Made in the USA
And yet, I have some good news for you. We still manufacture in America. Some of the goods we still make won’t surprise you: airplanes, for example. Heck, we invented the airplane. America is still a major manufacturer of firearms, since we are one of a handful of countries that has relatively few restrictions on ordinary people owning guns.
You won’t be surprised that some very heavy, relatively inexpensive items are still made here. The cost of transporting a washing machine, or a rolling warehouse ladder, halfway around the world is substantial. The home team (no matter where you are) has a clear advantage on this.
What surprises me is the goods that we still make that you might not expect. Some of it is highly precise, carefully handcrafted goods — products that you might expect could only be made in Asia. For example, Astro-Physics in Machesney Park, Illinois, is one of the world’s top makers of very high-end astronomical telescopes. If you want one, you’ll need a pile of money and patience, because the waiting list for their products is usually several years long. Televue, in Chester, New York, isn’t in quite the same league as Astro-Physics (mere mortals can afford one), but like Astro-Physics, they enjoy an international reputation for the fine quality and technical innovation of their telescopes — and you’ll find customers buying Televue’s telescopes throughout the world.
I have a little sideline business, building telescope accessories. With the exception of one German-made component used in one model line, and some of the screws, the products that I machine and sell are entirely made in the U.S. I did not originally expect to sell these products outside the United States — well, maybe a few in Canada. But it has been a source of considerable surprise and pride that perhaps 25% of my orders come from outside the U.S.: New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Britain, Spain, Hungary, and Italy (so far).
America still makes some astonishingly low-tech products. I get some quite astonishing wind during rainstorms, and water starts to flow under the garage doors. I found some rubber garage door thresholds in the Harbor Freight Tools catalog that were inexpensive and seemed like they would prevent this. I assumed, because Harbor Freight Tools is overwhelmingly a seller of Chinese-made goods, that these were Chinese as well. What a shocker! When I opened the box: “Made in USA.” What is the world coming to when Harbor Freight Tools sells reasonably priced American-made goods?
Even more startling: I went into Target recently to buy socks. As you might expect, many of the socks were made in China and some in other Asian countries. But several of the packages indicated “Made in USA.” And they were $7.99, compared to $5.99 for the Chinese made socks. So far, they are turning out to be more durable than the imported socks. A reader of my blog told a similarly shocking tale of going to Wal-Mart, where the house brand Ozark Trail sleeping bag was made in the USA and was $4 cheaper than the Chinese-made Coleman brand. The Ozark Trail bag was obviously better made.
Post-industrial America? Not hardly.
Sorry, but I for one don’t appreciate attempts to put smiley faces on disturbingly negative trends.
The author also fails to consider how many of those low tech ‘Made in USA’ products are produced by illegal alien labor. I’d be interested to know the answer.
There’s nothing to celebrate here.
Who are we going to believe, Clayton E. Cramer or our own lyin’ eyes?
Over the last ten years, every single factory in my county has closed down. Dupont, Ecusta, American Coats, Schneider, and many others too numerous to count.
And when was a nuclear power plant last built in America? Eighty-six, wasn’t it? How about a petroleum refinery? Seventy-four, wasn’t it?
I’m sorry, Mr. Cramer, but you need to get out of your office a little more.
Hey “RE:”,
I think there is plenty to celebrate too. Illegal alien labor may be a problem, but let’s not throw water on all American companies that make good products and hire legal workers just because there are bad apples in certain sectors.
Companies that want to compete in the realm of “cheap” may produce goods in China, or they might hire illegals, but if their mindset is in lowering costs to make a profit, then it will show in the quality of the product and in the service they provide. Cheap probably permeates all aspects of their business. Call their customer service line. Is it going to India? Can they answer the questions? If not, then I’d bet that they the design and manufacture of the product has many corners cut as well to keep prices down.
Companies in America (And some foreign as well) that focus on value usually focus on quality throughout their organizations including the design and manufacture of the product, in the people that they hire, in their customer service.
The catch: It probably costs more (at least up front).
One of my favorite rules as a consumer is “Buy Cheap, Buy Twice”.
I’d much rather pay a premium for a product that I won’t have to buy again. Made in China at $100? Or Made in the USA for $150? If the quality is there in the USA one, I’ll pay the premium, because if the more expensive one lasts me twice as long, I come out ahead. In many cases, quality last far longer than just twice as long. I’ll be handing down many of my purchases to my kids. Or when I’m done with the item, I can sell it eBay to an eager buyer who will know he’s getting a deal on a used item which is still better than a cheap, foreign made used one.
