Did you know that the US spends at least $100 BILLION in an average year importing Chinese manufactured goods, while exporting only about $16 billion in US-made goods to China. In fact, the US imports roughly 40-50% of all of China's export goods. Right now the US trade deficit stands at $600 billion. The trade deficit grows at a frightening pace of $1.5 billion per day -- in other words, every single minute of every single day, America spends $1 MILLION on Chinese-made products. China has accumulated over $2 TRILLION in US dollars. China has replaced the US as the number one spot for direct foreign investment. China has gone from zero millionaires in 1979 to having over 10,000 millionaires, the top 100 of which are each worth over $230 million and the others are worth at least $10 million. There are now over 450 "US companies" that are based in China -- about ten times the number there were in 1990. US investment in China is now about $33 billion per year. While US firms invested $2.2 billion in China during the first month of 2001, there were 271,000 jobs lost in the US. An average of 2,250 American manufacturing jobs have disappeared every day for the past decade.
Wal-Mart is the largest importer of Chinese-manufactured goods in the world. They import over $12 BILLION worth of goods from China every year -- more than either Russia or the UK. I'll bet there would be some pretty empty shelves at Wal-Mart if you cleared everything out that wasn't American-made!
40% of all laptop computers sold worldwide, 38% of the world's cellphones, and 50% of the world's shoes are manufactured in China. Most wooden furniture, video games, and TVs sold in the US come from China. China manufactures 80% of all the toys, bikes and Christmas ornaments sold in the US. They manufacture 90% of all sporting goods and 95% of all shoes sold in the US.
Motorola spent over $1 billion to move manufacturing operations from the US to China and put thousands of Americans out of work. Levis has closed all 63 US plants, fired all of its workers and is now producing what used to be an American icon, Levi Jeans, in China. Disney's Winnie the Pooh dolls, Dr. Scholl's sandals, Foster Grant sunglasses, Wilson tennis balls, Black & Decker drills -- all produced in China! And those are just a few of the "US companies" located in China. How can they still call themselves American companies?
Something has to change -- and soon! US consumers need to demand that the products they buy are made here in the US. Business leaders and government officials need to get the message that the US worker/taxpayer/voter/consumer isn't happy that so much American money is being invested in other countries while American workers are struggling to support their families, make ends meet, and wondering if today will be the day that the company they work for tells them to train their foreign replacement to do their job when it is moved overseas...We shouldn't have to go off to work everyday with the question of whether we will still have a job at the end of the day hanging over us. How many more jobs have to be lost, how many more companies will be allowed to leave, or worse, be forced to close because they can't compete with cheap foreign-produced merchandise coming into the country?
It's time that we, as consumers, taxpayers and voters, drive home the point that we want good paying jobs to stay in this country, we want US workers to keep their jobs, and we want investment dollars to be spent here at home, helping American businesses stay in operation. Make your point with your money -- buy American-made products. Speak with your vote -- let your elected officials that there needs to be growth in the manufacturing sector to provide good paying jobs for Americans and that they need to create an economic environment that would encourage American companies to stay here in the states, rather than one that chases them all away. We didn't get in this mess overnight and we're not going to pull out of it quickly, but it is time to start taking steps to correct the situation.
