“18 Iconic Products That America Doesn’t Make Anymore”

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.midatlanticlabor.com/appiesnet/wordpress/?p=1537

Posted by scapozzola on 11/08/2010 -@Alliance for American Manufacturing

With thanks to the Business Insider, we’d like to reprint an excellent piece they posted, “18 Iconic Products That America Doesn’t Make Anymore.”

Rawlings baseballs, Last production date: 1969– Rawlings is the official supplier of baseballs to Major League Baseball. The St. Louis shop was founded in 1887 by George and Alfred Rawlings. In 1969 the brothers moved the baseball-manufacturing plant from Puerto Rico to Haiti and then later to Costa Rica.

Etch a Sketch, Last production date: 2000– Etch A Sketch, an iconic American toy since the 1960s, used to be produced in Bryan, Ohio, a small town of 8,000. Then in Dec. 2000, toymaker Ohio Art decided to move production to Shenzhen, China.

Converse shoes, Last production date: 2001– Marquis M. Converse opened Converse Rubber Show Company in Massachusetts in 1908. Chuck Taylors– named after All American high school basketball player Chuck Taylor– began selling in 1918 as the show eventually produced an industry record of over 550 million pairs by 1997. But in 2001 sales were on the decline and the U.S. factory closed. Now Chuck Taylors are made in Indonesia.

Stainless steel rebar, Last production date: circa 2001– Many forms of this basic steel product are not available domestically. Multiple waivers to the Buy America Act have allowed purchase of rebar internationally. Note: The Buy America Act requires government mass transportation spending to use American products.

FULL story at link.

[Historic NY]

1. Jobs went with the products overseas...imagine if we had boycotted them

[WCGreen]

2. It is criticakl that people know this... K&R

[Bonobo]

3. That is depressing and tells most of the story of US decline. nt

[Prometheus Bound]

4. Converse all-stars. My first real basketball sneakers. The leather ones.

The whole team was jealous.

On another topic, I used to make a rather robust product for the outdoor power equipment industry in the early 80s, when almost everything in that industry was made in the US or Canada (the Japanese came a couple of years later) and one of my most powerful selling features was that I had met many people who had bought one 15 years ago and were still using them. When I first visited the chief buyer at the largest retailer at the time, he insisted that we correct that feature and make sure our product lasted no more than five years so they could get more rapid resale business.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. Two of these (Pontiacs and lightbulbs) aren't made anymore, period.

Should be 16.

[AdHocSolver]

6. This is the MAIN reason that the U.S. economy is tanking.

The up and down meanderings of the stock market, the employment numbers, and the currency exchange rates, etc. are irrelevant compared to the fact that a majority of the everyday goods that Americans buy are made elsewhere and imported into the U.S.

The offshoring of jobs and the trade deficit are the primary cause of the recession/depression of the U.S. economy, and until this issue is corrected, the economy is going to get worse, not better.

There is NO way that the U.S. can increase exports to overcome the huge importing of everyday goods, as there is literally nothing that can't be made in China or other low wage countries cheaper than making them here. As long as importing goods is more profitable than making them here, that is what will continue to happen.

The solution is to take the extra profit out of importing goods rather than making them in the U.S.

One way is to get rid of the corporate cartel agreements such as NAFTA, the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank (as well as take control of the Federal Reserve away from the banks that they are supposed to monitor) and make a level playing field for those companies which want to hire Americans to manufacture goods in the U.S.

Since is seems likely that pigs will fly before "our" government leaders will accomplish that feat, it would help the U.S. economy if a large number of Americans would refuse to buy overpriced, imported junk and tell retailers that they want to see American made goods for sale in their stores. In other words, take the huge profits out of offdhoring jobs by importing goods over domestic production. (I am not holding my breath, metaphorically speaking.)

[Spider Jerusalem]

11. The answer is to make better, not cheaper

look at Germany, which continues to be a major exporter despite having higher raw materials and labour costs and higher costs of doing business than many places; how is it Germany manages to retain its position as an exporting nation? By producing world-class goods that are among the very best of their kind made anywhere, whether cars or electronics or consumer appliances, not in producing for the lowest common denominator.

[AdHocSolver]

14. That would have worked if started twenty years ago before the trade deficit became so huge.

However, it is long since passed the time when the U.S. can sell enough exports to neutralize the enormous trade deficit.

Moreover, German industrialists didn't copy American business in shutting down most of its factories and building factories in China.

You would have to discuss your idea with leading American capitalists. Maybe they can explain why they sent the production of all the high tech, high quality equipment formerly made here in the U.S. to foreign countries such as China.

At this time though, production of a majority of what Americans buy, high tech or not, needs to be returned to the U.S. so that Americans have jobs, and we no longer need to borrow money from foreign countries to buy anything.

[msongs]

7. the real terrorists threat to the USA is our own corporations and the politicians they buy nt

[Omaha Steve]

8. Kick

[SoCalDem]

9. Singer Sewing Machines, Schwinn bicycles come to mind

The thing is, that so many companies who claim to be "American", make products that are made from components that are made elsewhere & assembled here. If the components of the products are shitty, the products end up being shitty.. Home appliances come to mind.. How many times have you had to fall back on an "ancient" toaster/blender/coffeemaker etc that you had set aside to get rid of, because the "new" one you got melted down in record time?

[Union Scribe]

10. I'd like to add Christmas lights

I bought a new USA-made tree this year, and wanted to put USA-made lights on it, but there just aren't any. So I settled. And by the time I took down the tree last week, probably four strings were out. Pathetic.

[somone]

12. Semiconductors

Transistors, diodes, LEDs, microprocessors, etc. Most are now manufactured outside the U.S.

[Kat45]

13. As the price of oil rises, will transportation costs make foreign goods too expensive?

Companies outsource manufacturing to China et al because of lower costs all around, particularly labor. As oil goes up, will the cost of shipping products back to the US cause the outsourcing of manufacturing to be more expensive than manufacturing here in the US?

[somone]

15. If high enough, yes

but that also assumes your sub-tier suppliers and customers are in the U.S. There are other factors beside labor savings vs. logistics cost in the trade-off analysis.

[Omaha Steve]

16. China keeps sending us poisoned products and we keep buying

What is wrong with that picture?

[tabasco]

17. Here's some links to USA-made stuff:

http://www.afboots.com/

http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/men.html