I was going to write about something else today but I got this email and I wanted to discuss it. Here is the body of the email:

My grandson likes Hershey’s candy. It is marked made in Mexico now. So I do not buy it any more. My  favorite toothpaste Colgate is made in Mexico now.
I have switched to Crest. You have to read the labels on everything.

The email goes on to say:

So my challenge to you is to start reading the labels when you shop for everyday things and see what you can find that is made in the USA - the job you save may be your own or your neighbors!

If you accept the challenge, pass this on to others in your address book so we can all start buying American, one light bulb at a time! Stop buying from China or Mexico……….

(We should have awakened a decade ago……)

Let’s get with the program…. help our fellow Americans keep their jobs and create more jobs here in the U.S.A.

If you are flag-waving American like I am, I’m sure the thought of Americans losing jobs is certainly alarming; anyone losing their job is depressing. However, the question in my mind after reading this email is what does “buy American” mean?

In the email above, the person states she doesn’t buy Hershey’s products because the candy is made in Mexico. Hershey’s headquarters, however, are in Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA. I think that at least qualifies it as being American right? So if this person gets enough people to boycott Hershey’s products, couldn’t they themselves be responsible for the loss of American jobs? Let’s think about Toyota’s manufacturing plant in Texas and the Hyundai manufacturing plant in Arkansas: They aren’t American companies but they do provide American jobs. If Americans start boycotting these foreign companies aren’t they responsible for hurting their “neighbors”? Gets a little murky doesn’t it.

Do to globalization trends, manufacturing is going overseas where there is a large labor pool at very inexpensive wages and therefore America is becoming a more service-oriented economy. The tricky part of this whole thing is people in the US, who are in the manufacturing sector, will unfortunately be laid off. These people need to get re-trained. Solving this problem is a complicated issue I will leave for the politicians to tackle but there is no such thing as “buying American” anymore.