Never before has a presidential campaign addressed buying American so directly. In the 2008 presidential campaign, John McCain talked about creating jobs by selling American-made products into foreign markets, and Barack Obama started a "Buy American ? Vote Obama" campaign in August.
Governor Sarah Palin said "We need American energy resources, brought to you by American ingenuity, and produced by American workers" while Senator Joe Biden says he wants "to pull up to the gas pump in an American flex fuel car, and buy a gallon of biodiesel or E85 made in America, grown by farmers...in Iowa."
All candidates realized this American economy is going to be a tough for American consumers for at least the rest of the year and probably most of the next. One simple way to support American jobs is by shifting your American purchasing dollars to American-made goods. But how do you do that in the wake of an unstable, unpredictable, and uncertain economy without breaking your budget?
The good news is that there are ways you buy American this Christmas and beyond and spend less money, too. Simply visit any of the websites listed below and type in special code "HTBA" to get 10 percent off your entire purchase. I've mentioned some of these companies before in past articles, but I feel they are worth mentioning again to let patriotic consumers know that they can save money and keep their dollars in American where it should be at the same time.
At All American Clothing Company (www.AllAmericanClothing.com) you can not only get 10 percent off all of your purchases, but you can now also get free shipping with an order of $99.00 or more.
All the apparel sold at the All American Clothing Company website carries the "Made in USA" with the exception of one brand in some instances. Carhartt products are made both in Mexico and the United States, but All American Clothing does not carry the imported products on their site. The tag or label of the American-made Carhartt jeans has been approved by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to say "Made in USA," but these tags can also say "Made in USA of Mexican components" since some of the denim for the American-made Carhartt jeans is sourced from south of the border (approximately 22 percent).
So why does All American Clothing Company still offer the American-made variety of Carhartt products? Because they want to help keep the USA division of Carhartt in the USA so the American workers making these products can keep their jobs.
It?s great to be able to support companies that make 100 percent of their products in America, but the reality is that the list of these types of companies is a very short one, so we must also strive to support companies that still make a significant percentage of their products in the USA as well, or they may be forced to eliminate more of the American workforce they still employ.
For example, since New Balance makes only about 30 percent of their shoes in the U.S., should we avoid their products and risk losing their six American factories (up from four just a few years ago) just because they don?t make all of their shoes here? Of course not, especially when major competitors like Nike and German-owned Adidas and Reebok make none of their shoes in the United States (Adidas acquired Reebok in 2005). You can see all the American-made New Balance shoes available here http://www.nbwebexpress.com/madeinusa_nb.htm (the 10 percent HTBA discount does not apply on this website).
Another way to get 10 percent off your American-made purchases using the HTBA code is to visit the USA Coffee Company at www.USACoffeeCompany.com (make sure you hit the "apply" button after entering the code). Only American workers and American jobs are involved when you buy any of the many types of coffee from the USA Coffee Company, which grows all of its coffee in the great state of Hawaii. From the growers & pickers and packers & shippers to the freight & delivery and packaging & materials, the USA Coffee Company is true red, white and blue from tree to cup.
Only American workers and American jobs are involved when you buy any of the many types of coffee from the USA Coffee Company, which grows all of its coffee in the great state of Hawaii. From the growers & pickers and packers & shippers to the freight & delivery and packaging & materials, the USA Coffee Company is true red, white and blue from their trees to your cup.
If you aren?t sure if your current coffee mug is made in USA, then you might look into one of USA Coffee?s acrylic or ceramic American-made coffee mugs. And you can sweeten your Hawaiian coffee with genuine Maui sugar.
You can also save 10 percent using the HTBA discount code on a wide variety of American-made goods at www.MadeinUSAForever.com where they're proud to say they're "doing something real for our economy." Truth be told, we've been too much about idealism and not enough about independence in this country for too long. One way to secure that independence we all celebrate once a year on July 4th is to secure the American market for the American producer by supporting American-made products.
We can no longer claim to be an independent country if we continue to have our manufactured goods supplied by foreign producers. There is a distinct connection between independence and manufacturing, and we cannot claim to be able to keep one while we abandon the other. In 1809, Thomas Jefferson said "The spirit of manufacture has taken deep root among us, and its foundations are laid in too great expense to be abandoned." And now, maintaining that "spirit of manufacture" Jefferson once spoke about by patronizing the right kinds of producers who choose to stay in America and employ American workers just got easier and cheaper.
Roger Simmermaker is the author of How Americans Can Buy American: The Power of Consumer Patriotism. He also writes "Buy American Mention of the Week" articles for his website www.howtobuyamerican.com and is a member of the Machinists Union and National Writers Union. Roger has been a frequent guest on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, has been quoted in the USA Today, Wall Street Journal and US News & World Report among many other publications, and is now a weekly contributor to WorldNetDaily.
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