Made in the USA?

I remember a time some years ago when you would go to the store and find products that were proudly displayed as being "Made in the USA". These products were advertised using an American flag or some other patriotic emblem promoting them as products manufactured domestically. At the time, it was popular and patriotic to support these products over other foreign-made substitutes in attempts at rewarding American ingenuity and at reducing our country's dependancy on foreign economies.

As I read a recent article on CNN.com, I was struck by something that I hadn't really noticed. Those "Made in the USA" stickers aren't nearly as common, and it seems the popular thing to do is to buy foreign-made products in lieu of products manufactured within the United States. The article on CNN (Avoiding Chinese Food Products Nearly Impossible) tells of a woman and her family who have tried to minimize their support of food products that are "Made in China". She talks of how difficult it is to find any products today that are not manufactured overseas - mostly in China. As I read the article and considered the issue, I started to look around the room at the products within reach. Here's what I found:

The major components of my Dell desktop computer are all Made in China.
Virtually every piece of my Dell laptop is Made in China.
My Nokia cell phone is Made in China.
My Uniden home phone is Made in China.
My box of Kleenex tissues is Made in the USA.
My Compaq PDA is Made in Taiwan.
My Canon camera is Made in Japan.
My Hyundai Sonata is Made in Korea.
My Toyota Corolla is Made in Japan.
My Lance Armstrong LiveStrong bracelet is Made in China.
The keyboard I'm typing on and the mouse I'm using are both Made in China.
The lamp on my desk is Made in China.
My Vaseline Intensive Care lip balm is Made in the USA.
My sunglasses are Made in Italy.
My paper shredder is Made in China.
My Logitech web camera is Made in China.
My two office chairs are both Made in China.
My Orbit chewing gum is Made in Canada.
My stapler is Made in China.


Needless to say, I started to notice a disturbing trend when I started picking up every object in reach and checking where it was manufactured. Very few of the items I own - and even fewer items that involve plastic - are manufactured within the United States or even in North America. Virtually all of the items I use on a daily basis are Made in China or in some other country in the Far East.

I realize that many of the companies that own and sell the products I use are American companies whose profits are taxed in the USA, but that ever-expanding search for strong profit margins and reduced production costs has driven a significant amount of manufacturing outside of North America.

I do not know the full effect this increasing dependance on China has had on our economy, but I don't think it mere coincidence that China and India - two of the countries receiving most of the U.S. outsourcing - have seen their economies explode with growth over the past decade and that the international value of the U.S. dollar has steadily declined over that same period.

If American companies continue to outsource increasing amounts of manufacturing and service operations to countries overseas, then I expect the U.S. dollar to continue to decline in value and foreign import taxes to continue to climb. I expect the economies of China and India to continue to grow and expand and to threaten the United States as the world's primary economic superpower.

It was just ten years ago that I remember seeing the "Made in the USA" sitckers promoted and displayed prevalently. I can only wonder - and worry about - what the state of our economy and our dependance on foreign manufacturuers and service providers will be in another ten years.