Wow, the campaigning is just about over. Hopefully everyone
voted.
The big topic this year has been the economy and how slow
the recovery has been. Unemployment numbers have remained relatively high
throughout the summer and hopefully, whoever wins, there are plans to get
people back to work.
No big news that jobs being sent overseas has hurt our
workers, the GDP, tax collections, etc. Tax breaks for sending jobs abroad has
made it attractive to American companies. And it’s somewhat understandable.
Lowering the cost of labor increases profits which increases
stock prices which increases individual IRAs and 401Ks. It’s a vicious circle.
No one wants their savings plans to lose money but they also want to be able to
work so that they can contribute to their plans.
We recently ran a survey with our customers asking if they
would be willing to accept a price that reflects the use of products made in
the USA.
The results were surprising. A large percentage (67%)
responded that they could accept a higher price. That was the good news.
We then wanted to find out if some product names could be
substituted with a generic. For example, Kleenex shows up on a number of lists
but the schools and teachers use “Kleenex” as a generic term for tissues.
We found that most parents felt that Kleenex, Post-its and
Ziploc were brands that could be replaced with a generic product.
But don’t touch my Fiskars, Elmers or Crayola.
Here’s the rub. While Crayola manufactures some items in
their Easton, PA plant, most of their products are
produced in foreign countries. The same goes with Elmers and Crayola.
So while people want to support American jobs the most
popular brands aren’t being made here.
We’re happy to say that, except for these requested brands,
most of the items we offer are made in the USA. Maybe it will change someday.
One can only hope that companies based here start looking at ways to bring
those jobs back to help our economy.
President Obama/Romney, look at the incentives to send jobs overseas and give our unemployed a level playing field.
