Made in China

If anyone was wondering whether or not it is an election year, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada has answered that question.   In what can  only be considered a jingoistic, flag-waiving effort, Senator Reid recently expressed his outrage that the United States Olympic team's official uniforms (designed by Ralph Lauren) were made in China.

“I am so upset,” Reid told reporters Thursday. “I think the Olympic Committee should be ashamed of themselves. I think they should be embarrassed. I think they should take all the uniforms and put them in a big pile and burn them and start all over again.”

If this is truly what you would like to do Senator Reid, then there are a few other items made in China that I think you might want to add to the pile:

• All of your electronic gadgets: cell phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, televisions and GPS devices. Toss 'em in - I'm sure they're flammable (or inflammable, both words mean the same thing - not sure why).
• Most of your shoes: all of your footwear from flipflops to tennies (great word) to dress shoes. If they aren't made in China, they have been assembled by some other 3rd World child labor pool, perhaps in Vietnam or Indonesia. Now it is very likely that Senator Reid and most of his other Washington cronies have Italian made dress shoes. I guess we weren't created equal after all. Oh, and I have it on good authority that shoes tend to burn slowly, at least those that aren't tossed onto roads.
• The mattress and pillow you lay your head on every night: In fact, Dear Senator, there are entire towns in China devoted to giving you conscience-free sleep night after night in your posh Georgetown suburb. That you have slept soundly after 25 years in D.C., I have no doubt. FYI - bedding is not flame retardant.
• The artificial tree you so lovingly decorate year after year. That's right, just about every fake Christmas tree on the planet is made in China (roughly 75% and rising). The last time I checked, China's Christian minority is a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of its overwhelmingly Buddhist population, but they make them nonetheless. And no, artificial trees won't go up as fast as the real thing but they'll still light up soon enough.

I could go on and on listing countless products made in China that are purchased, used and enjoyed daily by American consumers until my fingers ache, but you get the point. Senator Reid (and others like him) is doing what comes naturally in Washington these days. He is waving his finger at symptoms rather than having an honest debate about finding cures. Where the Olympic team's uniforms were made? Really?

I understand the symbolism he is talking about. And yes, there is something vaguely unsettling about American athletes wearing representative clothing that was made in a foreign land. But my gut reaction is - "get over it" - this has been the way of the world for decades. Is anyone really that surprised or outraged? If any outrage should be expressed, it should be directed at our "do nothing" national government, all of whom are too busy trying to get re-elected rather than fix our country's ills.

I am no economist - not even close. In fact, I am nearly illiterate when it comes to all things business. But I am by nature curious, and can even engage my common sense now and then. And right now my common sense is telling me that China is doing something right that we aren't. While I agree with nothing the Chinese government does regarding the personal liberties and lack of freedom for its people, they clearly were savvy enough 25 years ago to unleash the economic potential of its population of 1.3 billion people.

So, rather than work in a bi-partisan fashion (remember that word bi-partisan - it's so dead it might as well be Latin) for the good of the American people, Senator Reid and his colleagues in national government appeal to our baser instincts - fear, racism, prejudice, hyper-nationalism. Deal with our trade imbalance with China? Nah! I'd rather make a splash in the news than solve any real problems. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of Harry Reid's in our national and state governments.

The fact of the matter is American companies don't want to set up shop on American soil anymore. Why should they? If the point of owning a business is to make money, home-grown companies discovered long ago that the best place for their products to be assembled cheaply was in countries like China, where workers will accept lower wages. Simple math.

Here is where my economic/business ignorance gets in the way. You see, I don't have any answers, only thoughts and more questions. But I have a sneaking suspicion that somewhere in the last half century the American people became expendable. We became expendable to those people who decided to make politics a career path, rather than a civic duty. They no longer serve us. They serve their corporate masters, who are bent on force-feeding us a steady diet of disposable products we didn't need in the first place. 

But as long as they have an Olympic team to blame, it's all good. "Business" as usual.