CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- We have been bombarded recently about outsourcing -- the shift of manufacturing goods to places where labor costs are lower. For a long time, my own conviction was, "Buy only American made!" After all, any dummy knows that raw materials and wages originating in the USA spread prosperity throughout our economy.
All the 19 vehicles I have owned were built by Ford, GM or Chrysler and members of the United Auto Workers except for a brand new one made by now defunct AMC, which was an original source of the Romney family's great wealth. The company was then headed by Mitt Romney's father, George, who made huge profits by selling shoddy junk under a "patriotic" company name -- American Motors.
That 1960 model AMC was the only lemon among those 19. It received two engines, three transmissions and a complete front suspension in three years, by which time the body was horribly rusted out. It all started not long after their 90-day new car warranty expired.
Conversely, I drove the same 1968 GMC pickup for 25 years until it suddenly threw a rod. Never any major repairs. My 1987 Chevy truck is celebrating its silver anniversary.
Proof some "American made" is good, some isn't.
By the mid-1980s, Zenith was the only company still making TV sets in America. I paid $799 for a 27-inch one, rejecting Japanese brands selling for $300. That most Americans shopped price, not patriotically, soon afterward shut Zenith down. The next TV I bought, 16 years later for $325, a 27" RCA, was "Assembled in Mexico" (using parts made in Asia).
Why can't we find clothing, shoes, housewares, any kind of electronics or even a yo-yo "Made in USA?"
Our envious standard of living, fueled by wages far above those paid in third-world countries, makes the production cost of many consumer goods here so high that most people simply cannot or will not pay the price American manufacturers need to stay in business.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- We have been bombarded recently about outsourcing -- the shift of manufacturing goods to places where labor costs are lower. For a long time, my own conviction was, "Buy only American made!" After all, any dummy knows that raw materials and wages originating in the USA spread prosperity throughout our economy.
All the 19 vehicles I have owned were built by Ford, GM or Chrysler and members of the United Auto Workers except for a brand new one made by now defunct AMC, which was an original source of the Romney family's great wealth. The company was then headed by Mitt Romney's father, George, who made huge profits by selling shoddy junk under a "patriotic" company name -- American Motors.
That 1960 model AMC was the only lemon among those 19. It received two engines, three transmissions and a complete front suspension in three years, by which time the body was horribly rusted out. It all started not long after their 90-day new car warranty expired.
Conversely, I drove the same 1968 GMC pickup for 25 years until it suddenly threw a rod. Never any major repairs. My 1987 Chevy truck is celebrating its silver anniversary.
Proof some "American made" is good, some isn't.
By the mid-1980s, Zenith was the only company still making TV sets in America. I paid $799 for a 27-inch one, rejecting Japanese brands selling for $300. That most Americans shopped price, not patriotically, soon afterward shut Zenith down. The next TV I bought, 16 years later for $325, a 27" RCA, was "Assembled in Mexico" (using parts made in Asia).
Why can't we find clothing, shoes, housewares, any kind of electronics or even a yo-yo "Made in USA?"
Our envious standard of living, fueled by wages far above those paid in third-world countries, makes the production cost of many consumer goods here so high that most people simply cannot or will not pay the price American manufacturers need to stay in business.
Here's my own recent "outsourcing" experience.
Word aficionado me became horribly bored by Scrabble(r), so I invented WordWile(r), which overcomes all of that 75 year-old game's many shortcomings. Instead of desperately trying to make a word, any word, WordWile players concentrate on choosing bonus-scoring "wily" words from the scads they can readily create every turn -- such as, among many other things, rhyming with or forming a synonym or antonym of a word already played.
Adult-level participants use eight especially designed plastic cubes, each having at least one vowel and five consonants. Play begins with100 cubes stored in and drawn "blind" from a black velvet pouch.
USA mass production of the outer box, rule booklet and pouch were low enough to keep WordWile quite affordable. (See details at wordwile.com.) But even the best quote I could find for letter cubes "Made in USA" would have forced the retail game price to over $300. A company in England bid low enough we could retail for $199. Who would pay that for even the smartest, most educational tabletop word game in the world? Not alphabetophile spelling nut me, nor most sane people.
It seemed the project was dead until we connected with some English-speaking Chinese manufacturers' reps. They obtained a cube quotation that, even including shipment from China, prices WordWile at $34.95, thus making into reality, a venture that employs West Virginians, Chinese, and haulers between.
Perhaps one day, wages around the world will be equalized? I wonder what effect that will have on innovation, entrepreneurship and the availability of lobster?
Cook is an author, artist and inventor who lives in Hurricane.
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