Posted on 08/24/2003 7:03:07 AM PDT by cp124
Many won't be back; take shopping cart and check out why
07/20/03
By LEE ROOP Times Features Editor lroop@htimes.com
Two people walked into a Huntsville Wal-Mart last week on a challenge: Spend $400 on products made in America.
Two people walked out of Wal-Mart one hour later after randomly checking 40-plus items. Only 10 were made in the USA.
It isn't just Wal-Mart, America's largest retailer. Imported goods line shelves elsewhere, too. But what that means for American workers is the subject of a new economic debate.
"It's a huge issue," Wal-Mart spokesman Bill Wertz agreed Friday, confirming the import trend. "Customers are looking for value ... we try to stock what our customers want to buy."
New Hampshire economist Russ Thibeault threw out the Wal-Mart challenge July 10 on "Marketplace," an award-winning public radio show about the economy.
"Take a trip into your local Wal-Mart and spend your tax refund check on stuff that will generate U.S. jobs," Thibeault said in a commentary. "Chances are your shopping cart will be pretty empty when you get to the checkout counter."
Thibeault was discussing the strange fact that America's economy has been out of recession for well over a year, yet it continues to lose jobs. The National Bureau of Economic Research said Thursday that 1 million jobs have been lost during this recovery.
Many of those jobs aren't coming back, Thibeault thinks, despite tax cuts and strong consumer spending. They aren't coming back because they've moved overseas.
Hence, the Wal-Mart challenge.
Walking into Wal-Mart with a Times reporter was Randall Collier, 37, of Rogersville. Since 1987, Collier's primary business has been buying industrial sewing machines from plants closing here and shipping them to new plants in countries such as Peru.
"For every machine I sell," Collier said Wednesday, "there goes another American job."
Collier is promoting a new venture. He's trying to establish the USASells.com Website to give consumers a place to find American-made products.
"I don't know of one product we don't make," Collier said. "But if people don't start (buying here) now, they won't have a job themselves."
The Wal-Mart challenge was to spend the check coming soon to all American families with children. Congress this year increased the tax credit for raising children by $400 per child, and the money will be "advanced" to taxpayers in the form of checks beginning in a few weeks. The minimum check for a family with one child is $400.
Inside this typical Wal-Mart, clothes greet customers first. Clothes for the new school year would be a logical purchase with any cash windfall.
Virtually every brand is made overseas, including those with strong American images.
Levis jeans: Made in Cambodia.
Faded Glory shirts: Bangladesh.
Hanes underwear: Pakistan. Fruit of the Loom underwear: Honduras and El Salvador.
In the infant section, Cosco infant child seats are made in America, but Cosco playpens are made in China. Many companies seem to have one foot over the border.
A Disney "Winnie the Pooh" bear for baby? Made in China.
Fisher-Price diaper bag? China.
New shoes would be nice for fall.
Dr. Scholls? Made in China. Starter sneakers? China. Faded Glory sandals? China.
Curiously, America still makes the shoe strings and cushion insoles.
"Can we mention these?" Collier says, holding up a Murina brand T-shirt. It's a rare brand made in America.
"See these? These are Tee-Jays," Collier says. "They were in Florence, had 2,000 employees. They sold out. They're made in the Dominican Republic now."
The pattern continues across the store.
Foster Grant reading glasses? China.
Silk flowers? "All China now," Collier says. "They have a major distributing center in Haleyville."
Fabrics? India. China. Some are printed in America on imported fabric.
Rubbermaid and Igloo coolers? Made in the U.S.A.
Zebco fish fryers? El Salvador.
Rawlings baseball gloves? U.S.A.
Wilson, Prince and Head tennis rackets? China.
Black & Decker drills? Assembled in China.
Stanley hammers? Mexico.
Murray lawn tractors? The first in a line outside the Wal-Mart was made in Lawrenceburg, Tenn. The second? "Assembled in Lawrenceburg, Tenn."
Wal-Mart spokesman Wertz said the retailer stocks American items and regional favorites where it can. An Alabama example is Chilton County peaches, he said.
Wal-Mart also helps producers of American products like Denver's Orange Glow cleaner by selling that product in Wal-Mart stores abroad, Wertz said. The company has a special office devoted to that effort.
What economists wonder now is whether an up-and-down cycle of imports and exports has become a steady downward trend.
Collier estimates more than 5,000 textile and manufacturing jobs have left the Shoals area since the economy went global.
"And when (laid-off workers) went on unemployment, they went to the cheapest place they could to shop," he said. "They took their unemployment checks and went to Wal-Mart."
WalMart has gone downhill a lot since Sam died and most of what they sell is crap.
I have one of those Super K-Marts near me and normally use it now rather than WalMart.
Remember the Army Black Beret fiasco a few years back?
To add insult to injury, the black berets were also made in places like China etc.
China is most definitely not engaging in free trade, they have tariffs and are manipulating the market and devaluing the Yuan 40%. Besides this they use slave labor.
I agree that China's trade practices are unfair, however, the US is regulating itself to death already. Overregulation is the reason why our products are produced outside the US.
It's not just the cheap labor. It's the overall cost of doing business. The labor is only one factor and, by itself, is not the cause of the job loss.
The overal economic and regulatory climate in the United States is becoming hostile (anywhere from moderately to vehemently) to productive business in general and manufacturing in specific.
IMO, we need to keep every industry that is vital to our strategic national interests. Even if we have to subsidize them somehow. Otherwise, our life, our survival, as a nation becomes dependant on the benevolence of our enemies and potential enemies.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.