Wear Jeans? Why Made in America Matters to You [View all]

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Economy/Wear-Jeans-Why-Made-in-America-Matters-to-You

10/24/2012

Celeste Drake

"Wear Jeans? Why Made in America Matters to You" is a cross-post from the Youth Monument blog, by Celeste Drake, trade and globalization policy specialist at the AFL-CIO.

“Buy American.” “Made in America.” In today’s interconnected world, those ideas might seem more like leftovers from the Cold War—not important maxims for America’s future. After all, young Americans are drinking Colombian coffee in the morning, skyping with friends in the U.K. at lunch, buying a made-in-China iPhone in the afternoon and drinking Italian wine in the evening. The idea of “Buying American,” or economic patriotism, might seem quaint, if not outright ridiculous.



Fact is, making things in America isn’t an obsolete idea. It’s how we built this country into the largest economy the world has ever seen. And it’s imperative for America’s future.

In 2011, the United States had a trade deficit of nearly $560 billion, fully $295 billion of which was a deficit in goods trade with China. These deficits are not just about dollars; they represent our ability as a nation to make the things we consume and the products and technology we need to defend ourselves. The iPhone may represent itself as proudly “designed in the USA,” but for how long? Eventually, the designers and engineers want to be close to the production lines—it’s simply more efficient. And if none of those production lines are in the United States, the good design and engineering jobs soon won’t be either. And for those of us concerned about job creation, giving up on manufacturing is simply silly—there’s not a one-to-one relationship between designers and those who physically make the product anyway.

FULL story at link.