Are you old enough to remember: MADE IN THE USA?

[Q]

- Growing up in America...our family would never buy anything made outside of the USA...out of respect for unions and workers in this country. We felt that buying products made here would help keep people working and able to feed and shelter their families.

- Now it's difficult to find anything made IN America. Americans work at the pleasure of international corporations and are forced to take concession after concession just to keep their jobs. Less benefits. Longer work hours. Less wages.

- What happened?

[DebJ]

1. I remember WalMart made it big partly because their trucks

advertised that all of their goods were made in the USA.

[Mr_Spock]

11. China Mart said that? What happened? A guy wrote a book on how to buy Amer

ican. There were some things you couldn't buy here no matter how hard you tried. I should have bought the book though - maybe get some pointers on some items. I really try to buy American whenever I can - it is a lot of work but it's always worth it.

[jdj]

43. Walmart did milk that one, and now apparently more than 60% on

their shelves are imported.

[Mr_Spock]

44. Boycotting WalMart - NEVER will I go to that freeper ChinaMart shit hole

NEVER.

[GingerSnaps]

2. Yes

Toys and products lasted when they were made in the USA.

[Ezlivin]

3. A friend ragged me on driving a Volvo in the 80s

So I told him to look at his stereo equipment. It was all made in Japan.

I had McIntosh equipment back then. So I said, "You should have bought one made in the USA."

He had no retort.

Nowadays it's damned near impossible to buy purely American. I try my hardest by avoiding Wal-Mart and other Chinese import groups.

But I love Chinese food!

[fairfaxvadem]

4. "look for the union label"

I remember those commercials so well.

I have kitchen utensils of my mom's from the 1950s. Stainless steel, made in USA, still like new, not one sign of rust or breaking down. They'll last another 50 years, easily.

My mom's disgust every time she would turn over an item in the store or look at the label to see it made outside the US made a huge impression on me.

I'll pay good money for something to last.

[phylny]

17. I understand your mom's disgust.

How many people remember this little tune from the ILGWA:

Look for the union label
when you are buying that coat, dress or blouse.

Remember somewhere our union's sewing,
our wages going to feed the kids, and run the house.

We work hard, but who's complaining?
Thanks to the I.L.G. we're paying our way!

So always look for the union label,
it says we're able to make it in the U.S.A.!

http://tinyurl.com/5rr4t

It appears (from my Google search) that the song may have been played on South Park.

[Carla in Ca]

20. I still have utensils from my mom and grandma

My mom's old vac lasted 25 years. Now everything is disposable to keep the economy going.
But I drive a '57 Chevy street rod!

[DianeG5385]

26. Sorry I didn't see your post before I added mine

I do remember looking for the Union label or made in the USA on products. They knew what was going down before we did. We need to go "back there" and it's not about protectionism per se, it's about protecting our jobs. Remember how we used to laugh at the quality of imported goods vs. American made? We can make great stuff!

[Liberal_Dog]

34. I Remember Those Commercials As Well

Maybe we will see them again some day.

[Yupster]

37. I still sing that song too

My grandmother had an important job in the NYC garment district.

But that fight was lost long ago.

[crickets]

40. Re: "look for the union label"

Yes! I started singing the jingle the minute I saw the thread title. My, how times have changed. :(

[Pastiche423]

5. What happened?

GREED!

[Ruby Romaine]

6. Now things have a US flag on them or named "American..."but are made by

Falun gong prisoners in China.
Or made in the Mariana Islands where workers are really low paid.
I try to buy American but it's difficult.
Jim Keady is doing wonderful work-
http://www.dghonline.org/nl8/living_wage.html

[phylny]

18. My father-in-law, staunch Republican, always complains that

everything's made in China or Taiwan. The irony of it all just kills me.

[Ruby Romaine]

7. try online companies like

http://www.nosweatapparel.com/

[zbdent]

8. Remember 1992?

Went to buy a new car. Ford had a chart on which cars had what percentage of "Made in America".

[Cronus Protagonist]

9. Proudly Made in the USA

http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

:)

[zbdent]

10. Hell, I remember when "Made In Japan" translated to English

and meant "CRAP".

[calico1]

15. I remember that too.

"Made in Japan" meant cheap, chintzy. Comedians used the phrase jokingly.

[Eloriel]

12. I remember it well. I also remember when things made in Japan

during those years (1950s, 1960s) were junk, literally. Little crapola tchotchkees (sp?). My dad, a union carpenter, would have a conniption FIT if my mother brought any home. Of course, they were cheap, and some were kinda cute and different, things not available here.

Almost all of our clothes in those days, shoes, anything you could name was available here and a lot of it "union made."



What happened? Plenty. For one thing, a Prof. Demming, I think his name was, went to Japan and taught them Quality Control. Many unions were or got corrupt and that did a number on their reputation. Then too, there was always union-busting, and Reagan did his share of that.

