made in China.  Anyway, it was quite disappointing to see a long-respected company, like Fiskars, succumb to the outsourcing trend.  I remember Fiskars as being one of the holdouts against cheap-ass outsourcing and used to stand for quality.  I would not say so anymore.  There is no difference between Fiskars and any other made in China crap out there.

What will I do next?  Probably call hardwarestore.com and demand justice.  Stay tuned…

More American-Made Wood Toys

We just went to a Halloween festival at Underwood Family Farms in Ventura County. They had lots of Halloween events, such as pony rides, pig races, and a bluegrass band. There was also a handmade toy seller that impressed me. Below are photos of Arlen Handberg of “Grandpa’s Toys & Crafts.” The products are quite reasonably priced and very well-made. We bought my daughter a race car ($8) and a marble dispenser ($15). I think that’s even cheaper than Chinese toys made with lead paint. Actually, Arlen said that the government is trying to shut him down because of the controversy over lead paint in Chinese  toys. He doesn’t use any lead paint, but because of the Chinese, all American manufacturers of any size are being forced to test their toys. This kind of onerous regulation will put many small manufacturers like Arlen out of business.  Tell your representative!

In the meantime, if you would like to get something from Arlen, his email address is arlenh@dslextreme.com.

Arlen Handberg with his wood toys

Marble Tree $15

Wood Racecar $8

Building a Made in USA Addition

We’ve started building an addition to our house right now.  We’re adding a bedroom and 1.5 bathrooms to our very cramped house.  So, of course, we’re trying to get building materials and fixtures that are made in usa when possible.  Not as easy as you might think.  Below is our experience to date with the various items:

Lumber – no problem, it’s all domestic.

Bathtub – we got an acrylic Kohler tub, made in USA.  Acrylics are usually made in usa but the larger cast iron tubs are usually Chinese.   We really tried to get the fixtures for it from Moen or Delta or from Newport Brass, which are supposed to at least be assembled in USA.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the right configuration for what we needed, except from Cifial, which is made in Portugal.

Tile – we needed to match travertine to what we had now, and this is Mexican.  Most natural stone appears to be imported.  I don’t understand why.  We’re also getting ceramic tile, which is Datile and is made in USA.

Vanities – We tried extensively to get made in usa vanities and sink fixtures, but we just couldn’t pass up really modern complete vanity sets with sinks and faucets for a tiny fraction of what we would have paid for such things ($1600 vs. probably $7000).  These are made in China.  You can’t always buy Made in USA.  I’m willing to spend 30-50% more for Made in USA, or organic, or whatever, but not 400% more!

Toilets – we searched in vain for made in USA toilets.  The only ones I heard of were Elger, but they were nowhere near here.  Kohler and American Standard are made in Mexico!  Toto, a Japanese company, I’ve read, has some toilets made in Georgia (ironic, huh?) but we couldn’t find any such toilets where we shopped.  So we got pretty cheap imported toilets from Kohler.

Drywall – the contractor is buying this, but I checked with him and he said it’s made locally.

Lighting – same issue as the vanities.  We could have gotten American made lighting from Americanmadelighting.com for roughly 3-7 times the cost of the made in China lighting that we ordered.  I can’t afford that kind of difference right now.  So we spent about $250 instead of $1200.

Windows – we already have Magic Windows in our house, which are Canadian, so we bought additional ones from them.  They are unique in having a roller slide out screen.  I know of no such American-made windows

We have yet to do the roof, drywall, and electrical.  I know that the recessed lighting is all imported too.   So far, not a very fulfilling made in USA experience!

Update 11/29/09:

We’ve gotten our roof – the shingles are all made in USA   The drywall is American-made also.  The wire mesh for stucco and house wrap are also American.  We just ordered stone fascia from Coronado which is also made in Southern California.  So we’re doing ok so far.

Red White and Blue the New Green?

I frequently have discussions with friends and colleagues about buying American cars.  I of course think that it’s imperative that we buy cars made in USA (not just made by American companies in Mexico).  Although study after study by the likes of JD Power equate the quality of American and Japanese cars and rank them above European cars, people still tell me that they think that American cars are of lower quality and refuse to consider the contrary.

As self-hating and anti-American as such sentiments may be, I cannot always convince them of their wrongness.  The issue is that someone does not want to compromise an inch in their pursuit of a particular product.  So let’s make an analogy.  What would we think if someone absolutely insisted on a fur coat from an enadangered species, such as leopard, and absolutely refused to settle for something less prestigious (in their mind)?  We would say that they are gluttonous and immoral, right?  What if they found out that their favorite tennis shoe is exclusively produced by child labor in India?  We would say that buying such a product is also insupportable, right?   So my argument is that buying American should be the new ethical imperative in our purchasing.  When we spend thousands of our dollars on expensive products, we should cut slack for the American ones, just as we would if they were made in environmentally-sustainable ways or supported fair trade for local farmers, etc.  I’m willing to go the extra mile just to buy American and will search around for the American-made version of something.  Will you?

Even I Got Burned By a Fake “Made in USA” Product

We were looking for a tricycle for my preschooler this month.  She was riding the ones in preschool and was really enjoying it, so we started to look online.  Naturally, I wanted to find one that was made in USA.  There were lots and lots that were made in China, so I skimmed over those.  I found one on Overstock.com (unbelievable, right?) for only $78.  It said, in big bold red white and blue letters, “Made in USA.”  (see the screenshot below, which is still up at the time of this posting).So we ordered it and it came in about a week.  And guess what ??  It said “Made in China” in big bold letters all over it!  I was so pissed!  On the other hand, I may be a made in usa die-hard, but there are limits to how much stress I’ll go through for that.  My daughter already saw it and was anxious to ride it.  So I said, “what the hell” and decided to put it together anyway.  It seemed a little cheap, but I figured it should at least work.  Nope.  It broke down in 1 afternoon.  I called up Overstock and they did authorize a full refund and gave me a free shipping return coupon.  I told them about the misinformation about the product on the web page, but so far, nothing has happened.  We also put up a nasty review on the product.

It’s really unfortunate that even when you’re trying to buy American, and the product even says that it’s made in USA, you can still get burned.  All we can do is be vigilant and hold retailers to account for the veracity of their made in USA claims.

Made In USA Breast Feeding Covers

Buying Made in the USA products is now a family affair…so when I found something I liked my husband encouraged me to post it on his blog here.  So here I go!

Having a new baby, I am always interested in baby products that make my life easier.  I recently saw my friend Kei’s breast feeding cover and asked her where she purchased it.  She told me that it is Made in the USA  (our friends know that we like that) and that she purchased it locally on www.jennofalltrades.com. This website features beautiful, well designed breast feeding covers, hand made by owner Jennifer Garland. Jennifer’s breast feeding cover is also half the price of similarly designed, imported covers.  Who wouldn’t want  a to support a local business and get a great deal at the same time? I emailed Jennifer and praised her for her work.  Best of luck to you Jennifer and all the other entrepreneurs out there creating quality, Made in the USA products!