ABC's Made in America Hypocrisy

Your "Made in America" series should focus more attention on corporations including your own parent company, Disney, that CHOOSE to rely on cheap, unregulated, overseas labor in order to maximize profits.We can only buy what is available! If everything is made overseas then that is where it is made, period. That leaves consumers with no choice. The manufacturers decide, NOT consumers!

Over the last 50 years the USA has outsourced
its CIVILIAN manufacturing capabilities, from electronics to machinery, etc. ..
As an executive with an Industrial Engineering background I have been at the forefront of this
sad development over many years.
What are we manufacturing today aside from
Mc Donald's hamburgers (yes indeed, we consider this to be a manufacturing activity !) ,
agricultural products and coal. plastic articles, aside from totally useless weapons?.
Don't blame the consumer for the junk he or she is forced to buy.

I am puzzled as to why ABC News with Diane Sawyer focuses on the consumers and not the corporations. In the last few years I have made repeated attempts to purchase clocks, fabrics, tools, clothing, electronics, and all sorts of consumer goods that America used to be known for. There are few items left that are MADE IN AMERICA. I never shop at Wal-Mart: we are talking good, local, hardware, fabric, and other family-owned stores. When i ask them why they have no American made products they say they cannot find any to sell. This is because large corporations CHOOSE to offshore all production and manufacturing in order to escalte their profit at the expense of the American worker and the American economy, which has a huge trade deficit. ABC News should focus on the corporate offshoring issue and why American consumers have so little choices for American-made goods.

Let's take it one step further, as long as we're pointing fingers toward the source of the problem.

Of course it is absurd for ABC to lay this at the feet of the consumer, any more than the consumer should be held responsible for knowing what insufficiently tested contents are in their air fresheners, etc. But I also think it is a complete waste of time to simply put public or media pressure on such corporations, and expect their behavior to change. By law, they need to do everything within their power, to generate profit. So, allow them to continue to do perform their intended function without expecting something that they are not designed for – making moral decisions. The only effective and lasting way to do so, is to change the framework (laws) within which they can do that job, to match what is best for the people.

The source of this situation comes from the government, and those within it who want to get it "out of the way" and/or create a "free" trade environment. When the historical tarrifs that protected our industries were in place, we had a robust manufacturing sector, and a thriving middle class. Without a sane trade policy, including reversal of our trade agreements and RE-implementation of hefty tariffs on those products that we want to produce in the U.S., the situation will not change.

Fair, your appeal to economic nationalism is a dead-end.

"The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the whole surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere. The bourgeoisie has through its exploitation of the world-market given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption in every country. To the great chagrin of Reactionists it has drawn from under the feet of industry the national ground on which it stood. … In place of the old local and national seclusion and self-sufficiency, we have intercourse in every direction, universal interdependence of nations."[11] Karl Marx

"There is still no more succinct and graphic depiction of the processes now transforming world capitalism. From the outset, as these passages make clear, Marx was completely hostile to all those tendencies that opposed capitalism from the standpoint of a lower form of production. The radicals, who today either deny the significance of globalisation or oppose it in the name of defending the national state, play the same role as the various "socialists" ridiculed by Marx in the Manifesto. They opposed capitalism from the standpoint of the old feudal order…"

"The Marxist movement has always been based on a global perspective. From the earliest days of the capitalist system, Marx explained that the communists, at all times, sought to represent the future in the movement of the present. Even in the 19th century, when the nation-state still played a progressive historical role, Marx severely criticised the newly-formed German Social Democratic Party for the nationalist orientation of its founding program, adopted at the Gotha Congress in 1875…"

http://www.wsws.org/exhibits/global/nblect.htm

Might also create more USA jobs if Disney chose to engage the USA workforce instead of concentrating on shareholder's interests by employing cheap overseas labor. And shame on ABC for being so supplicant to Disney and not commenting on the greater contribution Disney could make to our economy and job situation if they were to even SLIGHTLY alter their 'cheap labor' policies.
Posted by:
uname2011 5:20 PM
Mark As Violation

There is one thing for certain. If people want to buy stuff, capitalists will make it. If people are prepared to pay more for the same stuff (probably more than double) because it's made in America then capitalists will make it in America. The problem is that too many people are not prepared to pay more. Capitalist are very predictable and very difficult to change and concentrating on shareholder interest is what they do. People can change today by thinking about their buying decisions and accepting that American produced means more cost. This sort of change can only come from the people or their extended hand the government. Sadly looking at the way Americans vote these changes are a long way off. Americans vote with their wallet, as does Disney

Peter, the products may be produced elsewhere, but the hypocrisy's certifiably "Made in USA", isn't it?

I am an owner of a struggling small family restaurant. We buy American well over 90 percent of the time.
I am interested in seeing Disneys merchandise/inventory list? I bet we won't get to see that! Tell your bosses to go stand on their diamond encrusted toilet seats and look at themselves in the mirror and leaves us poor folks alone out here Diane..!! The fish stinks from the head!

