What Do We Make?

I’m not sure if this is a rant, an observation, or maybe a call for awareness. It’s come to my attention that I don’t have as many items that say “Made In The USA” anymore and it makes me question, What do we make in the USA still?

Some weeks ago as I was getting dressed and I reached for a shirt I like to wear. Something on the tag design caught my eye a pattern or something. But then I decided to read the tag and notice it was made in Bangladesh. (Nothing wrong with things made from Bangladesh by the way.) Which then made me wander where the other items were from.

I found out I’m quiet the international traveler. Over the past couple of weeks as I’ve been getting dressed I started checking more and more tags. More so out of curiosity than anything else.

It seems that most (if not all) of my clothes from head to toe are not made here in the USA.

Now, I’ve caught my self checking about every item I pickup. And to my dismay, I’ve found fewer and fewer items with that phrase I’m looking for.

It really makes me wonder why something we use to be so proud about has slipped under the radar?

Do we not care anymore? Is it purely about price? Maybe we just can’t afford to make (or buy) things “Made in the USA”.

Is it us the consumer to blame for allowing it to happen? Maybe it’s corporate greed having it made more cheaply elsewhere to have a bigger profit margin.

Maybe it’s the fact that we’re taxing ourselves right out of our own country!

Companies can’t afford to pay all of the taxes imposed on them here and have to turn elsewhere to even keep the doors open. And it seems more and more US companies are being purchased by non US investors.

By all means I’m not saying we must throw out everything we own and go buy American Made. But, I do think we should be more concerned about what we are allowing to happen.

Personally, I think the cost of everything is spiraling out of control. I’m sure it’s an age old problem (not to be confused with old age 😉 ), but where does it stop and how can we get it back under control.

Even more the issue, have we lost pride in our country? Where is the patriotism from years past. You see it peak out on national holidays and on anniversaries of national disasters. But, are we missing a national disaster right under our noses by how we spend our US dollars?

Just something to think about. Feel free to share your thoughts and comments below.