by Tamara Stewart

Created on: October 16, 2008

I remember when I was growing up, there were several television commercials (dating back to the late 1970's and early 1980's) about buying American made clothing. If you were living back then, you might remember them. The commercials featured women and men stating they were members of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU). In these commercials, they briefly explained why it was important to buy U.S.A. made products, and they even sang a catchy little song that started out "Look for the union label, when buying a coat, dress, or blouse." Back then most of our products were still made in the USA. When you went shopping, you didn't have to look high and low to find products with the "Made in U.S.A. "label. Times have changed, and not for the better.

It is getting increasingly difficult to find products made in the USA. Sure you might find a few products that are still made here. Most of these products are usually (not always) plastic items that are cheap and easy to produce in the USA. Other items include specialty items and tools, food items, or large, expensive items that are cost prohibitive to produce in China or other overseas countries. It is disheartening and frustrating to say the least, that products with the "Made in USA" label have been quickly disappearing at an alarming rate over the past twenty years.

You may ask yourself what is the difference if you buy from China or the U.S.A. You are getting such a great deal buying products made from China. But are you? The U.S. Commerce Department announced the
U.S. is running on a 702. 8 billion dollar shortage. This figure reflects the first half of the year from January to July. This figure is up slightly from 2007's deficit of 700.3 billion dollars. Also, the U.S. Census Bureau recently announced the 2008 figures for the U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services. Figures from the U.S. Census Foreign Trade Statistics show the U.S. goods deficit (shortage) with China for the first seven months of 2008 is already at $24.9 billion for July. Exports to China remained the same at $6.4 billion. However, imports from China to the U.S. increased $3.5 billion. The total for goods from China in July is $31.3 billion. Most of these items were household goods, toys, games, sporting goods, and apparel. In comparison, the goods shortage with Canada so far is $8.3 billion, while the goods shortage with the countries in the European Union is 11.0 billion. (These figures do not reflect services, only

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