'Made in America' must make a comeback-There is value in working with your hands.

[babylonsister]

'Made in America' must make a comeback
There is value in working with your hands.
By Paul Sedan

from the November 28, 2008 edition


Charlotte, N.C. - One thing the financial crisis shows is that the United States is in trouble because Americans have stopped making stuff.

It used to be that we made a lot of stuff: televisions, clothes, washing machines, radios, typewriters, shoes, telephones, and furniture. And we also used to make the stuff out of which stuff was made: steel, aluminum, plastic, rubber, glass, and electrical components. Today that's largely made overseas. They send us their stuff and we send them our money.

It also used to be that Americans liked to make stuff. Think of all the things Thomas Edison invented. Or consider Henry Ford, who made the car affordable, perfected the assembly line, and paid workers a decent wage. Countless others, such as my grandfather, worked as toolmakers and machinists because they liked to work with their hands. Today we rely on people around the world to do that innovation for us.

To be sure, outsourcing has some benefits, but the danger in abrogating our desire to make things is that, in doing so, we forget what made America great. It wasn't manipulating money; it was hard work and persistence. It wasn't "flipping houses"; it was having a dream and being patient and self-sacrificing to achieve that dream. It wasn't speculative gambling; it was belief in a line of labor that rewarded honest risk. Forgetting that contributes to America's deterioration.

Nowadays, young people want to work in the financial industry (at least until recently). While money managers may be worthy occupations – we do need capital to meet payroll and buy the goods and machinery used to make stuff – focusing solely on such jobs removes us from the mainstream of making useful things, which, in turn, provide jobs and help to make everyday life more enjoyable and productive.

This is where we have to start questioning what's at stake. Are we truly satisfied with letting someone else make everything we need? If so, when the time comes for repair and maintenance, who will do the work?

more...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1128/p09s02-coop.html

[Deja Q]

1. Well, at least the subject line will ensure brothels become legalized...

[Deja Q]

2. As for repair, nobody wants to repair - just replace.

Eminently wasteful, but "that's what the people want".

[kywildcat]

4. planned obsolescence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence

we have been conditioned to become a 'disposable' society.

[mopinko]

16. most stuff can't be fixed.

i used to love to take things apart when i was a kid. i tried to infect my own kids with this. but we found out that there are not parts in things. just circuit boards. nothing much to fix.

[kywildcat]

31. My Grandfather was the same

The man would take a tractor apart and put it back together (souped up) as entertainment. They lived very comfortably but fixed everything rather than replace it. My Dad is the same way, and I used to like to fix things. Like you said-it's almost impossible now because of the way things are made.
I have a bread machine-at least 10 years old. I love this thing. I need a new paddle for the well. Can't find a replacement though. At this point, I'd pay someone to fashion a new plastic paddle for me rather than buy a new machine.

[mopinko]

33. find one in the thrift store.

when i really want to fix something, i look there for parts. even if you can fix stuff, the parts prices are outrageous.

[kywildcat]

34. Great idea! Thank you!

I'm glad your in possession of the thinking cap.

[AdHocSolver]

36. As someone who fixed a lot of things over the years, I can unequivocally assert...

that most goods are DESIGNED specifically to NOT be able to be fixed, or at least not to be economical to fix.

Products used to be put together with the expectation that they may have to be repaired. Even if it wasn't easy to fix, at least it was designed somewahat with repair in mind.

One used to be able to find auto repair manuals and even readily obtain manuals for repairing a variety of electronic equipment. Many times you could purchase them reasonably priced from the manufacture. Companies such as Chilton and Haynes supplied repair manuals for many cars, and the Howard W. Sams company supplied manuals for repairing electronic gear. No more.

Electronic equipment, for example, is designed to be machine assembled. Everything is subminiature (you literally need to use a magnifying glass to see the parts), and you need to use tools designed for brain surgery to accomplish anything.

[pipi_k]

38. We've had stuff break that...

to have fixed would have cost more than just to replace it.


