It all started with a tweet from an SMU student to ABC news asking for help finding Made in America products for her dorm room. It seems that the college catalog for dorm shopping had NO products that were made in America. So the search began.
Diane Sawyer reported some amazing figures. If colleges and universities had Made in America products in the catalogs they provide the nearly 3 million new students entering college this year, a half million jobs would be created. $46 Billion dollars are spent each year to outfit new rooms. Over 800 colleges use this catalog and all the schools got money back for distributing the catalogs to incoming freshmen.
Will the colleges switch? Probably only if students and taxpayers insist! Why are we peddling foreign made products?
Good job ABC News for ferreting out this glaring problem. Good for SMU for agreeing to change. No one had asked. Therefore, no one knew.
So how long before some bleeding hearts start lamenting the loss of jobs by poor foreign workers who were making the products that we are no longer buying?
You sure know how to stare a story down, SA. I was sort of thinking that we should be encouraging our alma maters to do the right thing and insist that American products be offered to students.
One of the things about buying made in America is of course 1. finding it. 2. Knowing who to gripe to
That smart kid at SMU who contacted ABC really started the ball rolling and she should be proud of herself. How many of us would like to buy American but don’t know where to start? The media could do a great deal to help out this situation. If ABC is successful, a half million new jobs could be created.
SA, as for those outside America, tough crap for them. I have 2 favorite turquoise designers. 1 does all production in the USA. The other does not. I find myself always deferring to the USA one. And she is no more expensive!
I was talking to my dad the other day….and I was opining that there are still some things that are made in America and can’t be reproduced anywhere else. A couple of things leap to mind. Bill’s Khakis (the worst example), and Crucible Powdered Metal (one of the best examples). CPM is at the cutting edge of steel technology, and I’ve recently heard of a few examples of situations where projects had to rely on American technology in Steel to get a job done because it could not be reproduced anywhere else. “Made in America” is just taking on a new meaning….and I think we’d be smart as a nation to use it to our advantage.
Why can’t they be produced elsewhere?
Most of the people in this country use to be Made in America, but then.
My son, who is only 9, is thrilled when he finds something made in america!
SA, hahahahahaha.
I tell people all the time I was MADE IN AMERICA…from foreign parts. 😉
It’s nice if something is made in America and I’m obviously pro-America. But, if the product costs more than their competitor I know which product I’m buying.
@Moon-howler
Well, I suppose Bill’s Khakis could be produced anywhere (that’s why I said bad example), but for some reason, when it comes to pure quality, there are some concerns in America that still maintain a certain edge over imported products.
Now steel is another thing. And I’m just using this as one example. From what I gather, there are engineering aspects to the mixture of elements within the steel that we do better than our foreign competitors. It’s not pure steel, but look at the mine collapse incident in Chile recently. There are still times when folks have to come here and nowhere else to get the right technology. So I guess I’m trying to say that when it comes to common and mass-produced, then my impression is that we in America are screwed. However, when you get to the cutting edge, we still have some competitive advantages. And it is precisely in this competitive edge that I think we need to focus. And yes, this goes to “what we should have done a long time ago”, but I’ve said a hundred times, we are fighting new economy fights with old-economy weapons. I’m not that pessimistic, but I do believe very strongly that we will continue to see a huge gap between those that can innovate and engineer and those who cannot. And don’t even get me started on life sciences and how I think we should be focusing in that area.
To try to bring it back to the topic of this thread….I’m not sure how much luck these folks are going to have finding “Made in America” items that one would normally find in the dorm room. I think that ship has sailed.
Suddenly I thought of weapons. My S&W M&P15 MOE is made in America, if I recall correctly. My favorite handgun, the Kahr T9 is, I believe, made in America. My Busse Killa Zilla is made in America. But my other guns are Croat (XDM), and Czech (CZ). We can still produce a weapon, huh?
Weapons and ammo never go out of style and never out of use – ANYwhere.
Rugers are built like tanks (usually). I had a thought. What if we manufactured drugs (weed, etc) and exported like mad…..to China. That gets the money flowing in the right direction, and gives China a nice degeneration problem…..hmmm. Who says we can’t make anything in America?
Last I checked, our lack of borders was allowing Mexicans to use southern CA as a pot-growing farm, taking it back to Mexico to sell. We should take that over, enforce the border, and sell it to them. I gots lots o’ ideas!!
@pokie
Why on earth would they take the pot back to Mexico to sell? I thought the drug market was here.
I swear by BLACKHAWK! holsters. Thinking about getting a L3 retention holster because I sometimes find myself distracted by the babies and when OC that puts me at a disadvantage. The L3 should give me more time if someone tries a grab.
IIRC BLACKHAWK! are all made in the USA. 🙂
Mrs. Wolverine has always reminded me that our son is an import because he was NOT made in America. I think he is a product of Scotland; but, then, when you get to be my age, the whole thing starts to blur a bit.
As for Marinm, if he ever needs to go the hospital for repairs, do we have to look for one which specializes in foreign makes and models?
All this reminds me of a Ford Aerostar I once owned years ago. The transmission went out on us. I was kind of stretched at work, and Mrs. Wolverine handled the repair details. She is a inveterate searcher for products made in America, and she spent a bunch of time griping to the mechanic about how disappointed she was with Ford over this problem. The mechanic laughed and said: “Don’t fret, lady. This transmission was made in France.” Mrs. Wolverine was livid. She acted like she had been flimflammed.