As I walk through the stores this holiday season there is one consistent fact. Most of the merchandise was made in another country (not the United States). Even clothing sold in high end stores was manufactured in another country. My Dell desktop computer was made in China and my Dell laptop was made in Malaysia. Tech service on those computers is provided in Bangalore, India.
Does patriotism trump our pocket books? There is an article on the Los Angeles Times November 29 front page about the new Kia plant being built in West Point, Georgia. The paper quotes one lady there that buying American, “is still a big deal. But you can only be patriotic until you can’t afford it anymore.”
Manufacturing continues to decline in the United States. This contention is supported by the fact that union membership has fallen by 50% in the past 40 years. In September 2001 the Commissioner of Bureau of Labor Statistics, Katharine G. Abraham presented a paper with the dismal fact that “Manufacturing employment fell by 141,000 in August” of 2001. Manufacturing has continued its decline to the present.
America’s largest corporations have continued to thrive and grow larger during the past 20 years as manufacturing employment has declined. This situation is the result of the export of American manufacturing and jobs to lower cost nations. With a new Democratic Party administration in the White House and strong Democrat presence in Congress this circumstance could change. The problem is the lobbyists employed by big business.
Congress may not be able to resist the temptations of the lobbyists but can always pass laws that induce employment in the United States. That can be accomplished through tax incentives. Lobbyists and corporations love incentives. Now the public must demand that Congress do its job.
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