We were walking down Colorado Boulevard in the Old Town sectionof Pasadena, California after lunch at a Cheesecake Factory restaurant. That ended our search for interesting craft stores. My wife is an avid crafter. As I read the signs on each store there was one titled “American Apparel.” Wow! I back tracked to the store and pulled my wife into a women’s clothing store where the clerk informed us that indeed everything sold is American made. How novel!
The Cheesecake Factory is on this corner in 2010. The front of the building has not changes.
More of such stores ought to do well except what will it cost the consumer? Apparently too much. The last light bulb manufacturing company left the United States three months ago. Maytag and Whirlpool washing machines aren’t made here either. The New York Post on line posted Not made in the USA on today’s web site edition. The essence of the article is “outsourcing, in this recession, has highlighted America’s most intractable problem: the permanent loss of blue collar jobs.”
It’s not news. We all know that most of the things we buy, with the exception of food, is made in another country. The outsourcing has become so common that even the Los Angeles Times provides customer service from the Philippines.
What will happen to all those people laid off from factories and service companies? If they lack a college education they will either find something to do that can’t be outsourced or they will become part of a new class of poor people in America. The unemployment rate for college educated people, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is 5%.
Coast Contact 