Yesterday I went by REI Co-op, an outdoor products supplier. I perused sleeping bags for K (I've had a good quality down one for years) and found that every single one they had was made in China. Then I looked at vests they had on sale. (I figured if everyone thought a vest was enough to keep them warm, maybe they knew something I didn't. It just seems like half a coat to me.) Again, none were made in America. Their REI house brand, Patagonia, North Face, Marmot, Sierra Design....none made here. A few were made in Vietnam, Bangladesh, or Indonesia, the rest from China. The same with bicycles. My one ray of hope was in kayaks. I found one I like very much that was made in North Carolina. It made my short list. Actually it's a list of one. It was a rather depressing trip.
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I have to work this afternoon and again next Sunday afternoon, but after that, the weekends are all mine. Unfortunately, my weekdays will be all mine, too. I haven't heard back yet from the doctor who I bid recently. I do know they visited Friday with a banker I referred them to, so things are moving, just at a snails pace. But after I get the current home I'm working on finished in a couple of weeks (photos forthcoming), and until I get a firm contract signed to start another, I'll be effectively unemployed. It isn't as bad as it sounds as there will still be a nice income stream from the recently completed home. Trouble is, I don't like to rock. Or whittle. :(
S
I sympathize with you on the Buy American First idea. I also try to do this whenever I can but it is a struggle. As for your leisure time, the only thing I'm qualified to give instruction on is painting, so let me know if you decide to pick up a paint brush.
ReplyDeleteI find whittling to be dangerous but I am intrigued - used to do it alot as a child (I'm from Texas - yes I had a knife and yes I cut the shit out of myself more than once - if you ain't bleeding you ain't working - damn that was redneck huh?)
ReplyDeleteThe bikes we are coveting - where are they made?
I have Asia covered with my bikes; one each from China, Taiwan and Japan. The one I rescued from the river was made in Czechoslovakia (when there was still a Czechoslovakia.) Bikes built in USA or Canada are very pricey, due to the hand work involved and the low production.
ReplyDeleteGoing back decades, I'm old enough to remember when "Made In Occupied Japan" was a standing joke, and would have been the fodder for late night comedians, if such has existed in the late forties & early fifties.
ReplyDeleteBut by the late 70's, had I needed a pacemaker, I would have been darn more comfortable with one made in Tokyo than Detroit! They learned, and learned fast & well. It is indeed a pity that they demolished American businesses in the process.
I suspect that unencumbered by laws which requires quotas of unskilled workers or expensive feel-good modifications engendered by the ADA, foreign businesses will continue to improve and continue to gain market share over the ones in this country.
This gives me no pleasure whatever, because I remember when American WAS all the things our lying politicians claim it is now. fin