To Diane Sawyer and staff:

In order to gain some perspective on this issue, would you and your colleagues please do an in depth story, or investigation, of where Disney's products are manufactured? It would be extremely helpful in promoting a fuller understanding of the economic mechanisms (and incentives) that either do or don't create jobs in the U.S. through the production of the goods that Americans buy.

Thank you.

Jack Keith – NYC

I didn't write ABC,
because I think this complaint misses a bigger issue. The bigger issue is that mainstream media talks about personal responsibility, and government responsibility but seldom if ever, corporate responsibility. Perfect example is National Hiring Day. A simple idea that suggests some voluntary help from corporations. Response from the media? The first 100 media outlets contacted so far, refused to mention it. Seems that even the whiff of corporate responsibility will not be allowed in the news.
That sets up a unique positions where the media is part of the jobs /economy problem by refusing to include corporate responsibility in the solution. National Hiring Day:
There is a solution to the jobs problem and it could quickly put hundreds of thousands of people back to work. It is not pro left or right. It is not from any corporation, it's outside the government control, it's totally voluntary, and helps all with little sacrifice from anyone.
National Hiring Day #2 is suggested for March 15,2011. This is a day that corporations are encouraged to hire new employees. Corporations are called on to put patriotism first and help their country in hard times. Those corporations that cannot hire, are asked to stop firing for that month. The day was suggested by the 18 year old Dallas art and media zine Musea.

I do not uncerstand why consumers–not producers–are the culprits writ large here. As i showed in a book published decades ago, Made in America –for cars–is especially ridiculous. I just bought a Ford Fiesta (70% made in Mexico, 30% in Brazil), hardly American if you mean the U.S.= America (which of course it does not…) My former Japanese car was made mainly in the US.
In Europe, a fee for recycling materials is charged so that–no matter where manufactured–items are not just thrown into some dump, hurting the environment. Might we try that?

Perhaps buying a car made mainly in Mexico beats NAFTA, a dubious proposition that was designed, in my view, to keep workers at home.
There is no possible way that U.S. workers can compete with Chinese workers unless there'a world-wide labor union. I can imagine what many in our country would think of that!

Perhaps workers will understand that they belong to a world-wide group and that they have been privileged by being born in the U.S. (as i have been and that is soon coming to a close. "Buying American" is not the answer to our economic problems….

The consumer has the ultimate power. Every time they make a purchase it is like voting. The consumer has been moving towards lower prices instead of products made in the America. If the consumer would make buying products that are made in America a priority then the big corporations would be forced to keep manufacturing here otherwise their sales/profits will fall. People need to take accountability and try to make a difference without always relying on the government to do if for them.

â┚¬Ã…“Why is the focus on consumers–and not corporations? Will the ABC series talk about Disney, whose reliance on cheap labor is well-documented? The company's history is not encouraging. As FAIR pointed out (Action Alert, 11/20/00), ABC News killed critical investigations into Disney theme parks and sweatshops, evidence of a larger pattern:
One ABC producer says that the need to avoid news stories that might displease Disney "comes up all the time" because "no one here wants to piss off the bosses" (New Yorker, 8/14/00).â┚¬Ã‚ (FAIR action item)

Critical mass can be lots of small things (individual action) or a little of big things (corporate action). Both approaches are important. Don\'t be afraid of action that will make even more difference than the individual response. Address corporate outsourcing as a big part of employment problems in this country.

Now after almost all the jobs are gone , I am disgusted by the media blame of all the woes on both the consumer and the poor. Now we are too poor to continue to buy all this crap manufactured by the oversea workforce- The fact that a small elite class have managed to corner the wealth of America is the real problem!

The series is excellent, except there is no country named America. There are many Americas including the United States, Canada, mexico and so on. In Cleveland, Tn. there are many products made here including Duracel batteries that are shipped to China. Hardwick Clothes makes it's on brands plus Orvis, all made here for 130 yaears. Also makes uniforms for NFL and major airlines. There are many brands made exclusively here like Whirpool ranges, Brown stoves, Dr. Schoals foot products, M & M candies and many more. If you want to look at a range of products made entirely in the U.S.A, look at Cleveland, tn. Especialy batteries shipped to China. This is a real switch.
Thank you,
Tom Rowland,
mayor Cleveland, Tn.

Diane Sawyer and her staff are to be commended for this series, no matter the economics of her parent company. She's not blaming consumers, she's trying to make them more aware that their economic choices have consequences. Instead of bashing her, for goodness sake, commend her, and say, "go on…."

Commend Disney in this instance for allowing her to take the interests of the country that produced it to heart for a change; you can always bash them for their commitment to the Chinese manufacturing base later.