So my visiting younger sister and I went shopping recently. I was on the hunt for a few more things to finish off my breakfast basket donation for last Wednesday’s Adam Lease Memorial Scholarship event.
I found a lot of really cute things; a nifty tea pot, some adorable espresso cups, a pretty tray, napkins, etc. But I didn’t buy them because I’m on this tear to avoid buying things that are made in China, especially food. Sometimes I’m fooled, such as when I found this very nifty beer-can chicken roaster, and when I flipped the package over I saw the words Old Bethpage, New York. A second look clarified it: Made in China for Mr. Bar-B-Q, Old Bethpage, New York.
That’s how it went with nearly everything I touched. And that’s how it’s gone lately whenever I shop for anything, even things I wouldn’t expect, like canned peaches. Made in China.
Not that I have anything against China, but I do have something against lead in kids’ toys, killer chemicals in pet food and toothpaste and dubious health and safety manufacturing standards. Plus, I do have something against American corporations that cut costs by outsourching jobs to foreign countries where labor is cheap.
Meanwhile, speaking of foreign, I’ve noticed an increasingly foreign term: “Made in the USA.”
