I feel guilty. My American ass has been selfish. Even before I had kids I looked around my home and wondered… Did a six year-old slave make the rug in the living room? Did a nine-year-old make my high thread count sheets? Is that nine-year-old sleeping on a floor with rats? I became lazy with my Made in America rule.
Child-labor laws? Please… do child protection laws work in other countries as they do at Penn State? Furthermore, arms length transactions make it easy to buy from company to company to company. Supply and demand puts the head in the sand.
My laziness paid off in guilt when I noticed my American outfit was not so American. My Levi’s were Made in Cambodia and my J.Crew shirt was Made in China. Although, my J.Crew shirt was purchased before the company agreed to sell to TPG and Leonard Green. Nevertheless, I still wonder…who made my socks, bras, rubber band, alarm clock, phone and coffee maker?
In the meantime, I will try to remember one flaw does not represent the mass. For me, blaming the sphere is the same as thinking that one small positive will not make a difference.
What is interesting is how many “American” brands are made overseas and how many “Foreign” brands have set up shop in the U.S. to manufacture their goods in this country. For example, my Subaru was built in Indiana. Many Chevy’s, Ford’s and Chryslers are built in Mexico and other countries and GE builds ALL of its jet engines in Brazil. (The company also eliminated 34,000 US jobs since 2001 and added 25,000 jobs in foreign markets).