Many patriotic consumers, me included until recently, have been under the impression that it's impossible to buy American-made cartridges for their computer printers, for example. It's one of those areas where those that want to buy American have just accepted that there isn't an American-made alternative.

If you have a computer, you probably have a printer. If you have a printer, you must buy the ink cartridges for it. And the ink cartridges are usually, if not always, made in some foreign country.

For American-made alternatives, visit www.chesapeakeimaging.com. You'll be able to not only buy American-made in areas you never thought possible, but you'll also fork over less of your hard-earned dollars.

At the very top of the home page, you'll see a banner that reads "Quality American-Made Imaging Products." Chesapeake does offer the manufacturer's original equipment as well, but you'll pay more for the original (and usually foreign-made) version of their products.

For example, the black inkjet cartridge I need for my Hewlett-Packard printer is the HP51645A. To find Chesapeake's American-made version of the Hewlett-Packard original made in Singapore, select "Inkjet Cartridges" under "Printer Supplies" on www.chesapeakeimaging.com. On the next page, click "Hewlett-Packard - INKJET" to find the ink cartridge for the HP51645A.

The next page will display two products. The first is Chesapeake's compatible American-made inkjet cartridge for an amazingly cheap $18.95. You can also stock up and buy additional ones for even less money!

The second product is the original cartridge made in Singapore by Hewlett-Packard. If you insist on the foreign-made version and want to pay more for it, Chesapeake's price is $29.99, which is about what you would pay just about anywhere else.

So now you can buy American-made in an area you probably never thought possible and pay less money too. That's how the founding fathers envisioned that the American economy should work. Abraham Lincoln once said "By the tariff system the whole revenue is paid by the consumers of foreign goods - the man who contents himself to live upon the product of his own country pays nothing at all."

And that's the way it should be. So buy American-made and spend less money at www.chesapeakeimaging.com.

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