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Made in America: A commentary
- Jul 19 2012
- 1
I've been meaning to post some thoughts about this Olympic uniform story for the past couple of days. Wouldn't you know, Bill McEwen beat me to it, hit on the points I would have made (the big ones at least) and did it in probably a more succinct and elloquent way.
But here are some quick thoughts (including some that came from reading his story).
1. If ever there were a time to check labels, this would be it. The Olympics are full-up on national pride. So, someone probably should have seen this coming.
2. But really, who cares? Not us, apparently. As McEwen writes, this "is an example of people saying one thing but doing another." Check the tag on your pants. Or shirt. Or shoes. The fact of the matter is, China (and any number of other countries) makes stuff we want. At the prices we want to pay.
America makes movies and music and delicious fruits and veggies. That's the trade off.
3. McEwen's story (maybe without him meaning to) piggybacks on a larger issue.
We're addicted to buying crap. The problem with the fly-swatter in his story isn't that it's made in China. It's that the thing is a piece of junk that is designed to be thrown away. Craftsmanship (whether in that fly-swatter or an Olympic uniform or hell even a hamburger) has become of secondary importance. We want things cheap and now, regardless of where they are made and regardless of what we say in some poll.
What is the saying? We vote with our dollars.
1 Comment(s) for "Made in America: A commentary"
1. while the olympics are about national pride, that has little to do with uniforms. very few countries actually produce their own uniforms. and while ralph lauren bore the brunt of the criticism, nike got off relatively unscathed. they make the majority of the athletes gear, and shockingly (to no one) they don't make anything here. they haven't made anything here for a long time. the recent attention is little more than grandstanding in an election year.
2. i think mcewen's stats are full of shit. that is, people say they want to buy american, but they don't actually buy american. they are unwilling to pay the higher price. furthermore, buying american doesn't mean it's going to be any better quality. the particular item (amish fly swatter) probably was, but in general you can still find cheaply made american crap just like the stuff from china.