In a few minutes, President Obama will begin speaking about the state of our national finances. I am looking forward to hearing what he has to say on the issue. I often wish that the national advisors would listen to ordinary people; it seems that everyone in a position of power has the ability to be frivolous in their spending. When someone can spend millions of dollars on campaigning, how can they really understand what everyday people are going through?
If someone were to ask me about my opinion on the financial crisis our country is facing, I would tell them that it was inevitable. Any time you are spending more than you make, you are setting yourself up for failure. For the last several decades, we, as a nation, have been spending more than we make. We are outsourcing our jobs to other countries in order to lower the prices we pay at the grocery store. It seems that everything you pick up is stamped “Made in China.” Yes, buying things which are produced in bulk like this makes things cheaper to buy at big chain stores like Wal-Mart. However, you have to look at the effects this outsourcing is having on the structure of our country and weigh the benefits with the devastating consequences. Every item we buy, which is made overseas, is something that is NOT being produced in America. Every trip to fill our shopping carts with foreign-made products is another job lost, another factory closed. Our country must seek to balance out our jobs. We cannot afford, as a country, to import more than we export. We need to bring manufacturing jobs back to America.
My challenge for everyone who is reading this right now is to go for one month without purchasing anything which is made outside of America. I have not done this up to this point, but for the next month, the month of March, I will only purchase items which boldly proclaim “Made in America” on their label. If you want to take me up on this challenge, feel free to leave a comment and share your story with myself and the other readers of this blog. If we support American industries, we will help keep jobs in our country and in the long run, will help the economy.
President Obama has pledged to help by “Ending the tax breaks for corporations that send jobs overseas.” Let’s help him out in his attempts to make America recover by no buying from these corporations for a month, it is the least we can do. Just think of the impact this could have on our economy if every American did this for a day…a month…or even a year… After all, “It is time for America to lead again.”
In the next few days, I will be responding to the things I heard in President Obama’s speech, feel free to share your reactions to what you heard as well.
To access the text of Obama's Speech
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/obama_text
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Hi Erin, just catching up on some reading since I haven't been by recently. I have to say I enjoy watching your journey and have gotten some great ideas from you. This one is by far my favorite. I've been trying to buy American as much as possible even though it means spending a little more at times. I started with stopping buying gas from Citgos etc and then started watching the other products I buy. When I first started it was because I was angry, I was angry that gas was so outrageous when we have plenty of oil in the U.S., then I got angrier ever time there was recall on a childs toy or samonella or another bacteria discovered in foods, needless to say this goes on and on but what really angered me the most is everytime some toy or item for children was recalled it was an item "made in China". I say buy American not only to keep our money here but to take one extra step in keeping our families and children safe. What is your take there? Keep up the great writing.
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