While one recession ended back in 2009, warnings touted by the news are that we just may be headed for a “double-dip recession.” Psychologytoday.com is loaded with articles about money, financial fear, market madness and more, presumably to help us to cope. And with every news clip we see regarding S&P downgrading, NASDAQ falling and foreign markets failing, we put even more and more breaks on our own spending.
One the one hand, a personally smart thing to do in tough economic times, but on the other, polar opposite to fueling our economy. However, there’s another very smart thing that many of us are overlooking and have overlooked for years - buy American.
According to economyincrisis.com, “Too many of our dollars spent on foreign manufactured products are spent directly on imports, including…strategic items like electronics, computers, transportation…and other machinery.” We buy more from China and Japan than we sell to them, and many American manufacturers have gone out of business as a result.
With 60% of everything we buy being made overseas, the bottom line is this: when you don’t buy American, Americans lose their jobs, companies shut down, towns become ghost towns, kids go hungry, the middle class disappears and our economy suffers. We all know someone right now directly negatively affected by our buying overseas. And we can stop.
There are easily recognizable products that are made overseas, and granted many competitors do a better job – cars, electronics, clothing. But there are also many products that we don’t even consider such as food items, household and cleaning supplies, cosmetics and furniture. Americans now need to embrace more than ever that less is more and American made is first and foremost. Every time we pass on that more popular foreign name brand, we put money into an American company and give it a chance to once again become “the” name brand. And every time we slap down that made in America dollar, it stays in America if the product is made here.
According to madeinusa.com, “Once Americans start buying more American goods the demand for them will increase. As a result of the rising demand, more factories or plants will be developed. Many good job opportunities will then be available….in higher paying fields. Americans will be on better economic standing. That means they will once again have high buying power. Rising profits for American base business and their employees will take place. All of this combined will keep the U.S economy and its citizens financially healthy.”
Madeinusa.com also points out that it’s up to our government to inform all of our citizens to buy American and how important that is right now. The big question we keep asking over and over is, “Just what is our government doing?” Other than a lot of recent bickering back and forth between Republicans, Democrats and the White House over raising the debt ceiling, resulting in the U.S. getting another economic blow when Standard & Poor’s downgraded the country’s top-notch “AAA” credit rating late on Friday to “AA+”, it doesn’t seem like a whole lot.
Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve Chairman, on Meet the Press this past weekend warned that the debt crisis in Europe could greatly effect our economy as well with as much as one fourth of our export products going to those countries. He even went as far as saying a double-dip recession “depends on Europe, not the United States. The United States was actually doing relatively well — sluggish, but going forward — until Italy ran into trouble.” The take home message…if you can’t buy American, then at least buy European.
Join Dianne Sawyer and ABC News by taking the ‘Made in America’ Pledge. In the coming weeks, “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer” is launching a groundbreaking series, “Made in America,” focusing on American manufacturing and our economy, and the series will help all of us pay closer attention to just where we can do this. Their website is loaded with a lot of useful information as well.
Made in America TV News Series
Understandably, many of us will take a wait-and-see approach to investing and making big purchases, but some are unavoidable and still our day to day needs continue. Buying American is one place we can and need to make a change. To be smarter for our country and the future of our children.
Individually, we may feel helpless amidst this tough economic crisis, but we can do our part. Look at every label. Research if you need a big ticket item as to which companies are still manufacturing in America. Support local companies and brands. Be vigilant and by all means, spread the word. The choice is ours.
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Check out this news story on buying American by Fox 35 News Orlando:
Made in the USA: Furniture, electronics: MyFoxORLANDO.com