I’m no protectionist, but consumers need to get out of thinking that price is the only thing that matters when choosing products.
‘Made in USA’ can mean Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, etc. It also indicates the last place of assembly, not where the parts came from.
Manufacturing is what propelled the US middle class after WW2 . It is the main sector responsible for allowing a family purchase a home, pay for higher education, etc. Losing this engine in the last few decades is just starting to make its effects known…it will get much worse.
The USA cannot exist as a service based economy, Tax revenue cannot be generated at a rate high enough to fund the Nation.
There are quite a few excellent American-made products. What makes the that way? Quality control, good design, a search for excellence, good mfg practices, cost control, great raw materials, qualified work force, good salaries & benefits, smart distribution and good customer service.
I never thought that higher prices was an obstacle when you obtain high satisfaction.
And the produce! Wow!
“how many of those low tech ‘Made in USA’ products are produced by illegal alien labor. I’d be interested to know the answer.”
doesn’t really sound like you would want to know. We wouldn’t want to be encouraged, would we.
In terms of a product built on a national scale, I really doubt illegals contribute that much… chicken plucking, or unskilled labor, here and there, sure.
If we can hack away some of the rain forest of legislation strangling our business sector, we may see more growth.
The important thing to remember is to never give up. Work together to fix the problems,starting by voting out the Liberals in our government.
3. Mark:
Just to be clear, I’m huge supporter of American business, small business in particular.
I’m just enraged at the war being waged against it and all of us who take risks to make it happen. I’m very resistant to anyone telling me ‘It’s OK’. It’s not. It gets more difficult every day and it seems to be by design.
Within a week of the passage of NAFTA, the manufacturing company I worked for laid off everyone (right before Thanksgiving), packed up the machines and moved to Mexico. I’ve lost count of the machine shops I’ve worked for that have gone out of business since then.
We, as a country, could still have a robust manufacturing sector, but that would require that politicians actually listened to and had an interest in the will of the people.
Some of these editorials are getting as monotonous with their “Blame the Unions” as the leftists are with their “Blame Bush”.
It seems to me much of the mess we are in today has more to do with GREED ON WALL STREET than workers on MAIN STREET deserving/demanding a decent wage for their labor so they can raise their families with some semblance of dignity. You know, a decent house, a couple of cars that run, a good education, a safe neighborhood, and a unbroken body by the time they retire.
What in the HELL is wrong with that? I’m supposed to feel bad for companies because they left so they could pay ‘slave labor wages’ in a foreign country, or pollute their river so people get sick from drinking the water.
China is better because their government is willing to treat their people like garbage? You go Walmart!
People aren’t buying it because people know the price that someone has to pay to manufacture that piece of junk. Faster, Faster! Quick! Hurry! Don’t give them time to think!
It’s not working. The obsession with the bottom line is taking us to the bottom. There has to be some reason to profit, it can’t be totally for the sake of money. That is not what we are made of, it has to be mixed with common sense and we can’t survive if we totally lose our self-sufficiency to the so-called ‘global economy’.
If the United States falls apart it will not be because it’s people make a decent living for their work. And people wonder how Obama got in office. Wall Street elected him and greed stood him up on the podium. People only look for a messiah when they want to be saved. Well we got him. Now what? because he is going to be more than happy to tell us what we need and the leftist Democrats will follow merrily along.
Give Americans the jobs at a decent wage, give them the material to make it, and they come through every time. Stop short selling us.
And I am not the only one noticing that as the stock market creeps up the unemployment number go up to. Some of us notice that for some companies the ‘human resource’ is dispensable.
Sorry, Anonymous post #9 was mine.
9. Anonymous:
I hear you. I hear you. These are not easy times. I quit the corporate world to pursue my happiness and success on my own, and it’s not easy going.
I still need to read that massive Ayn Rand book that’s sitting in my reading pile and I need to figure out how to best go Galt until this sh*tstorm passes. Knock on wood that it will.
Conservatives can regain the house in 2010 and Obama out two years later. Hope and Change ahead.
Fender, Gibson, Martin… check, check, check. Still the best.
I’ve traded in Chinese made goods for about 20 years.
Two things that to be honest stunned me.
First when I see the toothpicks for sale in the U.S are made in China. Good Lord. Toothpicks! That’s when I realized the weakness of U.S manufacturing.
And a couple of years ago I bough a pair of jeans in China for about $10 bucks. Good quality and like the jeans. In looking at the label I see they were “Made in Mexico”.
