I've been catching the Today show's segment on "Made in America". At the beginning they said soemthing like "if we would buy more items made in the US, then companies would hire people to produce these products...."

I started looking for items made in the US and honestly not having much luck. At the grocery store, I try to pick items locally grown first if possible. We don't grow a lot of bananas in the US.

Has anyone else thought of buying locally made products? Have you had any luck?

Farmer's Markets may be our best bet, even then I wonder if some of it doesn't come from Mexico.

This should help:

http://www.madeinusa.org/

Click on the categories on top

I just browsed that site- it's kind of funny- but just under food I pretty much don't buy most of those products.

Oh yes... it's my mantra. It's a good way to know if fruits/veggies are in season too - by where they came from. I'm trying to eat more in season items - they taste better anyway.

You're in DC so I'm sure you have great health food stores - and maybe even food co-ops. Those will have a lot of local items. Forget the big chain grocery stores, they don't tend to give a darn about local.

Also, don't forget that local means less greenhouse gases emitted in shipping the product.

Another great resource is www.localharvest.org where you can find local farmers and buy from them directly. I use that site all the time and LOVE buying from local farmers.

Well obviously the issue is bigger than food. I think places like etsy.com enable you to work directly with a person to buy things so I like etsy a lot. Lots of our stuff is outsourced to foreign countries. And stores like Walmart definitely don't help because they mass buy stuff that is made in China. Imagine if a store like Walmart told their manufacturers that they wanted to focus on made in the US stuff? The reason they don't is because they focus on price.

I need a new blender, went online just to get some ideas on prices , every brand I looked at were made in China. All the major, well known brands.

I have a vitamix, best blender ever. Made in Ohio. They are pricey but Costco often has specials and I think even QVC sells them now. I was going through a blender every 18 months until I got my vitamix. I've had it for 5 years.

Most Americans would never pay for most products if they were produced here...

way too expensive with taxes, union benefits, etc.

but hey...$.05 an hour for some Third World country kid is darn good pay!

Well "Made in the US" would not support a high level of consumerism. In order to want jobs in the US and have lots of 'stuff', you can't make that 'stuff' in the US. Now if we moved to a lower level of consumerism, then yes we could move more manufacturing into the US, thus more job creation. Things would cost more but people would be paid a fair wage and you couldn't afford to buy as much as we do now. Personally, I'm all for buying less. It is something I am working on.

I wouldn't mind paying more for items if I knew they were quality and would last.

I've been thinking about the shrinking economy and stuff they talk about all the time on TV. I remember growing up in a house with 4 children, 2 adults 1 bathroom and 3 bedrooms-only because Dad walled off a corner of the living room to put the boys. We had bunk beds and shared rooms. Nothing like now.

Honestly would it be so bad to return to those days? When going out to eat was a treat not an everyday thing. When you actually played with few toys you had or they got handed down to someone else. I always wondered who that luck kid was who got it new. Clothes were all hand downs, garage sale or thrift sales.

I'm just feeing maudlin right now. For some unknown reason.

SARAHYU....somewhere between the 70's and the 00's we went out of control as nations....it would be good to get back to basics...when a "treat" was a REAL treat....

Of course, going out to eat at least helps employ people in the restaurants you eat at, who are all local...

It's complicated!

Some things about those days weren't completely wonderful but I would love it if our expectations of what we "needed" went back to normal! When I was little my family (3 kids 2 parents) had a 1300 sf home. I remember our house being great! Sis and I shared a room & that was normal then.

Most people I know as an adult would consider 1300 sf either a large apartment or a shack! I'm surrounded by housing tracks full of 4500 to 6000 sf homes! Trust me, it is not that they have huge families, either. I try not to act shocked when I hear about how each child NEEDS their own room and a "play" room (and dad needs the basement to look like a sport bar etc etc).

Trust me, I'm not envious. I think that "normal" is way out of whack.

I sure went off the original topic . . . which I think is a good one. My husband works in an American company that manufactures an actual product and makes a profit - but it's high tech and no one can lasso poor people to do it on the cheap. The last time I bought furniture I thought I could find my old favorite brand, which was from North Carolina. Those factories are closed now!! In China. So, we did the only thing we could - bought unfinished locally!

One way to shop local is to give experiences as gifts rather than things. Ie/ Give someone a pedi/mani from a local spa, a gift card for the movies, a trip to the zoo etc. You could take your family on an awesome vacation in lieu of Christmas gifts.

It also helps to keep you from the mass accumulation that seems to happen, especially when you have kids. My son's bday is just 2 weeks after Christmas, so I always encourage people to give experiences rather than things at that time. I'd have nowhere to put more 'stuff' in our little house.