It all started for me when I was looking to buy a Christmas bicycle for my granddaughter. I went to all the usual places, Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart, and etc. To my amazement and utter disgust the only bicycles I could find were made in China. I went on the Internet and searched for American made bicycles, there are a plethora of them.

They are slightly more expensive than the cheap Chinese bicycles, however, considering you are getting a product made in the United States of America by American workers, and considering the product is much superior to the Chinese product, I didn't mind the extra cost at all.

Since that time I have looked on the Internet for just about everything I feel I want to buy at any given time:

• Shoes, (American made)
• Socks, (American made)
• Shirts, (American made)
• Pants, (American made)

I have a very extensive list of products that I have bought in the past year that are all American made. When I walk into a store for a particular item and upon looking at the label find it is made in China, I put it back and continue my search until I find what I am looking for made in the U. S. A.

Everybody talks about the economy being the main reason for the lack of jobs in the United States of America; of course, the economy does have much to do with it; however, the fact that in the past 20 years the largest percentage of our (use too be) American manufacturing companies have moved all of their product manufacturing to other countries, Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, Canada, Philippines, and most of all to China because of the cheap labor, is the biggest reason we are in the lowest job market in history in the U. S.

I have gone so far as to stop buying my (use too be) favorite beer, All American Budweiser, since they sold out to a foreign company. I now drink only small label beer made in America. It is such a shame when you go into a store like Wal-Mart, which I consider to be an extension of China and see hundreds of people filling their shopping carts with all those foreign made products, if only ½ of them would discontinue buying those Chinese made products I feel we would see an extreme upward movement in the American job market.

So if you or any of your friends are looking for a job and you continue to purchase those foreign made products you have nothing to gripe about. It may cost a bit more to always look for American made products; but, you will at least have the satisfaction of knowing you are doing your part to bring America back to being the world leader in product manufacturing and supplying jobs for American citizens.

rellis39@sbcglobal.net
www.californiachile.com

Dated: 08/10/09