How you can still buy American

By Karen Aho

Think nothing's made in America anymore? Not so.

The United States has a robust manufacturing sector, the largest in the world.

It's just that our export strengths -- airplane parts, industrial machinery, wheat, corn, meat, soybeans, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors -- aren't enough to offset the foreign goods that line retail shelves.

We buy a third of the world's consumer electronics but sell only 4%. Nine out of 10 items of clothing we buy are made elsewhere, mostly in Asia. All told, we import goods worth $750 billion more than we export.

That's almost a whole economic stimulus package. No wonder we're willing to believe the worst: that we've lost the ability to make it ourselves. But we haven't. Consumers can find U.S.-made retail goods right now, if they're willing to look and willing to pay.

In the longer term, consumers who want to buy American can pressure their lawmakers to enforce trade laws and restock the shelves: withdrawing tax benefits for offshoring, for example, and enforcing anti-dumping and other trade laws already on the books.

"It's a lot better than just ranting endlessly on bulletin boards," says Stephanie Sanzone, a working mother who started StillMadeinUSA.com, which lists companies that manufacture, at least in part, in America. "Don't feel powerless."

How much is American-made? Wal-Mart won't say

In 2008, the U.S. trade deficit with China accounted for roughly $73 a month in spending for every man, woman and child in America.

Wal-Mart, widely credited with driving up the volume of low-cost goods imported to the U.S., won't disclose what percentage of its products are made in America other than in the produce aisle (70%). Nor does give it preference to domestic manufacturers, identify its U.S.-made goods or train its employees to find them. Customers have to check the labels.

"We work to provide the best value for our customer regardless of country of origin," company spokeswoman Linda Blakley says. "Part of this is, what's manufactured in the States? It may not be possible to source it domestically if there are no domestic producers."

Whether that policy accurately reflects the sentiments of the 138 million Americans who shop at Wal-Mart each week is difficult to gauge. Poll after poll points to a preference for locally produced goods -- a preference that seems to crumble in the face of the extra time needed to locate them or extra dollars need to buy them.

But the goods are out there, and they come with many fewer concerns about who might have made them and how safe they might be to use. When the Chinese government ignores laborers' rights, subsidizes producers and manipulates its currency, critics say it falsely prices its goods and undercuts the competition.

"Absent that, would it really be cheaper to ship that 8,000 miles from Beijing to Kansas?" says Michael Stumo, the head of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, a nonprofit that promotes trade-policy reform.

The cost of buying American

Item	Price	Item	Price
Kids tricycle		4- by 6-foot cotton U.S. flag
The Original Big Wheel (made in U.S.)	$34.99	United States Flag Store (made in U.S.)	$32.95
Fisher-Price Hot Wheels trike (imported)	$45	United States Flag Store (imported)	$23.95
Men's bluejeans		Large hunting knife
Pointer Brand (made in U.S.)	$24.95	Buck Knives, BuckLite MAX (made in U.S.)	$43
Levi 501 Original (imported)	$39.50	Buck Knives, BuckLite MAX (imported)	$41

What's it to you?

Consider a standard 4- by 6-foot cotton American flag. The United States Flag Store has two versions available: domestic for $32.95 and imported for $22.95. If you weren't buying a flag, you probably would grab the cheaper item and not even think about:

• Health and safety. U.S. regulatory agencies, notoriously underfunded, inspect less than 2% of produce entering this country and rarely, if ever, check Chinese production facilities. China has recently exported poisonous toothpaste, baby formula, toys and dog food.

• Environment. "It's the same water, the same air, the same earth," says John Ratzenberger, the host of the TV show "Made in America." "And China is the most egregious polluter ever."

• Labor conditions. "Sweatshops are the norm and not the exception in the global apparel industries," says Eric Dirnbach of Unite Here, a union representing textile workers.

• Customer support. Buy local, and a live person may answer the phone. (Really, it's true.)

• Jobs. Empty mills litter America, along with the towns they once served. For every job in manufacturing, studies say, an additional five are created. "If all we do in our lives is look for bargains, we're going to bargain ourselves out of a livelihood," says Richard Kline, the president of the AFL-CIO's Union Label and Service Trades department.

• Long-term change. Advocates say people get addicted to buying U.S.-made goods and start taking real action: pressuring politicians to pass fair-trade laws.

"Someone who only buys American-made goods but doesn't participate in politics is only doing part of the work," says Mark Levinson, the chief economist with Unite Here. "We need both. We need socially conscious consumers, and at the same time you need the right policies."

• Video: David Letterman on buying American

Government can dictate how its money is spent. Military and postal uniforms are made here (preserving nearly 25,000 apparel jobs), as are U.S. flags on federal property. The buy-American provision of the recent stimulus bill requires that infrastructure projects seek domestic iron and steel before imports.

Beyond that, it's left to consumers to demand, and pay for, U.S.-made shoes.

Continued: Where to start

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