Made in the USA

Over holiday break, my brother, mom, and I are currently visiting my cousins in the greater Boston area and while spending some time here, we've spent some time sightseeing historical sites.  A few days ago, we took a walk over the North Bridge in Concord.  The North Bridge is the starting place of the Revolutionary War and is famously dubbed as the location where the, "shot heard 'round the world" was fired.  The bridge crossed over a small river and led to a gravel path which wound up a hill to a little gift shop-museum building.  We bought a small ornament there to serve as a testament to our visit and as a pretty addition to our Christmas tree at home.  We joked around as to where the ornament was made since it was such an American artifact and things are so often made in other countries like China nowadays.  I pored over the small ornament, which has a picture of the minuteman statue, to find that it was hand painted in Russia.

I thought to myself, "I'm at one of the most important sites in the United States' history and they sell items made in other countries here?"  It was funny at the time due to the apparent irony, but I later thought about how lame this actually was.  There was no authenticity in the ornament now besides the fact that we actually bought it at the North Bridge.  However disappointed I was, the ornament is still nice and we are still happy with it.  So how important is it that something is genuinely authentic if the product is the same or better?  Also, if the ornament couldn't be painted as well in the United States as it could have been in Russia, then maybe we are doing the site better justice if it's painted in Russia.


According to North Carolina State University economist Mike Walden, "Now 12 percent of the durable goods that we buy are made in China, but only half of that 12 percent is using Chinese inputs.  The rest China does by assembling parts that come from other countries."  China is, of course, the primary source of the U.S.'s foreign imports.  If you watch the video to the right, ABC News reports that 98% of the clothes made for the United States are made overseas and the majority of that is from China.  The report also shows the massive price difference between Chinese and American factory wages, the root of outsourcing United States jobs, which has helped to fuel the current economic crisis.


All of this is somewhat besides the point as it pertains to the ornament we bought in Concord, but it is still relevant in terms of the current economic situation in the United States.  The fact is that the ornament we bought is about something strictly American, yet it was made overseas.  I'm sure there are Americans who could paint the piece just as well.  No matter how well they could paint it, though, the odds are that the American would charge more for their work than the Chinese, Hondurans, or in my particular case, the Russians.  Why is this?  Why does someone in China work all day for $14 and someone in Michigan for $88 a day?  Is this something that is at the root of Americans' ideals?