I would love to "buy American." However, I refuse to "buy American" if it's an inferior product. IMO, auto manufacturers esp. stopped putting out a quality product right around that time or shortly after. Came a point where if you wanted a GOOD car, it needed to be a foreign car. Even now, the engineering for most foreign cars is superior to that of U.S. autos.

So, trade opened up more, manufacturers started taking their factories to foreign countries (even before NAFTA), or foreign countries' manufactured goods were considerably cheaper because of appallingly cheap labor, etc. while labor unions continued in their decline (with a lot of help from anti-labor forces), etc.

We'll never go back to the way things were. Our only hope is to raise the standards of the rest of the world (labor issues including safety, pay equity, environmental safeguards) so that it's not so inexpensive to do all the manufacturing elsewhere. It horrifies me that we have almost zero manufacturing base in this country, AND that our technological base is eroding at a very fast clip as well. If things don't improve, our future is a feudal society, I'm afraid -- the capitalists and the burger flippers ('cause those jobs CAN'T be sent overseas). Hell, we're even outsourcing medical jobs now. Your x-rays might get read by someone in India.

[GodHelpUsAll2]

23. Great post

My SO and I were just talking about this very thing. No one in America was willing to listen to this man about QA so he went overseas and look where it got us.

[Jose Diablo]

13. Not only am I old enough to remember Made in the USA

I even remember when "Made in Japan" was a mark of low quality and junk. Go figure.

[Imalittleteapot]

14. How about "Made in Occupied Japan"?

I have picnic baskets from my Grandmother - all stamped on the bottom with "Made in Occupied Japan".

[bobbieinok]

16. my mom (91) said things made in Japan between the wars

had on them 'made in Usa'.....trying to look made in Am, but really looked like a Japanese city 'Usa'

[TrustingDog]

19. ;(

america is now out sourced. false freedom thingie ringies...

and who makes the great profit?

[Cleita]

21. My dad was Republican and anti-union but he always

supported buying domestically produced goods even when we were overseas. He insisted that we bought American, if available, before buying local. It made for some strange items in our pantry, like Maxwell House coffee when we were living in So. America and could have enjoyed the best Columbian. But he was a real patriotic American, not like the phoney globalists who are ruling us now as Republicans.

[anarchy1999]

22. Get this book, America: What went Wrong? 1992

This book is an expanded version of an award-winning series of articles the structure of American government that ran in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Donald L. Bartlett and James B. Steele spent two years making detailed analysis of the IRS, Security Exchange Commission and other government agencies while paralleling the lives of men and women who jobs and lives were affected by trends in government and society. Problems in America, they argue, stem from the restructuring of the American economy to favor the very rich. The only way to repair this situation, the reporters contend, is "comprehensive changes in government laws and regulations on a scale of the sweeping legislative revisions of the 1930s." Does anyone care? The newspaper series was the most popular in the history of the Inquirer, generating 20,000 requests for reprints.

The New York Times Book Review, James D. Atwater
The good news is that Mr. Bartlett and Mr. Steele have incisively and vividly defined the problem facing the nation, and proved again that there is an audience for a message that cannot be captured by a sound bite, a photo opportunity or even a bumper sticker.

Currently not available at Amazon, go figure??

http://www.autobuyology.org/car15.1.html
War-fiteering:
In this time of "national crisis", it's troubling--
some of the "Republican" party "leadership" choices...
granting highly selective tax roll-backs as follows:
$1.4 bllion for IBM
$833 million for General Motors
$671 million for General Electric
$572 million for Chevron Texaco
and $254 million for Enron

The "Consevative"-"led"
"House of Representatives" recently
approved alternative miminum tax
roll-backs retroactively to the late 1980s, costing
other taxpapers a loss of more than $12 Billion
in revenue next year alone. If large, profitable
companies are permitted to store their profits
overseas in tax shelters, why not you or other
average Joe Q. Publics?

Corporate Welfare, Inc.
Laugh, we're paying for it!

http://www.boulderbookstore.com/Reclaim.html
A Reading List from Reclaim Democracy
General
*When Corporations Rule the World by David Korten. Very thorough, well-reasoned, and readable analysis of the global corporate and financial system from an insider in the financial world. Read This!
*The Case Against the Global Economy, and for a Turn Toward the Local Jerry Mander, ed. Diverse collection of essays by leading activists around the world. Superb. OR *Corporations Are Gonna Get Your Mama K. Danaher ed. A similar, but shorter sampler, focused on the U.S.
Panic Rules Robin Hahnel. An brief introduction to the global economy and its institutions, including; the WTO, IMF & World Bank.
*Sam Smith's Great American Political Repair Manual Sam Smith. Self-descriptive. Highly recommended.
America: What Went Wrong? & America: Who Stole the Dream Don Barlett and James Steele expand on their Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles detailing the capture of government by money and the favoring of wealthy and corporate interests over all others.


http://marylaine.com/bookbyte/real1.html#politic
Books about American Politics
Donald Bartlett and James Steele. America: What Went Wrong. Originally published as a seven part series in the Philadelphia Inquirer, this series had thousands of requests for reprints, leading to its publication in book form. The answer to the question, in short, is that our government changed the rules about how business should treat its employees and community, and stopped being the referee, preferring to side with corporate interests. A stunning account of the viable businesses destroyed, pension funds raided, people thrown out of work, as a result of the corporate takeovers of the 1980's and the S&L scam artists who destroyed people's life savings.


