Re: Is anything still made in the U.S.A.?
So far we have NAFTA, immigrants, lawyers, and CEO's responsible for the shift of manufacturing off-shore. Did the vegetable growers in California not have a labor issue in that they couldn't find people to harvest their crops? Why was that again? Oh yes -- I remember, nobody would do that job for the amount the growers were willing to pay. Well, enter the immigrants. They competed and won. The growers get their crops harvested and those who don't have a job are bitching. Everyone needs to take a very long look in the mirror. Remember HMO's and how that was going to be the health care salvation. Yup -- it was great until everyone hit the doctor whenever they or their kid had a sniffle or a gas bubble. Why not -- after all it didn't cost anything! If you want to really get upset, talk to anyone who uses medical devices (like me). Medicare "entitles" me to a new CPAP mask (you don't need to know what that is for this example) at 3 month intervals. Taken care of these things don't wear out and I routinely use them six months or more. Medicare gets billed over $400 for a full face CPAP mask that I can buy on-line for $119. Medicare makes it nearly impossible to file a personal claim and the $119 price does not include billing service. So I let the government get fleeced for $281 for someone to fill out a form. At a recent display of medical equipment a neat little CPAP machine was displayed. I asked the dude how much it was and his reply was -- It depends on what your insurance pays. Its stuff like this that has put us where we are and health care is just one of the reasons. Once the medical profession found out they could charge the insurance companies virtually whatever they wanted, the insurance companies just raised rates. Heck -- they aren't about to lose any money. Employers said -- geez folks, we can't afford to pay this anymore so you have to kick in a share. My gosh what an uproar that created in union shops. Its been a downward spiral ever since. CEO's aren't the reason jobs have gone off-shore. Well they are but they are not the major reason. We simply lost our ability to compete with a global labor pool. Those who are not cross-training and keeping tabs on the pulse of industry will have a tough time staying afloat. I retired at age 62 and it was because I refused to let my employer or the government look after my interests. Had I been able to invest every bit of the money social security sucked out of my salary I could have retired at 50 or sooner. If you don't pay attention you will get run over. I really get tired of people whining about their current job or not being able to get the same job they had when they were let go. Get off your butt and do something about it. You are not too old to cross-train. Beside, your old job may not be obtainable in this country anymore. Had you been paying attention, you could have been cross training in a field that was just opening. It costs about $500 to start a Sub-chapter "S" corporation or an LLC. If you think your skills are marketable, you can be the CEO and will find out in a hurry what it takes to compete and make that venture succeed. I did it and so can you.
But many parts that go into them are made elsewhere. 
