We've all heard about "The Greatest Generation". Folks my grandparents age who lived through the horrors of World War II. It always amazes me how this great country came together with rations, victory gardens & scrap drives. Folks from all walks of life, old, young, rich, poor went out of their way to do the right thing. EVERYBODY did it. It was just expected. It was the right thing to do!
Rosie the Riveter went to work when all the men went off to war.
Everyone from school children to celebrities were happy to help. I realize that a great evil was in the world at that time and although we aren't fighting Nazis or fascism, we are fighting a war. America is fighting poverty and a terrible economy. I saw an episode last week of one of those news magazine shows about an entire town that has basically been wiped off the map due to loss of manufacturing jobs. When are we, as American citizens, going to wake up? Are we waiting for the government to step in as they did in WWII to encourage it's citizens to help ourselves? I don't think that's going to happen. And let's face it, even if it did in this day and age we are such a jaded generation would we actually participate?
What is the answer? I don't know. But I do know that thousands of our jobs are going overseas for cheaper manufacturing. Why? I believe the answer is simple: Greed. Companies can make more money by cheaper labor. As a result, our countrymen are suffering.
I think we need a renewed grass-roots effort in this country to BUY AMERICAN MADE PRODUCTS! If we demanded it, the manufacturing companies would have to follow our needs/demands. Our country is a HUGE consumer group. We are shooting ourselves in the foot each & every time we go to the store and buy something made in China or another foreign country.
Okay, I won't stay on this soapbox long. After all, I'm as guilty as the next person. But my New Year's Resolution for 2012 is BUY AMERICAN! We've trained ourselves to look at food labels for fat/calorie content & preservatives for health reasons. Let's now train ourselves to look for that MADE IN THE USA tag. In the end we only have ourselves to blame if we don't become more independent and bring jobs back to our cities and neighborhoods.
Maybe we need some celebrities to get on board? Who would you like to see stepping on this bandwagon? If it was COOL to buy American Made, we couldn't keep folks away!
Just my thoughts...thanks for listening!
Take good care,
Cindy
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