Winter! Ha! Bring it on! I am ready for it in my new American made coat.
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Wow! The Rec List! But I am taking this as a Rec for "Made in the U.S.A." products, not for my ability to communicate ideas.
My new Made in the U.S.A. winter coat and leather belt are on the way. (The order was over $100.00, so free shipping to boot!) The coat is union made. The belt isn't union made but it is still manufactured in South Carolina. I placed the order yesterday morning and the products shipped yesterday afternoon.
I won't advertise for the company that I purchased the items from, but you can easily find a company that manufacturers products right here in America by Googling "Made in the U.S.A.".
Call me sentimental or naive, but I am so happy that I finally decided to stop succumbing to the notion that there is nothing practical that I can do to help save jobs in this country. There is.
The first thing I decided was that I would not let the siren song of cheap imports dictate where I would buy my winter coat. While money is always an object in these tough times, I believe that if I did in fact have to pay more for a coat made in the U. S.A., the chances are pretty good the product would last longer, thus justifying the cost. In reality, I have no way of knowing how much a cheap imported coat might cost these days. The only comparative shopping I did was between American made products.
The second thing I decided was that I didn't need the coat today, now, immediately. The easy thing to do would have been to just hop in the car and drive to any one of the three Walmart's that are within five miles of my house. No. That wasn't going to happen this time. It did mean that I would have to overcome my aversion to buying things online. I have resisted that trend for the most part, but, in order to get a good selection of clothing made in the U.S.A., one almost has to go to the cybermall.
I have decided from here on out, I will make every attempt to buy American made products. I will try as best I can to give companies that make their products in the U. S. A. the first crack at my business. And, if they are union, they will go to the front of the line.
I am sure there will be those who will argue with me on why buying American is hopeless. They will give endless reasons why it doesn't matter where I buy my products or even that buying cheap imports is somehow actually better for our country in the long run. Well, I am done arguing. I am acting now.
I think NAFTA and the WTO are the absolute worst things for our national economy and it makes me sick that a Democratic president put his signature on both treaties. But it really does seem useless to show my displeasure with my party by not voting for them since the alternative (GOP) is much worse. But at least I can support those who I consider some of the most loyal Democrats - labor.
Here is a web site I found that may be of interest to some:
http://www.howtobuyamerican.com/...
Here is a little video from the Ed Show on the subject of buying American: