Made in the USA
After being required to the State of the Union Address, required by my (extremely liberal) AP Government teacher, I prepared myself to listen to the most slanderous attacks on all Republicans and conservatives everywhere. Yet, with my C minus of last semester fresh in my mind, I decided to grit my teeth and just turn on the TV so the looming threat of possible failure would diminish. For fifteen minutes, I waited for the address to start. Obama stepped to his podium, the POTUS, the leader of the nation. I must say that I was quite surprised by what I heard on certain points.
The first thing that grabbed my attention (and probably one of the things I agreed with him fully) was the idea to “bring back jobs to America.” How many countries like China, overpopulated and out of control, are taking jobs from Americans, who could be producing the same objects at twice the quality at the exact same price? Obama’s got that right, we shouldn’t be extending China’s economy by giving them our jobs and buying their product. America’s product has five times the quality, but it’s also expensive. Why? The reason is because we tax our American companies trying to manufacture in America. Sure, the prices should be more expensive, but not so much that it puts Americans off of buying homeland products. Price is one reason, bad reputation is another, and I think a third would be that people just don’t buy enough of them to experience the quality.
This is one of my favorite stories I’ve told. My friend caught me playing with his Bowie knife (Made in the USA) and promptly took it away and brandished it, saying he would cut me if I was messing with it again. I took one of his many Japanese katanas (ironically, made in China) out of his sheath and said I would win since I had the longer weapon. So he said, “Hold out the weapon. The Bowie knife can break that thing easy.
” Disbelieving him, I did. He swung at the blade in one swift movement, and I watched at the broken blade piece flew through the air and sailed into the wall. I looked at the broken sword while my friend, completely satisfied, slid the knife into his sheath. His only gloat was this: “American made.” Yes, so in effect, logically and realistically, cheap labor, cheap price, cheap product.
It only makes sense, and were are sending that money by the shipload over to China for items that won’t last us the life expectancy of a dead cat. Why would we, the proud Americans, stoop to a county such as that, who wishes to topple our power anyway? If that labor is brought to the homeland, along with the proposed tax cuts to American manufacturers locale, We are paying our workers in American dollars, building strong, American products, and those workers are buying the American products that they made. Not a penny (or yuan) sent to China. All those shiny copper compounds are spent in America. Result? Money cycled into the economy, boosting growth, and we are paying off and no longer furthering our debt.
Winner winner, chicken dinner (a quote from my Physics teacher, who was made in Nebraska, USA) The biggest reason also that people are not buying American products is for their prices. Because of the current situation with the entire tax hikes on the homeland manufactures, Business owners are forced to lower wages, and the price is set higher for the product. A Bowie knife full-sized is around eight or nine inches worth of solid steel, and sells for around sixty bucks plus the tax. The katana I was using was bought with two others at a yard sale for twenty, original retail price being 59.75 plus tax while on sale. Cheaper and comes with two additional blades, the smallest matching the other in length.
BUT, the catch is this. More steel was poured into making the Bowie knife, making it stronger and more durable. Even when my friend managed to break it, he only broke the plastic handle, which was also pretty durable. Higher quality? Bowie by far. So, if Obama manages to keep his promise, then Americans can look forward to having higher wages, more jobs, and better quality. What more could we ask for? America should be and remain a proud country, and so therefore, we should not be doubting our own products or letting them remain unsold because of prices.
The final reason, which is now hopefully getting to be less of a problem, is bad reputation. When I was young, you have no idea how many times I heard “Ford: Fix or Repair Daily.” Simple jokes like these can cause widespread distrust or even disapproval of products, even if they weren’t taken seriously. It didn’t help that my parents buy foreign cars. Yet still, on whole, we should take pride in our product instead of bashing them. We are reflections of what we make, and if we dislike our own creations, aren’t we really hating ourselves? We cannot afford to collapse from within.
We have to realize we are the products that we make: high quality, no expense spared, sharp, and powerful, just like that Bowie knife. America has produced things that the world envies and strives to emulate, and very few succeed in doing so. America created the world’s first pop culture music, starting with Jazz, with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra (Italian American, made in the USA). Then Rock n Roll, with Elvis, whose only match an successors were the Beatles as far as widespread fame (who later decided to stay in America). Hard rock, glam rock, synth, grunge, metal, punk, rap, and all of our label companies which have the best sound mixers money can afford.
We have Hollywood, whose screenwriters, actors, editors, and special effects artists are second to none. Windows, made by Bill Gates of America. Apple, founded by hippies in the USA. All of these are consumer products, and it would sometimes help more if the CDs weren’t made in Mexico or Canada.
Less scratches and data loss, and more money to the USA. So, the next time you are in a sword shop, or any shop actually, looking for something to hang on your wall or put in your DVD player, think to yourself for a little. What lasts longer, which looks better, and what will help our economy? Personally, I’m just glad I’m “made in the USA.”
