Patriotism – Made in China

In the build-up to the Olympic Games, several strong opinions were expressed over the revelation that the US Olympic Team’s apparel is manufactured in China. Amid recent spikes in unemployment, this news angered several US Senators. Naturally, of course, this has now turned into a major debate. A "Team USA Made In America Act of 2012" is waiting in the wings. Senator Steve Israel, for example, had this to say.

“Today there are 600,000 vacant manufacturing jobs in this country and the Olympic committee is outsourcing the manufacturing of uniforms to China? That is not just outrageous, it's just plain dumb. It is self-defeating.”

I see. This from the senator who is part of the same federal government that spent $3.6 million on importing flags for the Fourth of July celebration, $3.3 million of which went to – you guessed it – the People’s Republic. Name a commodity – children’s toys, souvenir keychains, mobile phones, computers and so on – they’re all made in China. What the US Senate has failed to realise is that Chinese workers would obviously be much, much cheaper to employ than American workers. Therefore they leave themselves with two choices. Either they can buy into Chinese products or spend 3 times what they normally would to purchase a sense of “national pride”. We are speaking of the country whose president was brought up in Indonesia, which prides itself on multi-culturalism and attracts millions of immigrants annually.

Even “American” corporations have their products made in China, because it’s cheap. This means customers don’t need to sell their kidneys to be able to afford them. Besides, place of assembly is as relevant to a mobile phone as a “best handwriting” certificate is on the CV of a university graduate. The Apple iPhone isn’t assembled in Palo Alto, California. The Dell XPS 13 is not assembled in a building at the junction of East 57^th street and 5^th Avenue. The only manufacturing industry to have survived in the ‘states is the car manufacturing business in Detroit. And even now, Ford and GM receive frequent blows from Asian manufacturers like Toyota and Honda, to name the largest. Even NASCAR – a deeply American tradition – features cars from across the Pacific, albeit Japanese ones, not Chinese.

When “Made in China” started off as a brand, its reputation was quite poor. Chinese products did not generally ooze quality, and those with sixty-day warranties were almost certainly expected to self-destruct come day 61. Consumers frowned at Chinese products and the label unwittingly turned into a bigger put-off than a store attendant with ADHD. Gradually, though, Chinese products and Chinese manufacturers grew in stature. Today the world has Lenovo, Huawei, Li-Ning and so on – companies which are reputed if not worshipped. And amid recent reports that Lenovo is set to become the largest PC manufacturer in the world (ahead of “American” corporations like Dell, HP and Apple) China does finally seem to have cemented its place at the top of the pile.

In conclusion then, the US can’t seem to win anything in the manufacturing industry. Not even an egg and spoon race. China has firmly cemented its place at the very top. The US senate should stop worrying about this because it cannot convince Johnny Texas to work for peanuts stitching underwear for Michael Phelps. Not when he needs to buy a pick-up truck, some cheeseburgers and a hat for the home. Instead, they should start worrying about more pertinent issues, like how Obamacare has made many people want to migrate to Canada (this cannot end well). Make them happy, solve the immigration crisis and do try to win a war for once.  

-Chap.