It just doesn't make sense, but there ya go... :shrug:




OTOH, there's some stuff around my house that has been nailed, glued, duct taped and wired so many times it's almost pathetic to see

Latest victim was the bat house that got broken when the tree it was on got blown over during a windstorm last month.

Some glue, some screws, and a bit of paint and it's almost as good as new and ready for next year's bats. We do have to get a large pole to mount it on, though...

[frogcycle]

3. I heard a radio ad just last week for a new "general merchansise" store

in the Chicago 'burbs where everything they sell is made in America.

I am going to listen for it and get the location, check them out. I hope this catches on.

[chaplainM]

10. Can you be more specific? n/t

[frogcycle]

12. yes, when I hear it again

I just caught parts of it while driving. I wrote everything I recall.

[mopinko]

15. something like

nelson's usa?
i know the ads you are talking about.

[chaplainM]

27. Errr...bad joke of mine

"general"...."specific"

[frogcycle]

28. zingggg!

right over my head!
I generally catch stuff like that, but not specifically this one.

[tama]

5. Before that can happen

Get rid of the Wall Street. Really.

[leftofcool]

6. And find people who actually know how to make things

[tama]

8. Well, that too

so find people who know how to make things who can teach others. :)

[electricD]

19. And find people who actually know how to make things

We still have a few people in our country that know how to make things. Those people need to be willing to train others. For years we've had apprenticeship and trade schools to do this. Also, for years, we've had a drastic decline in those schools. IMO, the reason for the declines are because, we've told our kids for years that we don't want them working like we have to make a living. Although this is honorable, we've ruined our capability as manufacturers of goods by telling our kids this. We need to start telling our kids that there's nothing wrong with a hard days work and if they so choose to follow in our footsteps, we should be proud and train them the best way that we can.

I personally am a union electrician. I went through an apprenticeship, along with OTJ training, with some of the best electricians I could possibly surround myself with. It's almost drastic for me to say that if my daughter would want to follow me and do what I do, I'd willingly help her in every way to reach her goal. But, on the other hand, I also have seen how hard it is for a woman to make it in the construction trades. Not only with the heavy lifting and weather extremes but, the mere fact that she's a "girl" makes her a target for many to critisize.

College aspirations are great things to want for our kids. For years I've also seen many people tell their kids that, for whatever reason, what their parents do, construction, factory worker, miner, assembly line, etc. is for some reason of lesser value. No wonder there are so many white collar workers out there that consider us "scumtruction" workers and treat us so.

[knitter4democracy]

25. Trade schools, unions, and guilds. We need them back.

I'm a proud member of The Knitting Guild Association and a Level II Certified Knitting Teacher through the Craft Yarn Council. We have these groups so that our craft doesn't die out. We need guilds to keep the knowledge about how to fix, create, and teach how to fix and create. We need unions to keep those who know around and well paid. We need trade schools to keep teaching people these skills.

Blue collar work is good work, and it should be respected. I, for one, respect my electrician, plumber, and appliance repair guys. They keep my family going with their work, and their skills are highly important.

[Gman2]

30. I am that person. I am a

moldmaker, process engineer, designer. I have been thinking just this. My teacher, John Dewhurst, after the NTMA center came up short one teacher, taught me. He was the original testifier to congress for the need of training. I will do what I can to retrace his steps. If we start now, we can get the next gen. r4eady to make stuff. The green power will be begun, to fuel the processes. I think we should make alaska to chile our market. Work with SA and Central A. to prop up a middleclass as consumers for our products. Make products with far less bells and whistles. Repairable, and finely crafted. Shipping from China was always stupid, and is becoming increasingly unfeasable. Trains going the entire distance, and routes to cover much of long haul trucking.

I have been teaching for years, it would be nice to do it officially. I just hope we can find kids that will take anything but the fast track to fulfillment.

