Jobs Mob US
The Difference Beyond Indifference: Why Made and Purchased in the U.S. Matters
By Michael Dumond, MS/MBA 8/29/10
This website was created in the midst of the great job loss recession of 2008-2010. It occurred to us that our trade deficit was part of the problem, along with our individual choices as consumers. Millions of U.S. workers have been replaced by cheaper labor in the interest of economic “efficiency” (if labor cost is considered as an input into the equation of the production and sale of goods and services). From a narrow economic standpoint – you know the image of the econo-geek with a calculator who doesn’t consider the emotional and social cost of high unemployment, efficiency in a free market is good. Resources are being produced and consumed at the lowest possible price, and that’s good for everyone, right? We would not argue against evolution, progress and efficiency. Inefficient systems should be required to change, update, adapt or be allowed to go out of business. That seems fair and sustaining that which cannot make it on its own seems foolish if not impractical. But there is a consequence to the U.S. worker whose services are no longer needed due to being replaced by a less costly laborer (or machine) outside the U.S. Anyone who has lost a job or knows someone who has lost a job understands these hidden and unaccounted for costs; family stress, diminished self-esteem, financial ruin, and sadness.
Looking beyond the individual cost, the economic cost to our whole society should not be ignored. Every job lost means a person idled and wages for production ended. Instead that person collects unemployment and perhaps other social welfare supports such as food stamps. Once the unemployment runs out the person either finds a paying job or may remain idle, neither producing income or goods and services. Meanwhile other jobs spring up as the economy changes. Perhaps the person can be retrained? But what happens when there aren’t enough jobs generated within the U.S. to hire all the people who need to be working in order to pay their bills and just simply survive? Many of those former workers would need to be supported by their families and friends who still have jobs, while some without a support system would become homeless. They will become broke and broken.
The question we haven’t been asking as a country is does this have to happen, or is there a way to reverse this trend? Business school taught me that there is a business cycle where products or services are offered to the market, production increases with investment and a profit is made, and then often there is a peak and a period of decline as competitors enter the market and produce and sell the product at less cost or at higher quality. This ebb and flow is normal, expected, and is the reality of efficiency in a consumer driven economy. We as individuals have the right to pick and chose what we buy and we often do so with quality and price as our primary concerns. That’s life in a free market world.
But what if U.S. consumers (yes, that means you and me and the rest of the mall mob) could find products of comparable price and quality that were made in the U.S. and made outside the U.S.? Honestly, most of us would not bother to notice, and many of us would still opt for the product produced outside the U.S. for reasons of style and sometimes perceived status. If anyone who reads this strongly disagrees that this is how most consumers behave when making purchasing choices, please send me the study or data that proves this assumption wrong.
My point is this: we have become indifferent to this variable of buying U.S. made goods. Indifferent is defined as having or showing no preference, interest or concern, uninterested or unmoved. We want what we want, and we like to believe that we should do as we please with OUR OWN MONEY! I am not arguing against that. I am not out to curtail or regulate your freedom of purchase power. But what I am asking you to think about making a conscious effort to buy goods and services made in the U.S.A.
I presume you are still with me and that you would consider this idea of developing a purchasing preference. But I suspect you (and I) need some greater motive for bothering to take the time to determine what U.S. made purchases we could make. So here’s the motive: JOBS. That’s it, simple and straight up. Maybe it is not your job you would be saving – at least not immediately. But if you care about having enough jobs to go around for those neighbors, friends and relatives who need to and want to work, then you can do something about it by targeting your purchasing behavior towards U.S. produced goods and services.
How hard is it to do that? Well, you would need to know how to find information about what is produced in the U.S. and what is not. Our website will help by providing links to this type of information. Next you would need to commit to actually practicing a more conscious consumption.
Still not convinced that this shift would make any real difference? Let me offer one example. Recently my wife purchased a Ford Focus. The price and quality of the car was comparable to other brands that were not produced in the U.S. We researched car quality and value on the internet, and that leveled the purchasing field. Did it really matter? Well, buying that car helped Ford keep workers employed here in the U.S., and the money paid for the car went back to Ford, to be used to continue producing more cars. The auto dealer made a small profit and will use that to order more Fords, knowing that there is a good chance it will sell.
You'll also need to express your preferences. If the Ford Motor Company knows that it’s important to American car buyers that the product was made here, the company will make more cars here. Likewise, foreign owned auto makers interested in selling to the American market will be encouraged to produce cars here.
Perhaps you would think that one car purchase can’t possibly make much of a difference. Sure, if it was only one. But imagine this transaction repeated thousands of times per week all across the car lots of the U.S., and you can see that every transaction matters in the cumulative picture of total car sales.
These trends have been developing for decades and you have to wonder if one person can really reverse a global wave? Each person who wants to put a little thought into his or her buying behavior can do what is best for his neighbor and ultimately himself and start a new trend towards U.S. jobs-preservation.
What you do can matter and make a difference. Made here and purchased here can make a jobs preservation difference for us all and it starts with each of us getting beyond our own indifference.
