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NEW YORK (KABC) -- As lawmakers look for ways to add jobs during these tough economic times, there is a renewed effort to buy products that are made in America.
Today, more than half of everything Americans buy is made oversees. If every American spent an extra 1 percent on U.S. products, that's 18 cents per day, we could create 200,000 U.S. jobs, according to Moody's Analytics.
Money well spent. And it's not charity, because you are buying a superior product (which lasts longer and where the cost of ownership is lower overall), from a company with good labour conditions. Makes a lot of sense on many levels.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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It's getting harder all the time, unforutnately to find something made in the USA. Even harder to resist the cheaper products with such difficult economic times. That, of course, making it worse.
Many, if not most products labeled with very familiar names are still manufactured in China or elsewhere now. My Ford Ranger was assembled in Minnesota, but the engine was made in Germany, the Transmission in France. After watching a Food Network program about cast iron cookware made in Tennessee by Lodge, we bought an enameled dutch oven. When a big hunk of enamel came off the bottom in our soup the first time we used it, we read the fine print on the box - it was made in China.
Motorola and other U.S. electronics manufacturers have factories there now too. I recently discovered that the same item (cell phone batteries) can be bought from China at 1/6th the price and free shipping. Will it hold up like the one made here? Who would care, if you can get 6 for the same price.
The era of Cheap Chinese denim is over – says a report by Telegraph , UK.
The rising labour costs in China coupled with the effect of Cotton price is killing the Chinese denim exports. The retailers who had a great time buying very cheap denim and retailing them as low as $5 - $10 will now have to shelve out much more amounts to get similar quantity .
The era of cheap Chinese denim is over and if you have any extra money right now you might do yourself a favor by investing in one, two or maybe a couple dozen cotton jeans because prices are about to go to the moon.
I took this warehouse photo about six weeks ago those three small stacks there's 120 bales and with cotton selling for $1.25/lb there's $78,000 worth of cotton in that little pile.
If you really want to see money that nobody else sees look inside a warehouse with 80,000 bales.
On February 10th cotton was $1.8758/lb Commodity Prices – Cotton | Commodity Blog and then today I noticed today it's up to $2.0445/lb. That pile of cotton in the photo that was worth $78,000 six to eight weeks ago is worth $127,676 today.
When you see inflation remember what the government tells you it's all in your mind.
Don't feel to bad for the poor cotton farmers either.... at $0.60 they turn a profit. This year is gonna be a good year. In most regions a farmer can expect a yield of 600 lbs per acre (in 2008 some achieved an average yield of 808 lbs/acre) that is over $1,200/acre yield and at a cost of $350/acre you wonder how a poor 300 acre Mississippi dirt farmer can scrape by with a $255,000 profit.
40% to 50% of denim cost is raw material. The cheap jeans you've been getting from China haven't been made with US cotton it's been Pakistani or Chinese cotton up to now. But there is a problem and that is giant crop failure in both Pakistan and China which has devastated denim production in China.
The Chinese can not purchase high priced American cotton, ship it, make the product and ship it back and make a profit. The simple fact is there have been no profits Chinese manufactures for two years now.
Now for the good news on the job front (bet you were wondering what all this had to do with jobs) is mills across the south are starting to reopen! I am working on one in the planning stages now, it's a new mill, that is over 225,000 sq. ft. (that is a big building in case you were wondering) and will employ over 600 workers.
You are going to start seeing our industry that went overseas come back home but not because anything government did but simple economics.
These are jobs I can get excited about. They're $12 to $15/hr jobs that do provide a family with a steady income and almost always have medical benefits. I wouldn't want to work there myself but millions of families would love to have a job like this right now. Also consider what it does to a local economy to have 600 paychecks averaging $500/week cashed in a small town.
We really need these jobs.
So, a piece of advice again, if I were you and I had a few extra dollars I would go out and buy a pair of jeans.
Very interesting post, nicet4. Of all things I imagined could come back to the USA, I never figured textiles was one of them. At least, not this soon.
I hope unions do not ruin this (once again) fledgling US industry. Can you please provide more info here, links, etc. I am looking to invest in new things stateside (I am Canadian) and would like to pursue any opportunity like this, especially a sustainable one that creates so much quality employment, and which can grow. I might just PM you on this.
Tonight they are supposed to reveal how much they spent.
I haven't watched the entire series, but are they making the distinction between American made with all 100% American resources, or just put together in America?
We have a bedroom set that has American products, sent to another country for processing and then sent back. Where would that be on their list?
Tonight they are supposed to reveal how much they spent.
I haven't watched the entire series, but are they making the distinction between American made with all 100% American resources, or just put together in America?
We have a bedroom set that has American products, sent to another country for processing and then sent back. Where would that be on their list?
Only if it was their only option. They had a problem with the kitchen applicances. The only ones that were 100% American Made were top of the line and very expensive and out of the reach of most people (can't think of the name of it), so they went for a compromise.
Very interesting post, nicet4. Of all things I imagined could come back to the USA, I never figured textiles was one of them. At least, not this soon.
I hope unions do not ruin this (once again) fledgling US industry. Can you please provide more info here, links, etc. I am looking to invest in new things stateside (I am Canadian) and would like to pursue any opportunity like this, especially a sustainable one that creates so much quality employment, and which can grow. I might just PM you on this.
Unions won't happen south of the Mason Dixon line.
Maybe they work just fine to bring prosperity to a northern town like Detroit or Cleveland but not so much down south.
It wasn't that these jobs were sent offshore they simply disappeared because cotton overseas was so cheap.
Sitting on a bale of denim in an idled factory, 24-year-old Wei Xiaofeng has a message for the West - the era of Chinese factories churning out dirt-cheap goods is over.
Contrast this to news was from just two years ago.
International Textile Group Inc. has cut 100 jobs at its White Oak denim-manufacturing plant in Greensboro — about 25 percent of the work force.
As far as investing in what I don't have a clue. I am a working stiff and will always be a working stiff.
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