Strictly American Movement

Strictly American is a movement among American consumers to purchase products made largely in the United States of America (USA), using raw materials and components, to the degree possible, that come from the USA and using the labor of legally documented workers or American citizens.

Origins of the Strictly American Movement
Since President Nixon’s historic opening to China, the USA has pursued a national policy directed toward increasing global trade. The theoretical benefits are well recognized. They include increased exports for American producers, manufacturing efficiencies resulting from international competition, greater interaction with peoples and cultures around the world.

The theoretical drawbacks are also well understood. Increased competition and the law of comparative advantage put pressure on older, less efficient industrial facilities and force them, in many cases, to shut down. Laid off workers are forced to seek government assistance, find other work, sometimes at reduced wages, and seek training to develop new skills and make a difficult transition.

Judging by the continuing move by its elected leaders towards globalization, the American people have accepted the tradeoffs of job insecurity, two worker households, and other lifestyle sacrifices in order to expand the economic pie for all.

In recent years, the adverse effects of globalization have become increasingly clear and harmful. The current accounts deficit, which measures the trade deficit between the USA and its trading partner countries, has grown to alarming proportions. The manufacturing base has eroded dramatically, bringing concerns for national security. American trade agreements frequently are asymmetrical. They open markets in the USA without corresponding concessions on the part of America’s trading partners. As the USA increases trade with developing nations, these trading partners get the advantages of lower safety, health, and environmental standards, constraints that American producers have accepted for many years as part of doing business in a developed economy.

Problems Experienced with non-American Made Products
In recent years, the constant flood of unsafe products streaming into this country has forced American consumers to spend much more time researching the products they buy for their families and their pets on a daily basis. Some parents are now taking extreme measures to protect their families, such as lead-testing toys they buy for their children.

The first widely publicized incident in the USA occurred in 2007. An increasing number of reports of pet illness and death led to the discovery that dangerous chemicals were used in pet food products manufactured in countries that lack the standards of safety and purity Americans have come to expect.

Chemical substances used as raw materials for producing prescription drugs in the USA are imported from around the world, including from countries that lack purity standards, inspection regimes, and enforced regulations to protect consumers.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has a very small number of inspectors to verify the safety of many thousands of products that flood American shores daily. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is not structured to perform quality inspection of imported drug materials. The government is swamped by the scope of the problem.

Other Problems Resulting from Globalization
A number of other problems have surfaced in the wake of the explosive growth in global trade. Asymmetrical trade agreements stimulate economic growth in developing nations, sometimes to excess, leading to unregulated pollution and other forms of environmental degradation. Increased imports and exports drive up the demand for international shipping, for diesel and other petroleum based fuels, and the pollution caused by expanded port operations. For instance, operations at the Long beach, CA have been linked to substantial increases in the asthma rate in the surrounding community.

The cost of petroleum based fuels has risen dramatically as the worldwide supply has become more fragile in an era of increasing political tensions and military conflict in and around oil producing nations. As global trade expands and oil prices skyrocket, wealth is accumulated in oil producing and developing nations, leading to even greater purchase and use of automobiles and oil consumption. If these trends continue, some oil producing nations will reach the point at which they consume all of their output and some will become net oil importers, leading to additional price pressure.

Awareness of global climate change has been growing throughout the world. A broad consensus among climatologists has developed around dire predictions of temperature change, accompanied by coastal flooding and other adverse consequences. The extent of the human population’s contribution to these effects is still debated, but it is becoming clear that the ongoing expansion of worldwide product manufacturing, transportation, and consumption will exacerbate them.

Job security has suffered in the USA as a result of expanding competition with underdeveloped economies. This effect is enhanced by mega-corporations that use outsourcing and offshoring to exploit low cost labor in these countries. American consumers benefit from product price stability, but U.S. workers lose jobs and experience reduced wages and benefits.

The rise of mega-multinational corporations is a development that has fueled the trends described above. Their growing wealth and power have created what some see as a stranglehold on the political process, even in a democracy like that of the USA. Lobbying and campaign contributions grow unabated as the legislative bodies that have the power to control these influences are the very institutions that benefit from them. As a result, corporate interests in expanded asymmetric global trade, growing reliance on increasingly expensive petroleum, and other activities benefiting business are served to the detriment of American workers and consumers. These concerns have led to the rise of the anti-globalization movement.

The Locavore Movement
One solution to some of the problems cited above involves limiting one’s diet to foods grown and packaged within his or her own community. Some people seek sources of food within a 100 mile radius of their home. Called locavores, they purchase produce locally during the growing season and preserve it, e.g., by canning, for off-season consumption.

Some of the advantages of the locavore approach are knowing the source of one’s food, the ability to scrutinize the farming practices used to grow it, the freshness of locally grown produce, a reduced need for transportation, and support for one’s local economy.

In 2007, only three years after the first known group of local food seekers emerged, the word “locavore” was added to the Oxford American Dictionary, attesting to the fast growth in popularity of the practice.

The Strictly American Solution
An increasing number of producers are affixing “Made in America” labels on their products in an effort to regain the confidence of American consumers. However, the “Made in America” label lacks credibility. The decision to declare a product as “Made in America” is left to the producer. In an atmosphere of increasing interest in American made products, the temptation is great to affix the label even if it is not strictly deserved. For instance, many producers of so-called “Made in America” products assemble them in the USA from components made in other countries. No authority verifies the authenticity of such claims.

The Strictly American movement is different. It is designed to restore balance to international trade, job security to American workers, and confidence to consumers. It rests on a foundation of three pillars that, in combination, are intended to certify products made largely in the USA, encourage consumers to purchase certified products and, as a result, reward producers who ensure that their products are made to the maximum feasible extent in the USA.

The certification pillar involves calculating a grade for a product using a standardized formula and detailed information as to the origin of each type of production input, including design activities, raw materials or ingredients, components or piece parts, labor, and transportation required to manufacture the product and get it to market. On site inspections and audits are part of this process.

The consumer incentive pillar consists, in part, of the knowledge that a product has been certified as largely made in the USA. It also involves publishing of sufficient information on a web site to enable consumers to easily determine the countries of origin of the contents of a product.

The producer incentive pillar consists of the knowledge that an increasing number of people are looking for products that are certifiably made in the USA. The grading formula provides bonus points to a producer for using raw materials and components that are not only made in America, but are certified as strictly American. This provides an incentive all the way up the supply chain to make products that conform to the certification criteria and tends to make producers behave like demanding consumers in this regard.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu