As I’ve oft said, I’m just a small business entrepreneur trying to scratch out a living in the red dirt of Arkansas. The red dirt I scratch in is in the heart of Wally World a colloquialism here referring to the Bentonville based corporation of Wal-Mart, Inc.
There’s no argument here that Wal-Mart is a predatory corporation. It has gobbled up hundreds of thousands of small businesses across this nation in large part with the help of NAFTA. I still can’t believe that my beloved Bill had a hand in this smoke and mirrors "free trade" gift to corporate America.
If there’s a wiser man than I out there who can tell me how you can have "free trade" when I pay with burdens (insurance, Medicare and Medicaid matches, workman’s comp-general liability, state unemployment and federal unemployment) on top of $15-$20 an hour - and my direct competitor in China or India is paying $3-$5 an hour is fair ...I’m all ears.
In my opinion NAFTA in large part is responsible for the decline of wages and of the foundation of this great nation ...the middle class. And Wal-Mart has been one of its biggest beneficiaries.
But NAFTA and "free trade" was giving Wal-Mart heartburn. Seems that the travel expenses for the sea of buyers, IT folks ...etc., traveling back and forth to the Pacific Basin was at an unacceptable percentage on balance sheet.
So, an edict came down ...if you want to do business with Wal-Mart, you will establish a presence in Northwest Arkansas ... i.e., you come to us, we ain’t coming to you and if you don’t, the largest retailer and buyer of direct manufactured goods ain’t buying your stuff.
100’s of 1000’s of square feet of office space rose like the Phoenix and five years later, every manufacturer/vendor that has a presence in Wal-Mart stores has an office here. And for the first time in years, boats were coming from China, India, Indonesia ....ad nausem to our shores, to my little corner of the earth and not the other way.
Well that got me to thinking, that’s a pretty good model and how could we as a country get the boats and jobs coming to our shores again? Would it take new legislation?
Well that’s not happening, the very thought that our Congress would enact legislation that would protect American jobs and families not American corporate giants would be delusional. If we haven’t learned anything in the past 6 months, we should acknowledge one thing ...our Congress gets the old adage – don’t bit the hand that feeds you.
Well, as it is my Friday custom, I was trolling the Government websites that award government contracts for an opportunity for my company. The information includes who and how much. Come to find out, the largest single consumer of goods/services is ...yes, the U.S. Government. 100’s of billions of dollars every year are awarded to companies to service or supply every arm of our government. And all that money ain’t going to U.S. companies, not by a long shot.
So there it was, right in front of me! Use the Wal-Mart model to bring the boats and jobs back to the good ole USA by requiring that any goods or services used by or sold to the U.S. government has to have at least 50% of its manufacturing or production based right here! The boats and jobs would be steaming across the pond in waves I’ve witnessed it.
I’m a bit of a policy wonk, maybe just enough to make me dangerous, but by my reckoning every single US agency would simply have to just change their requirements / specifications stating that 50% of any goods or services supplied to said agency must be manufactured or produced in the US. Screw Congress and the corporations they serve.
And if that won’t work, then a signing statement by our President should do the trick. Imagine, the U.S. government forcing suppliers to use US companies ...when they are spending our dollars. What a concept.
Lastly, there would be a sense of sweet irony here. Sam Walton started Wal-Mart with the patriotic slogan "made in America" and he built the largest retail house in the world on that basic foundation. I know back in the day, that I was proud to shop at Wal-Mart because I knew that I was supporting my fellow countrymen with my purchase. Today, I spend my dollars elsewhere.
Wouldn’t it be something to have our government pick up that mantra "we buy American". By doing so, jobs and some of our manufacturing base would be heading back home. Something like this just might restore a sliver of pride I once had in my country. God knows I could use it.