[shrike]

32. Welcome to DU

My husband's a boilermaker and sheet metal worker. Retired now, but giving limited instruction at a BP Amoco plant. He's been saying for years that shutting down trade schools was the biggest mistake we ever made. There's talk of a vocational high school (how 'bout that?) going up in our area. If it happens, he's going to apply to teach there.

btw, I'm a college educated gal, and no one could understand why I'd marry a man who worked with his hands. But we have good health insurance, a safe pension (union local took care of it), and I'll get a pension after he passes.

[ixion]

7. this is where it begins: making stuff

it's an art that most in this country have lost, and it should be reclaimed.

[foxer]

14. They don't have "Shop" classes in High School anymore!

[knitter4democracy]

26. Some schools do.

Then there's the whole issue of which kids they track through those programs . . .

[Tansy_Gold]

9. First we have to learn to be content with less

One of the reasons cheap stuff is "needed" by our economy is that we have a "need" to have it. Twenty pairs of shoes, new furniture every couple of years, the latest and newest as soon as it comes out.

"Why are you still using that quilt?" a former friend asked me some time ago as I spread a hand-made quilt on my bed.

"Because I made it and I like it," I answered.

"Oh, I just get a new one every year at Wal-Mart for 29 bucks!" she replied with a laugh. "I hate looking at the same thing year after year."


An elderly friend is slowly liquidating her collection of fine antique furniture, much to the dismay of her children. "They tell me they'll take care of it," she told me the other day, "but they trash everything they get their hands on, just so they can buy new crap. They won't even hang onto my stuff long enough to sell it; they'll ruin it first. I'm going to sell my nice stuff to people who will appreciate it."


If you want Made in America -- head out to your local arts and crafts shows ESPECIALLY this time of year. Talk to people who really do still know how to make things.



Headed to the workshop to make something is


Tansy Gold

[Azlady]

11. Recd and folks, when shopping read & ask questions....

Stick with your small mom/pop businesses but always ask specifically where the product was "MADE".. be careful to listen to their answer, if they say "designed"... it was just that, designed in America but being made in China or other countries. Especially in the arts... this is really hurting American Artists that not only design but make their own art right in the great USA.....

[frogcycle]

13. some resources

http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/

http://www.madeinusa.org/

http://www.madeinusa.com/

http://www.toysmadeinamerica.com/

http://www.usstuff.com/

[chalky]

18. Thanks so much for this post!

n/t

[NorthCarolina]

23. Queen City Woodcraft - Proudly Made in the USA

:blush: SHAMELESS PLUG :blush:

[pipi_k]

39. Where I live, we have

a community of Mennonites who have started up a booming business making furniture.

It's absolutely first class stuff...beautifully made, crafted to last for generations

I want a corner hutch, but my house is small and there's a sad lack of space.


Countryside Woodcraft, Russell MA...

American made


another shameless plug
:)

[Thickasabrick]

17. Amen!! n/t

[Azlady]

20. Kick and..

On the side to tap into my creative side, I make necklaces and has become difficult to sell, because shoppers see that cheap labor stuff coming in from overseas, they have a difficult time dropping a few extra bucks (especially now) for a better made, with love, better quality stones, findings, necklace designs... it use to mean something, now it doesn't appear to so much.

Shop those small stores to do your shopping and request only American made items for your Holiday shopping or household shopping. At one point small Mom/Pop businesses made up 60% of the business in our country, who knows what that number is today, after the crash of the economy.

There are so many struggling American artists right now, in all media, they are all getting hurt not only by the economy but by the fake American art coming in from overseas.

I'll stop preaching again...

[Tansy_Gold]

37. Loss of jobs, loss of culture, and the exploitation of others

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20060511&slug=thaiquilt11

This is a longish article from May 2006 that describes the substitution of quilts hand made in Thailand for "traditional" hand-made Amish and Mennonite quilts in Lancaster County, PA. While it gives a brief picture of the "prosperity" this labor has brought to a village in Thailand that will no doubt bring out the defenders of the workers there, it does not explain where the real money goes. "In Lancaster County, a handmade quilt can easily cost $400 to make, and the best can sell for thousands of dollars. In Thailand, a quilt can be made for $65 to $80."

