http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mp ... ss/3358031



HoustonChronicle.com


Sept. 18, 2005, 10:47PM

Seeking a label: 'Made in USA'
It's a tough quest to purchase goods not made abroad
By NOVELDA SOMMERS
Daily Press

NEWPORT NEWS, VA. - Steve Jacobs always looks at labels when he's shopping. Whether he is buying soda or shirts, the father of two wants to know where the workers are who he's supporting with his dollars.

"You can find a lot of things that are made in America," said Jacobs, a Teamsters union member and local UPS employee. "Clothing, toothpaste even. When we go out to eat or shopping, we try to spend our money in ways that are union-wise."

But with the United States' trade deficit soaring, Chinese goods flooding the market and many American corporations moving work overseas for cheaper labor, Jacobs' quest has become more difficult. That fact pains him. He's a former U.S. Navy service member and son of a union man. His father made tires for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in Ohio.

The rising abundance of foreign-made goods fuels debate over what it really means to buy American, and whether Americans, facing stagnant wages and diminishing personal savings, really have a choice other than to buy the cheapest goods. With so many components made in other countries but assembled here, or vice versa, who's to say whether your automobile or appliances are really American anyway?

In July, the United States imported $57.9 billion more goods and services than it exported, according to the most recent figures available from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. China led those countries that exported more than they bought from the U.S.

That's largely because global quotas expired in January, causing the market to overflow with Chinese clothing and textiles. It's not a coincidence that U.S. textile manufacturers have suffered job losses and closed plants. The administration is working to close the gap, possibly by imposing new quotas.

Can shopping for American products help stem this tide and bolster America's workers?

Dana Frank, a professor of American Studies at the University of California Santa Cruz and author of the book Buy American: the Untold Story of Economic Nationalism, doesn't think so. Trade policy, not consumer demand, drives global commerce, she said.

"We're not going to change things with our shopping habits," Frank said. "We have to talk about national trade policy and how it serves this giant downward spiral rather than reversing it."

For example, she said she believes the Central American Free Trade Agreement will hurt U.S. and Central American workers by playing them against one another while serving to boost corporate bottom lines.

"Trade in itself is not a bad thing, but what are the terms and who comes out ahead?" she said.

Nor does the American consumer accelerate by having access to cheaper goods, she argued. Workers who have lost their jobs and can only find part-time work with no health care benefits can only afford cheap stuff, she said, quoting the oft-used term "race to the bottom."

But David Vinson said he's willing to pay a few dollars more for what he considers to be better-quality, American-made goods. Vinson, president of Teamsters Local 822, admitted it's nearly impossible to buy only domestic goods.

He recently shopped for light fixtures for his house, but at the big-box retailers, he could only find imports, he said. He felt guilty removing the old fixtures stamped with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers seal and replacing them with lights marked Made in China.

Sometimes the country of a product's origin isn't so clear. Take cars, for example.

BMW, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai and Toyota operate plants in the United States, along with the domestic Big 3. Domestic automakers operate plants overseas, and in Mexico and Canada. Some buyers might want to be sure profits are going to American car corporations, no matter where the cars are made. And others might just want to know the workers who made the car were union.

In a reader poll, Autobytel .com found 60 percent of respondents would prefer to buy a car made in America by American workers, said Christian Wardlaw, an Autobytel analyst.

Such a buyer might not realize the Chevrolet Impala is made in Canada (by union workers) or the Honda Accord is made in Marysville, Ohio. The Chevrolet Aveo is made in South Korea. Saab is a Swedish company that's owned by General Motors. But its 9-2X is made in Japan.

"Any Saab that gets purchased is an American purchase," Wardlaw said. "You can see how difficult it can be to determine what an American car is these days."

For those who want to know where their money's going, the Autobytel Web site features a guide that tells shoppers where certain cars are made. The United Auto Workers union also has a buyer's guide at its Web site, www.uaw.com, for shoppers looking for UAW-made cars.

Wayne "Red" Nash, who owns a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Hampton, Va., said he doesn't just buy American, he buys local: He gets a Ford F-150 every few years. The truck is made in Norfolk, Va., and he wants to support the local workers.

Nash owned a Portsmouth, Va., Chick-fil-A years ago and got to know many of the Ford employees who came to his restaurant.

"I don't have too many Europeans buying my Chick-fil-A sandwiches," he said. "I'm sure some of my customers probably did, to one degree or another, put their hands on these vehicles. Personally, I try to buy American and keep my local people employed as much as possible."