Maybe, just maybe, there is hope for the rebirth of The American Dream. For jobs to come back to our country which will pay a living wage to laborers and factory workers... because not every child born will grow up to be a professional or white-collar worker.

We need factory jobs which pay a living wage and nothing less.

Nearly eight years ago, on August 12, 2004, we at Nippies wrote an article entitled "Winds Of Change - Apathy Is Out".
The article was about products made in China, Wal-Mart, outsourcing, etc. We also spoke about the need to buy made in the U.S.A. products. At the time we had very little support for that view. Thank God, things have changed.

The recent uproar over our Olympic athletes wearing official uniforms made in China has brought the spotlight on our need, as Americans, to support manufacturing in the United States. Maybe now that the masses have spoken - roared, really - Congress will listen and do something to stem the flow of imports into our country.

I am reprinting the article now because it is very timely. Enjoy.

Winds of Change - Apathy is OUT
A few years ago, when we began writing NIPPIES, people were very apathetic about the tremendous amount of imports coming into the country, the outsourcing of jobs, the metastasis of Wal-Mart, and the rising cost of health insurance and prescription drugs.

We at NIPPIES, who are a part of a self-employed family, were very aware of the above-mentioned problems. When we would go to a party and talk about how Wal-Mart was growing too large and too powerful, when we'd talk about how our health insurance was going up every year, etc., or when we would ask if hot dogs on Cousin Ruth's grill came from a Sam's Club or the local privately owned grocery store- well, everyone would roll their eyes behind our back and shrug their shoulders in front of us.

Everyone was working for some big company at that time. They were getting health insurance paid for, were making a little (or a lot) of extra cash on the stock market and were, for the most part, very content. Life was good. They didn't see what the fuss was all about.

Now, some of these same people have lost large shares of their retirement funds because their nest egg was- at least partially- invested in the stock market. Some have had to begin paying some or all of their health insurance- or have been forced to change to a policy with less coverage - to save money. Some have been laid off or out of a job altogether because of cheap imports and outsourcing. Suddenly, all these previously apathetic people are very concerned about the state of affairs in America. And, not insignificantly, California is fighting Wal-Mart's plans to put all those HUGE Supercenters into their state. Watch for other states to follow suit.

The question of what is and is NOT made in the USA - 100% made in the USA - is now on the minds on many more Americans than it was in previous years. And we at NIPPIES bet hat this trend has only just begun. There is going to be a backlash towards the cheaply made, highly marked-up imported goods that have forced many of us into either unemployment or low wages. All those prices which were cheap year ago when the importing trend began have been inching up until they are now quite high. The owners of these importing companies - and outsourcing companies - are making all the bucks. They are paying $1 for a tee shirt and charging $15-20. They are paying $5 for an unfinished end-table and charging $60. And so on and so forth.

The furniture industry in the United States is being especially hard hit: American manufacturers just cannot compete with the cheap imports from other countries- especially those made in China. Today, on public radio news, we heard of another furniture manufacturer which has shut its doors. Pennsylvania House in Susquehanna Valley, PA, is closing its doors. This is an alarming trend not only in the furniture industry, but in every industry.

aciremA.com, the company that sells American-made tee shirts (owned by our family) with the message "Turn America Around" (aciremA IS American backwards) and "Keep Jobs In America" has a cost of $12.00 per tee shirt because the shirts are two-color screened front and back, but mostly because they are made in the USA. The same shirts, if made by HANES® or Fruit of the Loom ®, would have cost several dollars less- perhaps even HALF. That is because Hanes and Fruit of the Loom are ASSEMBLED in foreign countries. (Sometimes the fabric is made in the USA, cut out, and shipped out.) It's tough for aciremA or any company trying to sell American made t-shirts to make a buck.

But things are going to change, we predict. The rumplings have begun, and when that starts, it only gets louder and stronger.

Read what NIPPIES had to say on: August 12. 2004