An Apology About the American Economy

I need to apologize to my college Economics professor, who I thought was out of touch and behind the times. I’d get frustrated when he would rant about the ideas of Globalization and the USA trend towards a service economy. I can still remember his harping about how “Countries that don’t create things and don’t have manufacturing are created to fail.” Another one of his favorite lines was” What happens in a Service Economy when everyone stops buying services?”  

Do you know what? My college economics teacher was right and that’s why I am apologizing. I thought you were chicken little and out of touch. I believed that manufacturing was outdated for our economy and should be sent to developing countries in order to improve their lives. We didn’t need that nasty polluted part of our economy anymore! I though NAFTA would help in the goal of nation building for South America. In my arrogance, I believed that American companies would always use American workers. I was wrong.

Throughout the 1990’s as America became more and more of a Service Economy, I thought the Stock Market and Supporting fields were the way of the future. Again, I was arrogant in thinking; our country could support a nation through white-collar administrative jobs. I thought America would be the World’s IT and Financial base. I was wrong.

Towards the end of the 1990’s, we allow companies to out source things like help desks, and other higher end services. We became like the pedigree show dog. Where it was more important to look good and rich than have real wealth, avarice was our downfall.

After 911, I became aware that there was a crack in the Melting Pot. Wasn’t it strange that President Bush wanted us to shop as a way of supporting the War? They were even nice enough to loosen credit so that we could continue our purchases.  “Shop til you drop!”, became our war cry.

Our businesses lived from quarter to quarter making Wall Street happy and putting our country and their children’s welfare last. Our weakened Government allowed Wall Street to set the pace for the country. After all, a country that does not manufacture anything becomes obsolete, we needed Wall Street to “Fuel” the rest of our system. So we became as short sighted as Wall Street, who lives and dies by the quarter year.  

I apologize to my Teacher, you were right! We have stopped creating in this country and we have became conditioned by Corporate America to believe that things made in this country are more expensive and of poor quality. Why did were we condition us this way? Well, let’s be honest, it was cheaper for companies to manufacture somewhere else, hence more profit and a better stock position for Wall Street. 

So here, we sit 22 years after I heard the lectures and he was right. My children’s generation will be the first to prosper less than their parents. In addition, my retirement fund, which I trusted to Wall Street, is gone. I was wrong; we do need to manufacture things in this country and support only the industries that come back to our soil.

So look for the “Made in America” mark on the things you buy, from food to clothes, and let us get our economy back on track. I have not heard of any of the World’s Nations offering to bail us out of our debt. Support our economy by buying American, that extra Dime you’ll spend may help your neighbor keep his home. 

By the way, don’t get fooled by the new labels saying, “Distributed by” instead of “Made in.” It’s a marketing ploy our weak government allows in order to fool the consumer into thinking the product is manufactured in America. Thanks Corporate America for outsourcing us out of a better future.

I apologize for being short shortsighted.