"Buy American!" Sent from My iPad.
On May 24, Lew Rockwell ran my article on why American corporations use Asian workers to manufacture products sold in the United States.
I explained why they do this. Because American customers demand it. American customers want bargains. They do not care where an item is made. They care only about price and quality.
When an American company sells an item cheaper because it was manufactured in a foreign country, the company sells more units than its competitors sell of goods manufactured here. The company with the off-shore facility makes more money. Why? Because it does what customers want it to do, namely, sell items cheaper.
So, I concluded, do not blame corporations for manufacturing goods outside the United States. Blame American customers. I ended with Walt Kelly's immortal line, uttered by Pogo Possum: "We have met the enemy, and he is us."
The next day, I received this brief note.
You're out to lunch on this one.Cheers,
Fred
Sent from my iPad
That last line caught my eye: "Sent from my iPad."
The iPad is a popular tablet device manufactured by Apple. Where is it manufactured? In China. Apple for years used FoxComm, the gigantic facility that employs a million people. It dropped FoxComm in late January. But Apple still uses Chinese producers.
Apple has also shielded its profits offshore from $44 billion in U.S. taxes.
Apple claims that its products have led to the creation of 600,000 jobs. Maybe so. But that's not my point here. My point is that Fred has proven the case against himself.
Fred has met the enemy, and he is him.
For all the wailing and gnashing of teeth about "buy American," hardly any American believes it enough to buy American. American protectionists may believe it in theory, but in practice, they buy the best deal they can get.
Conclusion: talk is cheap. So are products produced in China.
In the case of the iPad, it's not cheap. But it is very profitable.
Fred thinks I'm out to lunch. But Fred and I like the same food: Chinese take-out.