The following essay is the winning entry for our Partnership in Patriotism 2010 Scholarship for the Puyallup, WA area.
Buying American by Courtney Bakken
August 2010
In the past, Americans were very patriotic and without thought purchased manufactured goods from American companies here in the United States. Lately, there seems to be a lack of support for our country, exemplified by people buying goods manufactured in foreign countries. This situation creates a loss in our job market and therefore depletion in our economic funds through the collection of fewer taxes. You would think by knowing this, the people most affected would start to purchase American made goods, but instead, many ignore these negative effects and base their purchases by looking only for the cheapest priced goods. Workers within the United States may be contemplating why their salaries have become stagnant, or are even decreasing. At the same time, these same workers are being hypocrites by buying goods made in foreign countries. There are many reasons as to why Americans should buy American made manufactured goods, several of which are outlined in the following paragraphs.
American made products are typically better built than foreign goods. The United States has always been a world leader when it comes to craftsmanship in manufactured goods. To say that an item is made in America means it is built to last. Many foreign made goods are inexpensive because they are not built with the same quality controls. American manufacturing processes are also typically healthier for the environment, creating a better world for the next generations of Americans.
By keeping our tax dollars within the United States, that money can be used for many essential needs. Tax money could be going to schools that need new equipment such as computers or other important supplies. Maintaining our infrastructure here at home is an important factor to consider when you make a decision as to which products to purchase with your hard earned money. Other things such as buildings, bridges, roads and other structures could be built or better maintained using our own tax dollars collected through the purchase of American made products. By purchasing American made goods, it helps us to grow into a more independent country.
When buying American, you are supporting a fair day's wages. Americans like the capability to buy goods that once only the upper class could afford. Unlike the United States, many countries in the Mideast, Asia and Africa don't have child labor laws. This creates an unsafe working environment through the exploitation of children that we in the United States do not support. Also, the product safety standards in countries like China and India are lower than those in the United States. This could be dangerous when purchasing those goods, such as the lead found in toys manufactured in China.
Another negative side effect of buying foreign goods is that we lose control of that money, which may be funneled into causes that are in direct conflict with those causes supported by the United States of America. There are currently two wars being waged against terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those terrorist groups, along with the governments of countries such as Iran and North Korea, are willing to do anything to hurt us physically or economically. If we buy goods manufactured in foreign countries, we may actually be purchasing weapons to be used against our troops. New and improved nuclear weapons are being made as we speak and our money could be going to the development of those weapons which could be used against us in the future.
Purchasing goods manufactured in America is also an excellent idea because it creates more job opportunities and higher wage rates here at home. The recent downturn in our economy has caused the loss of many jobs and businesses. For every one manufacturing job made, there are five more jobs created as a result. These jobs created would be jobs in the fields of accounting, transportation, research, office and development. If you multiply the amount of jobs lost by five, you realize the staggering consequences of losing jobs within the American economy. Wage rates will also be higher when we keep more money in the country. Money that can be circulated through the American economy will have a direct, positive effect on our wage structure. Knowing this, you would think that every American would have the desire to buy manufactured goods from the United States.
There are many reasons why we as Americans should be purchasing goods manufactured in the United States. Some of those reasons are; American made goods are higher quality; keeping tax dollars within our country helps us to maintain our infrastructure; the money used to purchase foreign goods could be going to fund causes that the United States doesn't support; and by keeping money here, there are more jobs created with higher wages. If we Americans keep up our habit of purchasing foreign made goods, the United States may not recover from our economic recession. The American Dollar will lose its value and even more of our hard earned money will be going overseas. These are the reasons why we should work together to help bring back our economy to what it used to be decades ago. Once Americans realize the benefits of buying American products, the demand for those products will increase, thus slowly pulling our country out of debt. I myself have started purchasing American manufactured goods and have warned my friends and family of the dangers that go along with buying foreign made goods.