Recession? Let’s start a Revolution!
November 15th, 2008 at 05:42pm Bob Trojan
My wife and I decided to check out one of the biggie retail stores located the Cherry Vale Mall today, Saturday. Wow, I wondered as we drove into the parking lot around 11:30 a.m. It was jam packed and I had to park and walk from the northern edge of the lot to get inside.
Now granted, this was a big sale day but I had to fight my way inside past customers loaded with large shopping bags filled with their purchases. Amazing, I asked one of them…where’s the recession?
As I made my way through the men’s department looking for something made in the U.S.A., all I could find were articles made in China, Viet Nam, India, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Thailand, Bangladesh and Cambodia. That included suits, jackets, shirts and shoes! Not one article from the U.S.A. Of course, toys and electronics were all made in China.
Disgusted, we went for a bite to eat in the food court and nary a free table was available and lines were behind every food vendor. Where’s the recession? I asked another departing patron as I quickly sat down to secure a set for us.
As I left the mall, I thought, what we need is a good old fashioned consumer revolution, demanding that we start getting stuff made here. If all consumers, like my wife and I, refused to buy this stuff, maybe somebody would get the message.
So do you think any more stimulus will cause our economy to get better? Well, it will only cause more stuff made somewhere else and make retailers get healthy but I don’t see how it will add many news jobs. Isn’t this what these stimulus packages are supposed to do?
A good old fashioned revolution may be the only way to create jobs!
Entry Filed under: Economy
5 Comments Add your own
1. joe | November 16th, 2008 at 7:12 am
when you were at the mall did you notice what they were buying, most stores giving stuff away just to get you in the doors, like sears tonight they are running Black Friday sales from 6-9pm plus with a extra % off. So you need to look at the big picture befor you right a story. You also voted for Obama too?
2. Monkey | November 16th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I always enjoy the “Let’s Buy Stuff Made in America” threads because they always leave out one little important item; if all this “stuff” that we’re buying were made in America, it would cost 30 to 40 percent more, easily. So, Bob, are you going to start paying 30 to 40 percent more at Target, Wal-Mart, etc., and if you do, how is that going to impact the rest of your family budget?
Let’s face it, like Wal-Mart or not, the savings that American consumers get by shopping there is tremendous and allows people to spend more money in other sectors of the economy.
America has to re-tool and begin investing in infrastructure, high-tech, bio-tech, aerospace and other knowledge industries that create good-paying jobs. The days of us buying cheap stuff made in America are gone and will not come back.
3. Bob Trojan | November 17th, 2008 at 9:46 am
I realize that goods now made in China, et al would be more expensive if we made them the way we used to. But when a new business gets started, like the foreign car companies do when they start here in this country, they, like we, could start in “greenfields” using the latest manufacturing technology. That’s what Japan did after WWII and that’s what China is doing now. New plants = low costs.
Now, with the economy 60% or more dependent on the consumer (clothes, toys, electronics, etc.) then we could do well to encourage these industries.
I full agree that we need to invest in technology, infrastructure, etc. but maybe we could re-create some of the consumer product manufacturing, if anything, to give us more competition.
Stimulus money that is given to low-medium income earners will mostly be used for the stuff made, in you know, over there. Yes, maybe some to pay down debt incurred for buying stuff made, you know over there.
As far as who I voted for, this shouldn’t have any bearing on my comments, but for the record, I didn’t vote for Obama.
4. Bob Johnson | November 27th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Check out the food lines. If that doesn’t make you want to support and buy American made products than nothing will. We’ve already outsourced enough of our consumer products!
5. Bob Trojan | November 28th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Bob, thanks for the response. Check out my latest post for “Made in America”
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