The seeking after money, the transformation of the American economy from manufacturing to finance, has hurt more than our bottom line. I think it's hurt our whole national self-image.

I'm another lady in AZ, and I share your sentiments, Azlady, when it comes to selling my original artistic creations. I have a show coming up this week-end and I know I'll hear plenty of comments of "Oh, isn't that pretty? But I can't see paying $40 for it. I'll bet I could get one just like it at Wal-Mart for less than $10." Our culture has lost its appreciation for the truly hand-made, and lost its appreciation for the hands that made it.

Tansy Gold, also preaching

[Azlady]

40. Interesting article, Tansy Gold... I spoke with

a family yesterday, they have always just "blindly" shopped the most 10 years, buying the best priced whatever. We were talking about how Americans simply do not get the issue surrounding imports and how they have hurt every part of our country.

The Grandmother told me a story. She had been in Wally World, bought a large window scarf, she paid $11.00 for it. That evening her daughter and her were shopping at another store, her daughter looking strictly for USA made items and educated her Mother on the import issue. Her Mother saw a Window Scarf at the store they were in, Made In THE USA, cost was $80.00,she bought it, then marched into Wallyworld the next day and returned her $11.00 Window Scarf that had been made in China, when the CS woman asked why she was returning, the Grandmother piped up and said, "It's made in China, sure it is a good price, but I am now only buying USA Made items, I bought another Window Scarf, Made in the USA, paid $80.00, worth every dime"!

I also spoke with a executive accountant for a popular national/international store chain. They are very much in the black, all debt paid. I suggested that when he got home that he speak with the CEO's about developing a line of USA made items out of USA materials, if they want to stay in the black, as American Citizens are figuring out the issues surrounding imports, which are so long to list.

Tansy Gold, I hope your show is real good, let us know how it goes. I know, I think if I hear, "what is your best price" one more time, or "I can get that at Wallyworld for so much less"... I am going to scream.
Azlady

[Tansy_Gold]

41. Sadly, I think many people have good intentions. they just don't

understand what the real impact of a "global economy" is on "local people."

The Thais who are employed doing the hand applique work and other hand work on the imported quilts are making cash money, but they aren't producing anything for their own consumption. They have to buy their own clothes, their furniture, etc., which then has to be produced by someone else. This is the "pyramid scheme" that develops when those at the top -- whether it's the tourists in Lancaster County or the shopkeepers or the Hmong intermediaries -- go looking for low-wage workers. In turn, of course, those at the top want more and more and more "stuff," which requires more and more and more low-wage workers.

So it's not just a matter of buying the $80 window scarf because it's made in the U.S. It's more a matter of deciding what we need and how our "wants" are fulfilled.

I'm certainly not advocating closing our economic borders. Nor am I advocating humongous protectionist tariffs. Those might effect short-term changes, but what we need is a much bigger long term change. And that involves a real shift away from a consumptive (pun intended) lifestyle.

So yes, we have to shift away from planned obsolescence and back to making things that last and then making things last. But we also have to re-examine the whole nature of a consumer-driven economy.

Most of the items I make and sell at arts and crafts shows are one-of-a-kind because of the material that I work with. Similar items can be mass produced or made by low-wage workers. But I'm able to keep my prices reasonable and still offer my customer something unique, something I can tell her or him the history of, and demonstrate how it was made. That's the kind of provenance that makes it a keepsake, not just an artifact.


Tansy Gold, who should be makin' some of them keepsakes right now!

[glowing]

21. I think we are losing a lot of talent and processed thinking when we let go of

"making things". How many people could survive off the land? How many people know the edible plants, herbs, etc that they could eat in their ecological surroundings? We've lost touch with nature and simplicity of life. I hope we start learning it all again.. its invaluable knowledge.

