Buy American... Like Me

I made a decision today, a decision that, if everyone in this country also made, would go a long way towards solving our current financial dilemma. I decided, for the next 30 days, to buy only American-made products. No Sony or Sanyo, no GAP or Nike, no off brands imported from China or Pakistan. If it doesn't say "Made in USA" I ain't buying it.

Unless it's second hand. I decided that I will check out thrift stores as I'm stocking my new apartment because buying second hand means not pulling something new from the production chain, whether it's a foreign or domestic one.

You see, part of the problem that resulted in our economic meltdown – a big part – is the fact that whereas up until the mid-70's we had a trade surplus, the largest in history. Simply put, we produced and sol more than we bought.

But all of that began to shift in the late-70's. We flipped over from having a surplus to a deficit, and we've never looked back. Today it's nearly $800 billion, or 7% of our GDP. That's a lot of buying and very little selling internationally. For a nice fable on the mechanics of how this all came to be check out this Warren Buffet-penned article from 2003: America's Growing Trade Deficit...

The point of this is twofold: For one, by buying foreign we are sinking our own ship. As our deficit grows out of control the dollar is increasingly devalued, inflation rises, people can't afford to pay for the things we import cheaply but sell high.

The second half of this equation is that by buying American we protect the atmosphere on a global scale. When products are produced here they don't have to be shipped halfway around the world, saving tons of carbon (literally) from entering the atmosphere. We are essentially shopping locally, with the whole of the United States counting for "local."

So, I am pledging here and now to buy only U.S. produced goods for the next 30 days, longer if possible. It won't be easy – lots of label reading required – and probably more expensive too. But the goal is a worthy one. If I can ween myself off foreign-made goods maybe others will be inspired to as well, and with an increased demand for Made in the USA stuff local production will increase, jobs created and the environment protected.

Hey, it's worth a shot...


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Some links to help you shop American-made:
http://www.madeinusa.org/
http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/
http://www.madeinusa.com/

http://www.buyamericanmart.com/