Poor Tony

[Esther]

 Little Tony started the day early having set his alarm clock

(MADE IN JAPAN ) for 6 am.

While his coffeepot
...
(MADE IN CHINA )

was perking, he shaved with his

Electric razor

(MADE IN HONG KONG )

He put on a

Dress shirt

(MADE IN SRI LANKA ),

Designer jeans

(MADE IN SINGAPORE )

And

Tennis shoes

(MADE IN KOREA )

After cooking his breakfast in his new

Electric skillet

(MADE IN INDIA )

He sat down with his

Calculator

(MADE IN MEXICO )

To see how much he could spend today. After setting his

Watch

(MADE IN TAIWAN )

To the radio

(MADE IN INDIA )

He got in his car

(MADE IN GERMANY )

Filled it with GAS

(from Saudi Arabia )

And continued his search

For a good paying AMERICAN JOB.

At the end of yet another discouraging

And fruitless day

Checking his

Computer

(made in MALAYSIA ),

John decided to relax for a while.

He put on his sandals

(MADE IN BRAZIL ),

Poured himself a glass of

Wine

(MADE IN FRANCE )

And turned on his

TV

(MADE IN INDONESIA ),

And then wondered why he can't

Find a good paying job

in AMERICA

AND NOW HE'S HOPING HE CAN GET HELP FROM HIS PRESIDENT

(MADE IN KENYA )

[tugo]

Too funny Esther They call it globalisation, I think. Every thing changes too quickly.
Tell you something, in 1960's when we were teens, we were dying to get an American "Blue Jean" and I was the only lucky one around because my father was sent to USA for a business trip and he brought for me. Although it did not fit me as size, I was very proud to wear it.
In 1970's our market was full with American goods. Now it is exactly as you wrote, here too.

[Esther]

In Michigan, we are really suffering terribly from the lack of jobs. Part of the problem is that so many companies have moved out of the country or are paying companies in other countries to made the products. But underneath it all, it is our fault as we shop for the best deals and ignore the location of the makers, not realizing we are hurting ourselves.

[Indiana Karen]

This summer my Mom cleared out her closet for a yardsale.  It was so sad to see those old clothes with "Made in America" labels.  Sure wish we could turn things around. 

[Mikey]

It was so sad to see those old clothes with "Made in America" labels.

I chuckled when I read your comment Karen.  In Los Angeles there's a large clothing manufacturing company, American Apparel, that has been under investigation for several years by the Feds for hiring people who do not have the right to work in the U.S.  As a result of the investigation, last Fall American Apparel was forced to submit employee names and Social Security numbers through E-Verify.  As a result some 2,500 employees were eventually let go because they could not prove they had a right to work in the U.S.  In other words they were here illegally.  Typical salaries of these employees ranged from $8hr to $18hr.  However, one manager who had to be fired told the LA Times he had been making $900 a week. 

I chuckled because a more correct label on those "American Made" clothes should have read, "Made in America by non-Americans"....    

[Indiana Karen]

Good grief...........so, even if we try to buy "Made in America" it's still illegals making them.......that just stinks. 

[Esther]

I heard on the radio some speaker talking about modern slavery. I wasn't listening very closely but got the gist of his speech that said, we put us such a stink about slavery but will purchase stuff made in other countries where the people are paid pennies a day and it is in essence slavery. Same thing here, we won't make laws to either keep the illegals out or else make it so difficult for them to be here illegally, so we are makeing slaves of them by letting them work and pay them poorly. Here is Michigan, we used to have a lot of immigrants who come to pick fruit and vegetables north of Grand Rapids. They were housed in little shed type places and I'm sure the conditions were terrible. I don't know if they still come to work or not.

[Mikey]

Except in the case of American Apparel the employees were paid well and treated well.  At minimum they were paid minimum wage and paid more depending on their skill level.  Their plant has AC, they receive required breaks, the employees had full health insurance and believe it or not they had a masseuse on site that would give massages to sewers....

[Brian]

I had heard awhile back that there was a city or province in China named America, so that their labels could read Made in America.  Don't know if it was true or not.
I've said for years, we need to get back to manufacturing something.  We can't sustain our country selling services, only producing goods will our nation thrive again!  Look at China, they used to be a third world country, until we started letting them manufacture all of our goods.  Now they are starting to develop interstate highways, modern metropolitan cities, you name it!  Just look how nice Beijing was for the Summer Olympics a couple of years back.

[Esther]

Pete and I were talking about this again last night and came to the conclusion that it is OUR fault---each one of us who when deciding to purchase something only looked at the $$ amount on the price tag instead of looking at the "Made in" part of the label. I'm including myself in this too as I don't usually have a clue about where stuff is made when I buy it. Now if I started to look, would I have the guts to put down the cheaper shirt made in "somewhere else" and purchase the more expensive one "made in America"?

Another thing, our government has made it too easy for these companies to move to other countries and ship the stuff back here. If there was a tax or something on the imported stuff no matter whether that company originated here or not, that put money into the government's pocket, and raised the price of the product, maybe it wouldn't be so advantageous for these companies to head elsewhere. Obviously, I'm not the first person to think of this. So what am I missing that the government hasn't seen it?

You know, it's kinda like when we criticize lawyers and the law system about high settlements for dumb things. If a judge or jury somewhere hadn't set the settlement at such a huge amount, it wouldn't matter what the lawyer did or said.