And then if you really want to have some fun, google Gary Allen, and look for None Dare Call it Conspiracy.

Check out Carlin on Bill Maher and his reference to the ownership class, the elite. Or go look for Ferdinand Lundberg and his book "The Rich and the Super-Rich" 1968. It is out of print but can be found. I found it at an antique shop.

[Q]

27. Thanks...

...for the links to the resources.

- I think things began to change when corporate lobbyists became able to buy legislation (in broad daylight) that favored their industries. The 'money is speech' BS didn't help.

[anarchy1999]

42. Your welcome, and truly get the book, it is an eye popping, eye opener.

This book is the primer for anyone and everyone that wants to really understand what has happened. It's trickle down economics, Reagan, the Republicans and big business, all rolled into one ugly ball.

If only we had paid attention then we might have been able to stop it. Ross Perot did have it right about NAFTA I might add. We all should have listened and paid more attention.

[DianeG5385]

24. What about "Look for the Union Label"

Anyone remember that ditty? This may be too long ago for some, but I can tell you, growing up in the SF Bay area, Unions were huge in the sixties. The crushing of the unions has led to the crushing of the wages of American citizens. Next to go, corporate pension plans. Look at what's happening at United???

[Q]

29. I remember the 'union label' era...

...and the commercials that went along with it. It was a good time for American workers. Wages and benefits were increasing at a steady pace. But that ended in the 80s and 90s when the anti-union forces got control of all three branches of government.

[Deja Q]

25. Cathy Lee Crosby, as I recall, had a TV advert about clothing...

She was on 'That's Incredible!' along with a nobody and a washed up football star, as I recall... It was around 1980, before the evil of the republicons set in.

[Morning Dew]

28. I think I bought the last Philco TV made in the USA

that was back in '85 or so.

:(

[unkachuck]

30. what happened?

....many things....none the least of which I feel was the demise of the Soviet Union.....they were a viable socialist challenge in the world to the global domination of western capitalists and checked many excessive things they wanted to do....and that ultimately filtered down to life on the shop floor and the products in the stores....they couldn't play us against $2 a-day labor.....

[AtTheEndOfTheDay]

31. Just got me some good old Converse sneakers

made in America. Yeah! Oh wait, sorry, made in China. Never mind.

[dave502d]

32. mid west

I have a May Tag washer and dryer,I'll never buy one again.

[eridani]

33. Kucinich won't even RIDE in a non-American car, let alone own one.

And that certainly caused some problems for his supporters doing airport runs out here in Puget Sound Prefecture. ;) Sometimes we had to do a last minute rentals.

[Johnny 99]

35. Yep

Too bad that's pretty much a useless slogan now.

[kentuck]

36. I remember if it said Made in Japan, we knew it was junk....

and cheap. It was like the toys in a box of Cracker Jacks.

[VotefurKerry]

38. One industry that is almost completely USA made is

the gun industry actually.

Due to import laws most guns have to be made in the US.

[DjTj]

39. John Edwards once said...

"20 years ago ... some of you may remember this ... 20 years ago we talked about buying American, well how about hiring American."

[Mr_Spock]

41. Went out of my way to buy an American made dresser

for my bedroom. Heck, I know it's probably made by freepers, but better than made by Chinese slave labor. I made a big point of telling the furniture stores not to even SHOW me any Chinese crap.

All my cars are American (I have three).

I will NOT shop at ChinaMart ever again, EVER! They are exploiting China and others now have to follow to compete - they are the leaders in dragging us to the bottom.

I shop at locally owned hardware stores before I resort to Home Desperate. They force out local business (just like WalMart) and then create a large centralized purchasing set-up that forces out smaller vendors and promulgates the corporatization of our culture. I won't participate.

I won't shop at Shaws supermarket because it is British owned.

Victory markets are anti-union.

There are so many more examples of what we all can and should be doing to fix the broken corporate culture that is sucking us in and making us into mindless gnomes. I wish people weren't so lazy and stupid and obsessed with saving a dollar. That stupid dollar you save comes out of your societies long term stability.

:thumbsdown:

[kittykitty]

45. ILGWU

International Ladies Garment Workers Union

[flaminbats]

46. how could this happen?

"Jacob 8:4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make up the poor of the land to fail...

Jacob 8:8-13 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood in Egypt.

And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and darken the earth in the clear day:

And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.

I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:

And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.

In that day the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst."

Most of us are thirsty animals, thirsty for love O8)