It’s getting harder and harder to find things that are made in the good ol’ USA.
Just a cursory review of some of the items in my house demonstrates this fact vividly. For instance, the remote control to my television was made in Mexico.
One pair of tennis shoes was made in Vietnam. Another in Indonesia.
My laptop was made in Malaysia.
My cell phone was made in Canada. The case I carry it in was made in Turkey.
My wallet was made in Taiwan. I’m assuming the money in my wallet — what little there is — is still printed in America.
The alarm clock next to my bed was made in China.
In fact, more and more of the products we buy in the U.S. are made in China. I can’t drink a cup of coffee without using products made in China. My coffee maker was made there. So was my sugar bowl. And my favorite "Today" show coffee mug.
And that’s just the beginning. My microwave, my favorite UGA hat, my shoeshine kit, several pictures frames, a DVD storage case, my laptop case and a pair of loafers — all made in China.
This isn’t a column about the balance of trade with China — or with any other nation, for that matter — although that is an issue we need to pay attention to as a country. We’re buying more goods from other countries than we’re selling to other countries, and you don’t need to be a Nobel economist to know the math doesn’t add up.
But this is just one man’s observation that trying to do the right thing and “Buy American” has become more difficult as we’ve become a more global economy.
It didn’t used to be this hard. Take automobiles, for instance. Once upon a time, if you bought a Ford, a Chevy or a Plymouth, you had bought an American car. If you bought a Honda or a Nissan, you had a Japanese car. If you bought a Volkswagen, you had a German car.
The lines are much blurrier today. My car, which was built by a company in Japan, is assembled at an American manufacturing plant that employs American workers. About 70 percent of the parts in my car were made in the U.S., too.
Plus, I bought it from an American car dealer, and the mechanic who services it is an American. At least, I think he is. Perhaps the next time I’m in for an oil change, I should ask to see his birth certificate.
On the other hand, quite by accident, I have discovered a popular item that is made in America.
I had lunch with a co-worker at a Chinese restaurant recently. When we finished our meal, the waitress brought over fortune cookies for both of us.
For some reason, I looked at the label on the plastic wrapper and there it was: “Made in USA.” Stone Mountain, to be exact.
When I got back to the office, I did a little research and discovered that while fortune cookies are a staple of Chinese restaurants in America, they are little known on mainland China. In fact, fortune cookies were created in the U.S., in either Los Angeles or San Francisco, depending on which story you believe.
So we’ve got fortune cookies going for us, and even though it’s a small step, it’s at least one product that we don’t have to buy overseas.
Take that, China.
