We've Done It To Ourselves...

I recently read a book that was recommended to me on a forum I am a member of, www.musicstoreowners.com. The book was "Big Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega Retailers and the Fight for American's Independent Businesses" by Stacy Mitchell.

What a great book. If I was queen of the world, I would make everyone in the US read it.

It is easy to see in this book, as Ms. Mitchell points out, that the loss of manufacturing jobs in the US is DIRECTLY related to our shopping habits. I'll bet that most of the clothes you are wearing at the present moment, while you are sitting at your computer, are manufactured in another country.

And we make those choices because of price. I can remember when I was a young girl, if something said "Made in Japan" it was of suspect quality, but if it said "Made in China" there was no doubt, it was bad. But while Americans were sitting around taking their good jobs for granted, turning out shoddier and shoddier products, the Chinese were busy working hard to improve their factories and quality control, still willing to work for less money.

Now I know that here lately there have been several warnings about overseas quality, as in the toothpaste that we are getting and the lead paint on the toys. But for the past several years, we have as a people been perfectly willing to shop for the lowest price goods at Wal-Mart instead of finding American made goods at a higher price. Or at any price.

And folks, if you read this book you will see that Wally World is not the same company that it was when Sam Walton owned it. It is now a true corporate giant that controls the manufacturers with a tight grip, and the manufacturers are bowing to the giant in order to get the big orders and bring in the big bucks. The only way the manufacturers can maintain the "low, low prices" that Wal-Mart insists on is to move their manufacturing plants overseas to the cheapest location. And the employees that still work there who believe in Sam Walton's original vision for the company are called "Waltonites" and will probably all be phased out in the future. (you WILL be assimilated....)

For instance, I did not know until I read this book that Levi's has now closed every manufacturing plant they owned in the US. Every one. One of the great American-owned companies, one that I always equated with U.S. history, now employs NOT ONE SINGLE AMERICAN, here in the states anyway, in the manufacturing process.

And with our shopping habits, we are quickly putting American businesses out of business. If you really want to read more about the loss of American manufacturing jobs, read more here: http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?page=article&id=1955. Or here: http://www.amconmag.com/08_11_03/cover.html. Basically, you are going to find out that America is losing about 80,000 manufacturing jobs PER MONTH.

Well, you say, what about America's small businesses? They employ over half of the people in our country, and they will continue to support us. But do you support them? Or do you go to Wal-Mart or Target or Walgreen's to buy the stuff you need? Can US small businesses STAY in business if no one shops there? Well, you say, those big box stores hire people, too.

But they don't pay as well as the small business, or employ as many people. Here is a quote from the book mentioned above:

"Between 1983, when Wal-Mart opened its first store in Iowa, and 1993, when the company had expanded to 45 superstores, Stone found that the state lost 555 grocery stores, 591 hardware and building-supply dealers, 161 variety stores, 88 department stores, 291 apparel stores, 153 shoe stores, 116 drugstores, 111 jewelry stores, and 94 lawn and garden stores."
-Mitchell, The Big Box Swindle