Made in America

Visiting my orthopedic surgeon recently to get stitches removed from surgery, he handed me a small sealed package that contained the special device for removing stitches. The front of the package had the brand name of a recognized American medical company. But, he pointed on the back of the package … at the very bottom, in mouse print, it said, “Made in China.”

Bandages from respected American medical companies are, too, made in China. My doctor was not happy about it because such products used to be made in America. His office buys what is available today, and what’s available is made in China.

Wal-mart gets the heat for selling items made in Asia, mostly China. But, the problem has gotten to be ubiquitous in the United States. Pick up a jug of apple juice at the grocery, and chances are that the juice came from China. Read the small print.

This has become an issue that the scoundrels in both political parties can share in the blame, along with the highly paid Washington lobbyists. The politicians, even those who bemoan the loss of American jobs, are often the ones who looked the other way or supported tax incentives to make it easy and rewarding for companies to move jobs abroad. I have an issue with that form of greedy globalization.

It’s different in other places. While visiting a museum in Munich recently, I noted that even the gift shop snow globes and trinkets were made in the European Union (EU). In the U.S., the items are all made in China.

I bought a fabulous jacket, made in Sweden. The quality is much better than anything available in America that’s really made in China, and the cost was only about 20 percent more. I love the comfort of Lowa shoes and boots, which are available through Zappos, and all made in the EU. Sure, there’s a small premium to be paid for goods made of better quality.

Throughout Europe, people know the importance of keeping jobs close-by, and they don’t let their politicians play any games. It’s such a contrast with Washington, where influence is for sale to the highest bidder.

I read that Apple is thinking about bringing the manufacture of its laptops back to the U.S. from China. When its competitors shipped customer and technical service jobs abroad – a moved that damaged their reputations because the quality of service was so bad – Apple kept similar support in the U.S. and Canada. Once again, hooray for Apple.

Jobs can return to the U.S. but politicians won’t make it happen. It will happen only when we, the people, speak out and hold the politicians accountable. Either they work for us, or we fire them.

Category: Featured, Leadership, Personal notes