Let's Stop Exporting Our Capital

My father, who lives in England, put a boycott on French goods years ago, mainly because they strike all the time and he's a Thatcherite, but also because their epic strikes would affect the price of goods all over Europe. French lorry drivers would block French trade routes for weeks at a time until their demands were met and other non-participating haulers carrying international goods would be prevented from traversing the picket lines. Dad almost spits out his tea (yes, China) when relaying how the European Union puts a restriction on the quantity of fish that English fishermen may  catch in their own waters. Although my mother tortures him with Evian and Brie ("I'll buy what I want to bloody buy!"), he stands firm and buys English goods wherever he can. Although certain right-wing bloggers are currently painting England as a post-industrial dystopian welfare state, in which the elderly line up in the streets for new organs, England actually produces some good food: apples, spring water, lamb, blood sausage, beer, all the good stuff. This is a temporary fix that the US would benefit from right now. US Consumer spending was 70% of our economy before the recession; I can’t imagine what sort of wonder it would do for us, if we consciously decided to spend some or all of that money on American goods and services even though they're more expensive. And before I hear people blurting out "protectionism!" or "isolationism": I'm not suggesting that we buy only American. I'm suggesting that we buy some American. Let's support our own community first and foremost in order to keep it ticking over for the time being.

So with that in mind, I posed the following question to about 100 friends and colleagues this week:

"Would you pay more money for your basic goods that are produced in the USA?"

Then I immediately responded to my own question: "what, including health care? I don’t think so, mate!" Let’s put that aside for a minute and come back to it. I think we’ve all got a bit to say about that. 100% of my respondents said they would pay more for better quality. One person expressed concern: “if only we could produce quality goods and services,” he said. But of course we are able. The issue lies with competition; big box stores are able to sell goods for exceedingly low prices and it's tempting to shop at these places in the current economic climate. The question is, would consumers be prepared to sacrifice shopping for cheap stuff we don’t need to save our economy?

Some responses:

"I wouldn't have a problem paying more for everything across the board, even four times more, if it were quality and if it were made in the USA. I just saw a pillow for $5! Five bucks for a pillow! That’s ridiculous. I would have paid twenty dollars."

“Tax me thrice over if it means I don’t have to worry about my health insurance coverage, dental care, reliable infrastructure, etc. This country needs to start looking after its inhabitants more."

"I think people are ready to start factoring that into their buying decisions. It is a lot easier to do if you are simultaneously scaling back your overall expenditure. If you cut your spending on unnecessary goods by 30%, then when you do purchase something you can afford to pay the extra 10-15% for something of better quality made right here in the USA.”

I’ve just starting flicking through my galley copy of "Cheap", in which the author, Ellen Ruppel Shell, details the Machiavellian machinations that discount retailers engage in to lure shoppers who think they’re getting a bargain, but this is something that my mother warned me about years ago so I put the book down. "Oh, don’t go to that sale,” she would say, “they drag out all their old tat twice a year and you wouldn’t clean your toilet with it.” And that's all you need to know about that.

My mother is like a shopping hawk in stores and boutiques that sell quality clothing: she circles, circles, circles while it’s priced at 100%. Then when it’s down to 20% she dives in and scoops up the discarded sale items. I sometimes wonder if she pays full price for anything. It takes a lot of energy and sometimes this dedication means she has to shop for five hours and come back with nothing. I buy only in the sales too, but I buy winter clothes in February and summer clothes in August, so I have to put away what I buy until the appropriate season comes along. I get some serious bargains though.

The problem with big box and discount stores is that they destroy the competition by charging only a fraction above wholesale price. They have huge distribution networks, so they are able to buy in vast quantities and make a profit with only slim margins. That's not inherently a problem; that's capitalism, an amalgamation of resources and industry. The larger issue is that we are sending our money to the investors of these big box stores, who are in turn spending their money in other communities. Our money is not staying within our community. Local economies need to produce and reinvest in themselves. My suggestion is that we regenerate our own communities and make them strong so we can invest in foreign goods when we are a little more flush further down the road. Our sweat equity is being shipped out with those minimum wage workers causing harsh decline in our communities.

As consumers we can save our economy by shopping correctly. At the beginning of this year, I witnessed the advertising industry take a steep nose-dive that was caused directly by the consumer. Those in the industry are making half the money they did a year ago if they still have their jobs. So I know we have the power. Let's use it.