It was not long after I originally moved to California that a former manager gave me some advice – “Todd, Here you are what you drive.”  Meaning I should probably go out buy a BMW or Audi. I proceeded to buy a Saturn. Today, years later, I drive a Ford Escape Hybrid. I never understood why someone should go into a lot of debt to buy too much car.

Recently, an acquaintance who works at a retail store shared how she tracks who to give good service to in this age of casual clothing – by the watch the customer is wearing. Again the watch topic came up, as a guy spent his bonus on an extraordinarily expensive watch, deluding himself that it was an investment and shows he is successful. Actually the truly rich people I know often wear cheap watches.

If we care about image above all else, perhaps we are what we drive or wear – just consumers.

If what we drive and wear is real quality at a fair price, and made by other Americans, what does that make us? In my opinion, it makes us true Americans.

An image is certainly not more important that than the real thing. Yet so many people would spend, even borrow, to try to reach something that seems big. However, that which they pursue is ironically just a façade.

Sincerely,

Todd Lipscomb

Founder of MadeinUSAForever.com

Recently I was watching some TV when a Wal-Mart ad came on. My first reaction, “Oh, not another one claiming to tell us how much they are saving us.”, but this one was even stranger.

It showed a mother with a young child in a shopping cart. They were rolling along, when the mother realizes baby has lost a sock. Rather than turn around and look for it, like I can say as a father of two kids happens all the time, Mom giggles and tosses a new pair of socks in the cart. Next, oops, baby spills his drink all over his shirt, and again carefree Mom laughs and grabs another new one.

What is their propaganda trying to teach us? It is OK to throw away anything at any given moment because Wal-Mart has lots more? That just because something is cheap, we do not need to properly care for it? That blind consumerism is ideal?

What kind of people do they think we are, or want us to become? It’s scary that such shallow behavior could be displayed as an ideal.

As usual, Wal-Mart is focused on increased business without consideration of the other costs. For instance, what of the landfills, not to mention the energy and natural resources it took to produce those products and ship them here from China (Wal-Mart being by far the biggest single importer from China).

This also reminds me of the issue with Wal-Mart destroying local competition. Many years ago, my first reaction was that Wal-Mart was “doing it better”, so they deserve their success at the expense of local competition. Now I understand it is the independent and small chain stores that are a mainstay of those still buying American made products. Importing $50 billion a year of cheap Chinese junk without regard to the lost jobs, damage to the environment, etc., gives Wal-Mart an unfair price advantage no local store can match.

It seems Wal-Mart would turn us into consuming drones, who blindly fill their cart even while they undermine our economy and environment.

However, we do have a choice. We can choice where we buy. We can choose to buy American made products. We can choose quality over consumerism.

Sincerely,

Todd Lipscomb, founder of MadeinUSAForever.com

MadeinUSAForever.com is your source for American made products.

It was just over 20 years ago when the Soviet Union collapsed under its own weight. It turned out the feared Soviet Army with their thousands of heavy tanks was just a shell. Those tanks were literally sitting idle with no fuel, which they could not even afford to fill. The Soviet invasion of the West, described in fiction like Red Storm Rising, proved to be no threat at all years before it was suspected by the Western public.

Here we are barely two decades later and those tanks are rolling through America’s ally Georgia. It’s as if the old Soviet army is not just back, buy invigorated. Putin’s bizarre comments comparing the elected president of Georgia to Somoza are telling in their arrogance and lack of even caring about actual facts. It seems Russia would again rather be feared then respected.

What has changed? Our (The USA and Western Europe’s) dependence on energy imports from Russia has surged. The USA is now up to importing nearly 60% of its oil. Over the last few decades, literally hundreds of billions of dollars have been transferred from democracies, to countries that do not care about freedom, like Russia, Venezuela, Iran, etc. to pay for energy. The Soviet economy was bankrupt in every sense of the word, but this massive injection of wealth has enabled them to pursue a new imperialism.

