Indignation sparks

I can't remember when I started getting indignant over not having the choice of buying something that was not made in China. Oh yeah, perhaps it was back when Thomas the Tank Engine was painted with red paint containing lead, even though the European parent company had banned use of lead by the Chinese manufacturer. I remember reading how when the warehouse site visit was taking place, the workers were covering their tracks by hiding the material. I remember thinking about embargoes against Iran, Iraq or all things French including french fries. Those were for political reasons. But what about China? Doesn't the Chinese government remove people's kidneys unwillingly, sell fake pills to patients with malaria, and wipe out acres and acres of forests by industrialization of land? That is not even considering the torturing of political prisoners, a frightening agenda of a secret mafia and USA's alarming silent stand?

As I am a local food buyer and labor supporter, I tried to look around for things made in USA. If you have the same goal as I, Good Luck to you because you ain't gonna find much. I would love for someone to explain to me why the heck not? Are shoppers in American that attached to cheap junk that they can't even support their own domestic economy? That vacuum cleaner is gonna go in a year, I promise you. Not only are we creating a carbon foot print the size of Big Foot by buying material shipped over a thousand miles, we are just as responsible for US economy when the arrow showing unemployment goes up higher and higher.

I, for one, a very lonely one, have decided to spend my money mostly not on things made in China. If there is a Chinese citizen who makes great underwear, furniture or chinese herbs, I have no issues with their purchase. I will not, however, buy all the cheaply made, cheaply relegated to the chinese work force goods that flood the US markets today.

I will vow to look for brands that are not made in China and support them by giving them my business. If that means my money will stay in the bank for a very long time, so be it. Perhaps that is not such a bad thing.

Look for my next blog as I tell the woeful tale of trying to buy a pair of shoes.