We’ll never get our manufacturing base returning absent massive reform of EPA, OSHA, labor laws and the ADA, andtheir state counterparts. The four constitute a “perfect storm” of regulations that makes it impossible for the little guy manufacturer to stay in business. I know, I’ve watched three businesses die in the last year because the owners got slammed with various penalties resulting from bureaucrats trying to justify their makework jobs over nonsense “violations” of turgid regulations that are doing nothing but making it impossible for anyone to beat margins coming in from overseas. I wish Mr. Cramer luck in his telescope part manufacturing. Wait until he gets to the point of hiring someone else. He can kiss profits good-bye…
If you have ever read about the Consumer Product Safety Commission regulations then you would know that they have made it almost impossible to even start a new business in the U.S. You have to already be in big business to afford to survive. My wife has been trying to start her own business, but each time it comes down to an inability to test the products without a huge cash burden.
DeeG: Bingo!
Lynn, I think you are missing the point. The combination of greedy union thugs and what Dee noted, and the trial lawyers/law suits have made it impossible to run a profitable business. Who’s greed ruined GM and Dodge? And remember a business must be profitable to run and employ workers.
The confluence of what Dee said and law suits caused the out flow of businesses, which BackwardsBoy noted. Lynn, what did you expect a business owner to do? Go bankrupt?
I see it as the purposeful destruction of our economy in order to start a “new” economy based on statis’ ideals. This destruction has been going on for three decades and has not reached it ultimate goal. We have become a service nation; 70% of our GDP is service and in contradiction to what the author said, I believe only about 20% of our GDP is production based(10% is high finance).
Again this was on purpose. The Left had to destroy our industrial machine in order to institute their government and economy. And the easiest way to do it is through regulation, law suits and bureaucracy.
Keep telling yourself that.
You don’t get how this adversarial system is supposed to work. The @$$holes on Wall street are SUPPOSED to be greedy. The unions are SUPPOSED to look out for their own. That means pushing for more pay when and only when the business is strong enough to support it. That also means accepting responsibility for productivity, and not creating work rule books the size of phone books.
That also means not supporting Democrats who support environmental cultism. It also means not being so stupid as to fall for this “green jobs” scam.
Sorry, but organized labor did most of the digging of the graves of the jobs that they no longer represent. Blaming Wall street for “greed” is like blaming bears for crapping in the woods. It’s what they do. Get over it, and deal with your own house.
A few anecdotes does not make a compelling case. 99.9% of everything that WalMart and Harbor Freight sells is made in China. Most of the stuff the high-tech company I work for is made in Asia, including China. If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it probably is a duck.
So wall street can crap wherever it wants, and the workers are supposed to be “balanced”.
Yea OK.
Bears crap in the woods and they also eat from garbage dumps. It wasn’t the Unions that caused the ‘Bear’ market, it was the market.
Oh My!
Bears also eat their own young.
Too bad Wall Street didn’t ‘deal with their own house’, now they have the government breathing down their necks, it’s no wonder their looking for someone else to blame. It’s the American workers! Their greedy! There not supposed to be greedy! We are!
Jettboy:
“If you have ever read about the Consumer Product Safety Commission regulations then you would know that they have made it almost impossible to even start a new business in the U.S. You have to already be in big business to afford to survive. My wife has been trying to start her own business, but each time it comes down to an inability to test the products without a huge cash burden.”
I’m aware. It ain’t easy. Been there done that.
Jettboy:
“If you have ever read about the Consumer Product Safety Commission regulations then you would know that they have made it almost impossible to even start a new business in the U.S. You have to already be in big business to afford to survive. My wife has been trying to start her own business, but each time it comes down to an inability to test the products without a huge cash burden.”
I’m aware. It ain’t easy. Been there done that.
BTW I love your blog!
Ok, Einstein, and just exactly how different would it be for the American factory worker if capital didn’t pursue profit? Hint: the Russians tried that. It wasn’t pretty. I saw that first hand. And please don’t bore me with how wonderful Europe is, because it isn’t. I’ve seen what that looks like up close and personal, too.
The point is that greed breeds destruction. If you try to make more money than your productivity justifies or if you hyper-leverage yourself to try to turn fast profits, you will make money in the short term. However, you will eventually have to pay the piper, and it will cost you more than what you were able to profit in the meantime.
Complaints about “illegal” are getting ever thinner sympathy as time goes on. Union goons drive ever more jobs off shore and put the ever less competent personnel in the Congress.
