BUY AMERICAN -- One Light Bulb at a Time

Read the Labels, Advocates of New Program Say

January 20, 2010
By: Dave Rogers

The "Buy American" movement is for real, and picking up steam.

"Anti-China Backlash" Coming, author Gerald Celente Says In part because of anti-China sentiment, Celente says the "buy local" movement is going to pick up steam in the coming years - and not just in the U.S. "We're going to start seeing trade barriers go up more and more and more," he says. "It's not isolationism but survivalism. Unlike most mainstream economists, Celente does not believe trade barriers are necessarily bad for the global economy, saying there really isn't free trade today but the "dumping of products using cheap labor."

An essay entitled "One Light Bulb at a Time" is currently circulating. It goes like this:

"A physics teacher in high school, once told the students that while one grasshopper on the railroad tracks wouldn't slow a train very much, a billion of them would. With that thought in mind, read the following, obviously written by a good American ..

"Good idea .. . . one light bulb at a time . . Check this out . I can verify this because I was in Lowes the other day for some reason and just for the heck of it I was looking at the hose attachments. They were all made in China . The next day I was in Ace Hardware and just for the heck of it I checked the hose attachments there. They were made in USA . Start looking ..

"In our current economic situation, every little thing we buy or do affects someone else - even their job. So, after reading this email, I think this lady is on the right track. Let's get behind her!

"My grandson likes Hershey's candy.. I noticed, though, that it is marked made in Mexico now. I do not buy it any more.

"My favorite toothpaste Colgate is made in Mexico .... now I have switched to Crest. You have to read the labels on everything ..

"This past weekend I was at Kroger. I needed 60 W light bulbs and Bounce dryer sheets. I was in the light bulb aisle, and right next to the GE brand I normally buy was an off-brand labeled, "Everyday Value." I picked up both types of bulbs and compared the stats - they were the same except for the price..

The GE bulbs were more money than the Everyday Value brand but the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that GE was made in MEXICO and the Everyday Value brand was made in - get ready for this - the USA in a company in Cleveland, Ohio.

"So throw out the myth that you cannot find products you use every day that are made right here..

"So on to another aisle - Bounce Dryer Sheets....yep, you guessed it, Bounce cost more money and is made in Canada . The Everyday Value brand was less money and MADE IN THE USA! I did laundry yesterday and the dryer sheets performed just like the Bounce Free I have been using for years and at almost half the price!

"My challenge to you is to start reading the labels when you shop for everyday things and see what you can find that is made in the USA - the job you save may be your own or your neighbor's!

"If you accept the challenge, pass this on to others in your address book so we can all start buying American, one light bulb at a time! Stop buying from overseas companies! "(We should have awakened a decade ago)

"Let's get with the program.....help our fellow Americans keep their jobs and create more jobs here in the USA."

There are many other examples of reasons why we should buy American. Following are excerpts from Roger Simmermaker's book: "How Americans Can Buy American."

Chinese manufacturers of children's jewelry, recently forced to stop using lead in their wares, are now substituting cadmium. Cadmium, a carcinogen known to hinder brain development in the very young, is just as dangerous to children as lead, but the United States has never banned its specific use in jewelry.

Paul Midler, author of the new book "Poorly Made in China" and who worked for an American company that was making shampoo and skin lotion at a Chinese factory, describes in his book how a Chinese factory was caught changing the formula for products without consulting the U.S. company. Its Chinese partner also unilaterally decided to use thinner plastic bottles to save money.

Building Blocks of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial were made in China. Since made-in-China American flags have been used in the memorial services of those that have paid the ultimate price in Iraq and Afghanistan, perhaps this is not such a surprise.

The U.S. International Trade Commission recently approved duties of about 13 percent on Chinese imports of oil-country tubular goods, which is pipe used for oil and natural gas exploration. The next case alleges that China dumped pipe, which means selling it for less than the cost of production. A final ruling is expected in April, but a preliminary ruling has called for duties of 96 percent on most Chinese producers, said Roger Lindgren, V&M president.

General Motors is about to turn your world on its head. The new Chevrolet Aveo RS isn't going to be bland, tiny and foreign made. The move to make the car in the USA starting in 2011 will restore 1,200 auto worker jobs and score points for GM in Congress, where it counts.

"Made in China, made with the world" is the theme of an ad campaign masterminded by DDB Guoan, the Chinese branch of Manhattan-based agency DDB.

Now that we have laid down the law to our industrial trading partners, we must put tariffs on countries that employ slave labor and pay wages of $1 to $2 an hour. How can American workers compete with slave labor countries without gradually losing jobs year after year?

The $3 billion U.S. program ran over the summer and was open to all fuel-efficient cars, no matter where they were made. Now the trouble is, as U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio) sees it, the Japanese government has not returned the favor. Under that country's own incentive program, not a single car from the Detroit Three is eligible.###