As we prepare to usher in a New Year and a new decade with an ongoing unstable and uncertain economy, there is evidence that the New Year's resolution on the minds of many Americans is to pay more attention to domestic products when making their purchases.

Gerald Celente, an American trend forecaster and publisher of the Trends Journal, is an author who has made several accurate predictions about the global financial markets and global economy.

According to the Washington Times, Celente accurately forecast the 1987 stock market crash, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the 1997 Asian currency crash and the 2007 subprime mortgage scandal.

So what is Gerald Celente forecasting now? Here's prediction number eight on his top nine trends list for 2010, which can be viewed at this link:

8. Not Made In China. A "Buy Local/My Country First" backlash will be the first sign of what we forecast will become a massive, "circle-the-wagons" movement. As economies continue to decline and even more jobs are lost and/or sent abroad, it will be seen as politically incorrect and financially self-defeating to plunk down money to enrich multinationals at the expense of local and domestic producers.

Celente, who has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, The Today Show, CBS Morning News, and NBC Nightly News, had this to say in December 2007:

"Failing banks, busted brokerages, toppled corporate giants, bankrupt cities, states in default, foreign creditors cashing out of US securities ... whatever the spark, the stage is set for panic in the streets" and "Just as the Twin Towers collapsed from the top down, so too will the U.S. economy ... when the giant firms fall, they'll crush the man on the street."

With all due respect to Mr. Celente, I suppose you wouldn't really have to be a rocket scientist to make the "Not Made in China" prediction, but certainly an individual with this kind of track record can bring some comfort through validation for what has become a popular point of discussion in the media and on several prominent conservative and progressive talk shows. Even the White House has signaled that "jobs" will be a top issue after the health care debate is settled.

The only variable surrounding the "jobs" issue is how best to protect, save or create more jobs for Americans, but the American people spoke pretty clearly in a December 2, 2009 Gallup Poll.

Out of 14 different answers given to the question "What would be the best way to create more jobs in the United States?" 18 percent of Americans responded with "Keep manufacturing jobs in the U.S." "Lower taxes" came in second at 14 percent and "Buy American" garnered four percent of responses.

In my opinion, however, the "Buy American" and the "Keep manufacturing jobs in the U.S." responses can be easily combined to equal 22 percent because they are really two different ways of saying the same thing. If we buy American, we are essentially keeping manufacturing jobs in the U.S.; and if we keep manufacturing jobs in the U.S., it's largely because we've been buying American if the law of supply and demand is any guide.

So let's hope that American trend forecaster Gerald Celente is correct, but we can certainly help this prediction become a self-fulfilling prophecy by voting with our dollars and buying American in 2010 and beyond.

The beauty of a Buy American strategy is that we can be voting with our dollars while we hold our elected officials accountable at the same time. Our legislators could pass all the laws either for or against buying American that they want, but no legislation can override the free, patriotic choices of the American people.

If we as consumers leave foreign products to rot on the shelves and instead opt for buying the American ones, there isn't a political strategy our legislators could devise that would thwart such a united effort. This is why buying American is potentially more powerful than legislation. As potential patriotic consumers, we possess much more power over our economy than we realize. Let's use it.

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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