We, The USA, have two massive deficits we have deal with – Yes, the $300 billion dollar trade deficit with China is undermining our very future, BUT (as if that was not enough) we also have a similarly massive energy deficit that we MUST meet head on.

Whether it is conservation, wind, nuclear, ethanol, hydrogen, hybrids, increased drilling, buying America made etc. it is imperative for our future that we proceed rapidly.

Join me in doing what we can locally (I bought a Ford Escape hybrid), and pressuring our so called leaders to take some real action for a change.

Todd Lipscomb

Founder

MadeinUSAForever.com your source for products made in the USA.

Hi Team,

I have done over thirty radio interviews recently, but just had my first television interview. I was on Comcast’s CN8 last July 15^th, regarding the buyout of the American icon Anheuser-Busch and how to find products made in the USA.  The broadcast was from Maine to North Carolina and here is a link to the interview on YouTube.com:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZv9FeVQwOI

Please view and let me know what you think. Also, the more people who view it and rank it five stars, the more YouTube will raise its ranking – meaning the more folks will have the chance to hear about where to find American made products.

Thanks!

Todd Lipscomb

Founder

MadeinUSAForever.com

The dollar has significantly weakened against currencies that trade freely in the past year. The biggest factors were significant reductions in U.S. interest rates compared to foreign countries and the economic situation here compared to other countries.

When Bernanke and the Fed realized the real estate bubble was bursting and cut rates to try to stem the tide, other countries, particularly the European Community, left their rates high. As our rates dropped and other countries rates stayed high, it makes the U.S. dollar less appealing, as people/companies/countries can earn more interest in British Pounds, European Euro’s etc.

We as a people should also keep in mind that lower interest rates are in effect a tax on anyone with more assets than debt. For example, a retiree with $100,000 saved was earning $5000 per year on those savings at 5%, but is only earning $3000 per year at 3% — a painful sudden cut for many.  The relative silence on this issue from groups like the AARP, etc. surprises and disappoints me.

The weak dollar has spawned some good news, like a factory featured in The Wall Street Journal in Wisconsin re-opened recently. I am never going to complain when we get ANY good news, but if a 10% shift in the dollar can spark such and opening, what will happen with the dollar eventually shifts back the other way?

Also, several of our biggest trading partners, particularly China, do not let their currency trade freely against the dollar. In effect, the weaker dollar against the Euro has also weakened China’s currency against the Euro too, as their currency is tied to ours. This is a huge trade advantage the Chinese have that our government does nothing to try to make the playing field equal.

Thus, the gains in manufacturing here from the weak currency will only be temporary unless we make further real changes.

Free trade needs to be modified to take into account artificial advantages of other countries – like a fixed currency or their lack of environmental pollution controls.

In my many years living abroad, I never saw “free” trade going both ways. It is always wide open shipments to the USA, while many barriers shield our so called partners.

What can we do? Here is a start:

1)      Encourage investment in manufacturing, research, and renewable energy in the USA through very low taxes.

2)      Force the government to deal with these trade issues.

3)      Hold retailers accountable for dangerous products they import.

4)      For goodness sake, we as a people need to care about where the stuff we buy comes from. It is either made by our neighbor or in China…

Please join me in making America strong again.

Todd Lipscomb

Founder

MadeinUSAForever.com

Hundreds of American made products available at www.MadeinUSAForever.com. For example, tools at http://madeinusaforever.com/totforgu.html.

]]> http://blog.madeinusaforever.com/uncategorized/40/feed/ http://blog.madeinusaforever.com/uncategorized/housing-bubble-damages-american-economy-caused-by-delusion/ http://blog.madeinusaforever.com/uncategorized/housing-bubble-damages-american-economy-caused-by-delusion/#comments Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:03:03 +0000 Todd Uncategorized http://blog.madeinusaforever.com/uncategorized/housing-bubble-damages-american-economy-caused-by-delusion/