“Illegal labor” is intended to be a racist code word for illegal aliens by liberals but long ago white native American realized that they were the targets of organized labor. That the intent of organized labor in this country was the same as it was in Europe. To prevent anyone not paying dues to the labor guild from working!
Child labor and safety regulations were turned into cudgels to beat small businesses out of existence in there first twenty years. I know of a family who assembled and packaged fishing lures in their basement for over a decade to send two of the kids through college, start a business for the middle kid and put some money aside for retirement. All of that was “illegal labor.” All of the big electronics firms that started out in some ones garage would have been illegal in the last twenty years.
Unfortunately, the next generic drugs will be made in China. The administration of Hope-and-Change has just signed an agreement with the Chinese helping them and guaranteeing their safety standards and they will sell us the “cheap” generics. It’s a $300+ billions business that we have given away.
Yeah, we may make a couple of high quality socks, but the Chinese are going to make high margin pharmaceuticals.
Red Oxx, in Billings, MT, makes really rugged luggage and bags. It’s pricey in comparison to foreign-made goods with similar function, but it’s high quality and I’m happy with what I’ve purchased. Chaco sandals used to be made in Colorado, which is what made me buy them over Tevas, made in China/Indonesia/etc. Unfortunately, that’s no longer true.
Many are currently made in Israel. Teva pharma is the largest native corporation in the country. Next time you buy some generic Priloesc, for example, look on the box where it’s made. But at least they’re a friendly country (despite Obama’s best efforts to wee-wee all over them).
The US isn’t competitive, and all of this donkeynip is only going to make it worse.
Amen Blarty (14) And we used all of them to create some of the best American made Conservative Country/Rock out there. Go to “goodguysusa.com” and see for yourselves. Spread the word-
I live in Canada. We saw industry in this country move to the US, then Mexico, only to finally settle in China. Canadian industry has travelled far more than I ever will. Of course this isn’t a vacation, industry is never coming back.
I do have two examples of American dominance in industry. One is a bit more serious than the other.
The US is currently producing the best electric motorcycles in the world. These are highway capeable vehicles that are a bit more pricy than their gasoline driven brothers, but in terms of speed, reliability, and cost per mile, American electric motorcycles are the best in the world and compare favourably with the internal combustion version.
Of course there is still one industry where America is dominant. America produces more pornography than Britain, Russia, and Japan combined. Google porn and you will find far more than 65,000 hits. The workers in this industry are usually very well paid in spite of lack of a union. A true American success story.
A lot more could be produced here if taxes were not so high. And if you didn’t have so damn many laws against everything. I heard of a kid getting a fine because she failed to get a temporary permit from her city. If we pass one more law it should be a law that makes it illegal to pas a law without first eliminating a law.
Oh I forgot to mention she got the fine because she did not have the temporary permit for her lemonade stand. She was eight years old.
What we should be producing is OIL, as this nation has more then 10 times what Saudi Arabia has, not including what we could also drill for.
“The workers in this industry are usually very well paid in spite of lack of a union.”
The picture may not be all that rosy. According to what I’ve heard, workers in that industry are constantly getting screwed.
Our elect made the decisions that led to the
educators to force feed the propaganda to our
citizens that world trade, the global economy
and an end to American industry was inevitable-
don’t resist it! Our own leaders MIS-lead us;
sold out our long term survival for short term wealth. Our elite do not comprehend that their
survival is dependent on our survival. We must
unite and instill in our elected servants that
we can be a harsh master!
“Within a week of the passage of NAFTA, the manufacturing company I worked for laid off everyone (right before Thanksgiving), packed up the machines and moved to Mexico. I’ve lost count of the machine shops I’ve worked for that have gone out of business since then.”
I’m skeptical that any company would move that rapidly in response to NAFTA. There’s no question that a lot of machine tools have gone to China over the last 15 years, and a lot manufacturing associated with those machine tools followed them. But that’s not because of NAFTA.
“Some of these editorials are getting as monotonous with their “Blame the Unions” as the leftists are with their “Blame Bush”.”
Huh? I wasn’t blaming the unions. They are a factor in loss of jobs, but hardly the major one. They are more likely to explain loss of jobs within the U.S.
“A few anecdotes does not make a compelling case. 99.9% of everything that WalMart and Harbor Freight sells is made in China.”
There are other vendors besides WalMart and Harbor Freight, you know. I needed to buy a bunch of dies recently to thread shafts. To my pleasure, all made in the USA.