AND when you make things, you value them.. you value where they come from.. you value the time.. you value what YOU put into the process... the making is of you and from you and has a part of you.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

29. I am the President of our homeowners association.

A year and a half ago, I got our association to plant an organic herb garden in our courtyard. It has Mint, Basil, Parsley, Cilantro, Chives, Oregeno, Rosemary etc. I also got our Asscoiation to plant Pumpkin, Lemons and Limes I just walked one of our members through the garden. He thought the Cilantro was Parsley. Many people have never seen herbs outside of a jar at Safeway. It has been a very interesting experiment to show people what their herbs look like in their natural state. It has also been very satisfying to educate them and show them that they don't have to go to Safeway and pay $2.00 for a few sprigs of Cilantro when they can just go out to the courtyard and snip what they need. No Gas involved. It is really a joy to introduce people to the herb garden.

[morningglory]

22. How 'bout we start with baby formula. I nursed my 2 children because

I didn't trust our corporations to provide nutritious food. They never ate any baby food at all. Very healthy. I bought one of those hurdy-gurdy things at a health food store and mashed fresh food for them when they needed solid food. The CEO/CFO management of Gerber Co, et al should be imprisoned for murder for earning a living from Chinese poison. I also understand why China had to go communist. Their style of capitolism is unrestrained by moral consideration.

[knitter4democracy]

24. Well, of course there's value in working with your hands.

Check out etsy.com for handmade items, from craft level to art level and anywhere in between. There you'll see the beauty of handmade.

One of the thoughts about the resurgence of knitting and related crafts (though knitting's hitting a downward turn with the economy) is that too much of our lives is virtual these days and that, since humans all have a need to create, it's a good outlet for creative energy.

[AdHocSolver]

35. Bringing jobs back to America is crucial to ensuring that the U.S, survives as a first class country

What made America wealthy and powerful was its leadership in manufacturing. When we purchased goods, we paid other Americans for those goods, and they, in turn, paid other Americans for the goods they purchased, and eventually someone in the loop paid us for what we produced.

Our economy was based on real wealth creation. Money circulated within our economy. Even if someone didn't work directly on an assembly line, if they worked with American made goods somewhere in the economic loop, then they supported American manufacturing.

The value to "Buy American" was not just being patriotic. It was supporting our economy and a middle class lifestyle for most Americans. Moreover, by serving to support a "pay-as-you-go" economy, it was keeping a low national debt, supporting a stable U.S. dollar, keeping inflation low, and ensuring a steady cash flow to governments to support infrastructure, education, and other governmental services.

The offshoring of jobs at an increasingly frantic pace has led to most of the economic and environmental problemss that we face today. This offshoring was made profitable for the corporations by the imposition of trade laws such as NAFTA, the setting up of international trade cartels such as the WTO, the IMF, the World Bank, and the reliance on a "privatized" central bank known as the Federal Reserve. Add to this mix a bunch of tariff laws and tax laws designed to increase the profitability of corporations while, at the same time, minimizing corporate taxes, and you have a map of why this country is in such bad economic shape as it is.

Having practically every good that you purchase being made overseas, means that the money you spend goes to a foreign country. Eventually you owe more overseas than you can sell overseas, so that at some point you get heavily in debt. To keep up your lifestyle, you borrow money and go deeper into debt. You "maximaize" your "credit card".

At some point, the foreign countries become reluctant to lend you money unless you pay more for what you buy to cover the risk that they take in loaning you money. Your dollar loses value, the economy suffers from inflation, and you are now paying more money for what you buy, even though the labor is cheaper.

In addition, if that country you purchase from, say China, develops problems, they may cut off your supply of "cheap" goods at a time when your own manufacturing capacity is very low. Shortages of goods, higher prices, and becoming susceptible to extortion by foreign powers becomes a distinct possibility.

Any plan for long term stability in our economy MUST include revamping of these trade laws, agreements, and the tax code to level the playing field for companies to create jobs for Americans in America, and less profitable for companies who want to manipulate the system by offshoring.