If we were to remove all of the imported items from our life we would be naked, our houses almost empty and no automobiles in our garages. It is interesting to me that we are so quick to point the finger of blame,
saying that regulations are the problem, maybe rich people or lazy people, greedy people or stupid people.
Personally I think we are the problem, it is just not convenient to admit it. Many of you have probably seen the television "news" story about outfitting the average dormitory room for a student going to college.
Just in knick-knacks and bedspreads and posters, just basically crap it totals about $800 per student per year. For the "average student" 100% of these items are imported, pushing our jobs overseas. The "news people" discover (with some effort I admit) that these items actually made in America are available and cost about $37 less! If, over campuses across the United States, all of these items had been made in this country, they estimated that it would have created 500,000 jobs!!!
This is the boat that is used to get this imported stuff to us. Well, a ship, huh? Almost totally automated. It has a crew of just 13 and can be unloaded in a mere two hours! One THOUSAND, three hundred and two feet long. And they are making MORE of these! On their way back to China after unloading their gadgets on our docks, they return EMPTY!
We are being conquered and they didn't fire a shot! This is nuts. We are like Heroin addicts who just cannot stop. The pathetic thing about this is it is all crap. None of this stuff will be antiques a hundred years from now, most of it won't exist a year from now. A lot of it is broken before it gets out of the box. But if the color is right, the style is pretty and it is cheap enough, we want it. Addicts.
You don't have to make any laws to repair this situation, no taxes are needed. We need a new slogan.
How about "Just Don't Do It"? Can you go a day or a week without buying anything imported? There will be withdrawal symptoms. There will be work on your part.
Ask the clerk, "Where is this made?" and learn to say "No thank you". Find it somewhere else or find a substitute.
It seems that every year Christmas comes earlier and stores begin their holiday displays right after Halloween. These big ships work overtime this time of year. They can't build them fast enough.
Try something different this year, tell your friends, ask the clerk. "Where is this made"?
Maybe you could help create a job?
This is what I do: HERE
saying that regulations are the problem, maybe rich people or lazy people, greedy people or stupid people.
Personally I think we are the problem, it is just not convenient to admit it. Many of you have probably seen the television "news" story about outfitting the average dormitory room for a student going to college.
 |
| More are being built!!! |
This is the boat that is used to get this imported stuff to us. Well, a ship, huh? Almost totally automated. It has a crew of just 13 and can be unloaded in a mere two hours! One THOUSAND, three hundred and two feet long. And they are making MORE of these! On their way back to China after unloading their gadgets on our docks, they return EMPTY!
We are being conquered and they didn't fire a shot! This is nuts. We are like Heroin addicts who just cannot stop. The pathetic thing about this is it is all crap. None of this stuff will be antiques a hundred years from now, most of it won't exist a year from now. A lot of it is broken before it gets out of the box. But if the color is right, the style is pretty and it is cheap enough, we want it. Addicts.
You don't have to make any laws to repair this situation, no taxes are needed. We need a new slogan.
How about "Just Don't Do It"? Can you go a day or a week without buying anything imported? There will be withdrawal symptoms. There will be work on your part.
Ask the clerk, "Where is this made?" and learn to say "No thank you". Find it somewhere else or find a substitute.
It seems that every year Christmas comes earlier and stores begin their holiday displays right after Halloween. These big ships work overtime this time of year. They can't build them fast enough.
Try something different this year, tell your friends, ask the clerk. "Where is this made"?
Maybe you could help create a job?
This is what I do: HERE
5 comments:
True words, Jerry.
Must say I love your little art stations and putting them on wheels (with a brake attachment) is an awesome idea! I'd add more to it, but that is the anal in me that would love to have a way to have everything in one place that I need! Let's confer!
thanks my Bohemian friend, what am I missing? I LOVE collaborative art!
It's really sad that we lost the "Made in America" standard and products isn't it. What's also sad is that if you ask the clerks where something was made the majority of them wouldn't be able to tell you nor would they try to find out.
Well, Jerry, I sometimes work in different mediums. I'm picturing a put downable (sorry, I make up my own words at times) easel t.hat allows you to work either on an easel or a flat top (which I often work on, especially when doing watercolors). Needs to be enough room to lay down the palette on the work top to the right (or left if the artist is left handed, which I think many are). Maybe the could come with the jars in place (screen on bottom for the turp), another to hold simply water, and of course, the holders for brushes (which I think you have already). I know when I am working from a reference on the computer (sometimes...oftentimes...I don't have enough ink in printer to print it out so work right from the screen), I never seem to have a good way to set things up, so you could go even a step further and make it kind of u-shaped so the computer itself could sit on the third side.
Love the idea of the wheels but do think it would need those brake things added so you didn't inadvertently push it while painting.
What do you think, Jer? (Am I scary or what???) 'Course, my additions mean more expense and it might be prohibitive for many, including myself, but whew! What a station!! LOL
What I liked though, is the one where a contractor in Montana built a house of all-American goods. He made a list and other contractors can use it to buy the goods for what they build and many sounded interested in the idea. Now a grassroots movement like that could go somewhere and I hope it does. He made it easier for others to follow his lead.
Have you noticed that WalMart labels its goods as made in the U.S. or imported! They just put a generic tag on everything. I thought that was against the law. We can't tell if something is made here or not with their labels.
As for consumption, it's not just foreign goods we are addicted to; we are just plain addicted to buying and we need to stop! Why do we need this year's blue sweater over last year's blue? Why do I need a closetful of shoes? Why do I need a laptop and a tablet (if I could come up with a good reason, I'd have one but I haven't gone beyond just wanting one yet and that isn't quite good enough)? We have too much whether its foreign made or American made. We need to stop funding our economy on non-stop buying.
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