“Our elect made the decisions that led to the educators to force feed the propaganda to our citizens that world trade, the global economy and an end to American industry was inevitable-don’t resist it!”
World trade and a global economy is hardly synonymous with “an end to American industry.” There are a lot of things we do well in America in spite of world trade and a global economy, and where we can compete quite effectively, largely on quality, rather than price. China’s unfair advantage is largely because of manipulation of the value of the yuan.
My wife and I recently purchased a new clothes dryer. We walked past the Samsungs and LG’s to buy a GE, which we were told was made in Louisville.
When it was delivered, the box said Hecho in Mexico.
A couple of years ago, we bought a Sears Kenmore refrigerator which we were assured was made in America by Frigidaire.
When the box was delivered, it said Hecho in Mexico.
Whirlpool just announced it was closing its Evansville, IN plant and relocating refrigerator production to Mexico.
Perhaps more unionization, higher energy costs, increased legal costs through tort law, long delays through infinite impact studies, and LOTS more regulation is the answer. Surely it’s the only way Democrats (and many Republicans) seem to think that business can be promoted.
And American business seems to think the unemployed can buy their imported products. Wall Street rips companies for spending too much on R&D. B-schools teach that packaged debt is a legitimate product.
Insanity.
41. Doc:
“And American business seems to think the unemployed can buy their imported products. Wall Street rips companies for spending too much on R&D. B-schools teach that packaged debt is a legitimate product.”
Proof that many CEO’s don’t use their brains and don’t deserve their compensation. Lazy executives don’t want to implement productivity and quality improvement. Let them work for free for six months and ask them if they can survive without changing lifestyle.
“Proof that many CEO’s don’t use their brains and don’t deserve their compensation.”
I’m glad to see you say, “many.” We tend to focus on the CEOs who don’t do a good job, and get paid outrageously for it. But there are a lot of corporations that are well-run, and whose CEOs deserve what they get. Remember that part of why CEO pay (especially at the larger firms) is so high–is because back in 1993, the Democrats decided to show how much they hated rich people by passing a law that prohibited corporations from deducting salaries exceeding one million dollars a year–and that of the next four corporate officers below that level. The result was to encourage more use of stock options to compensate corporate officers.
There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with stock options instead of salary–except that it encourages a very short-term view. “Let’s see, my stock options that are vesting next month are only worth $1.5 million; if I could get the stock price to go up $4 a share, they would be worth $2.4 million. How can I can improve the stock price? Oh yeah! Layoff 5% of the workers. It’s an immediate improvement in net profitability, and by the time the reduced workforce impairs our ability to make new products will be three years from now. I’ll either have retired, or moved on.”
I found a company that sells American made computers…yeah, some parts may be made elsewhere but it’s the closest to American made. Named Vision out of Georgia. The salesman is also your service rep. Small operation. My salesman had a thick Georgia accent with the last name of Singh. He was wonderful, helpful and totally American. I paid more but it was worth the help and the follow-up. I don’t care if it’s more, I’m not buying anymore junk! It’s gonna be USA made or I just don’t need it.
43. Clayton E. Cramer:
‘Proof that many CEO’s don’t use their brains and don’t deserve their compensation.’
“I’m glad to see you say, “many.” We tend to focus on the CEOs who don’t do a good job, and get paid outrageously for it. But there are a lot of corporations that are well-run, and whose CEOs deserve what they get.”
I’m aware that there are good & excellent CEO’s. But the manipulations of the rotten ones to enrich themselves are simply immoral. Since everyone has guns these days, they shouldn’t be surprised someone will go ‘postal’.
44. tightloops:
U r wht i cll a patriot. How els r we going 2 help r country?
#44 tightloops. “It’s gonna be USA made or I just don’t need it.” Try to avoid buying food in cans. You won’t be able to buy a can opener.
31. ConSongWriter:
Amen Blarty (14) And we used all of them to create some of the best American made Conservative Country/Rock out there.
That’s all right – I don’t blame the instruments themselves.
Watch a couple of episodes of Modern Marvels on the History Channel. You’d be surprised what we make here. Think John Deere, Caterpillar, huge industrial generators and shredding machines. We lost the the consumer products market but there’s still a lot of stuff Made in the USA.
Actaully you CAN buy an American made can opener. I buy all these things online since the crappy stores only sell outsourced goods
I can see if you buy made in USA most of the times these companies are forgien based, at first I try to buy Colgate toothpaste but now I quit buying that brand because I know that they are made in Canada and Mexico and Crest is made in the USA, as for now I rather support this country than supporting goods made in another country.