Goals for BuyAmer1can
Encourage and Educate Americans To Purchase Products ‘Made in the USA’
Sadly, American consumers are motivated by one criteria when making a purchase; the retail price. It is crucial to note that all purchases have not just a retail price but a social and political price as well. You may be saving a few dollars by buying the imported product but please consider the social implications as well. Every dollar spent domestically has a multiplier affect. The baker pays the bricklayer, who pays the butcher, who pays his rent, etc. Once the dollar is spent on an imported product, the multiplier affect dies. Consider a simple fact. For every three dollars each American spends on domestic products, it equates to 10,000 jobs created or maintained. That is as simple as a bottle of wine or six pack of beer. During these traumatic times, each purchase carries a crucial power to influence and improve economic change. Please look for or ask for Made in America products.
Address the Economic, Social and Political Hardships due to Imbalanced Trade
Lately, there has been considerable banter about the trade deficit with China. But it reflects only a slice of the big picture. We currently run trade deficits with 13 of our top 15 trading partners. For 2018 our trade deficit has approximated $800 billion dollars. This is the equivalent of about 3.5% of our GDP. In other words, it is like shipping 3.5% of our economy overseas every year. A trade deficit is a job deficit. In other words, we employ millions overseas via our purchase while not receiving in-like-kind from our trading partners. Manufacturing jobs generally pay better than those in the service sector and they tend to provide better benefits such as health care and retirement investments. We have always been a country where the middle class has been vibrant. Our social (and therefore, our economic and political) fabric requires opportunity; please do your part to provide it.
Recognize and Support ‘Made in America’ Companies
Most Americans are shocked by this statistic: America makes more than Japan and Germany COMBINED. Yes, America still makes stuff and products are everywhere, even in dollar stores and discount stores. The key is to look for them. Next to your home, the largest purchase one makes is an automobile. Even though many Americans harbor negative perceptions regarding quality, the Big 3 do quite well especially when compared to European imports. J.D. Powers 2019 Initial Quality Study showed that Ford, Chevy and Dodge fared better than the industry average while BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Volvo, Land Rover and Jaguar lagged drastically behind. Besides automobiles, we still make large ticket items such as washers, refrigerators, camper trailers, boilers and farm machinery. The bottom line is to ask for (demand?) American products and purchase accordingly.
Moderate the Trade Deficit
Since 1988 our trade deficit has grown dramatically. This has been caused by two reasons; American companies moving overseas and due to consumers malaise on a product’s home base. Each decade the gap has becomes more and more pronounced. In 1988 our deficit was 118 billion dollars. Ten years later that number ballooned to $230 billion, an increase of 95%. By 2008 our deficit reached $816 billion, an increase of 355%. We continue to run deficits in that range ever since. Now that we are in the midst of an extraordinary economic melt down, the need to stimulate our economy is even more pronounced. It is our duty, as Americans, to consciously make decisions that help our neighbors. Yes, think local, buy local but that needs to be amended to think American, buy American.
