Archive: Opinions

One by one businesses, factories, and manufacturers are closing their doors. A week, the last factory in the United States that made spoons, forks, and knives, the regular flatware that everyone uses, closed. In the small town of Sherrill, NY, 80 people reported for their last day of work to wish fellow workers and friends a fond farewell.

Unless you live near the small hamlet of Sherrill, tucked in the foothills of the Adirondacks, you probably did not hear of the factory closing. In an industry stretching back to colonial times, the flatware and silverware industry was synonymous with the famous American Revolutionary War hero, Paul Revere. Countless generations living in the Northeast used Oneida flatware and silverware at every meal while our mothers cooked with Revere Ware pots and pans.

The trend of losing an industry or ceasing to manufacture a particular product, in this case stainless steel flatware, has indeed become a fairly frequent event. Just in the last few years, American industrial power has seen a hundreds of manufacturing plants close. From the last sardine cannery in Maine to factories that make steel rebar, vending machines, light bulbs, cell phones and laptop computers, the list of items no longer made in America continues to grow.

While industrial output declines, American manufacturers are importing more parts that make up their finished products. Aircraft makers once bought all of its components from domestic suppliers or simply made their own. Now many companies, like Boeing, purchase parts made from overseas suppliers in Japan and China.

The overriding question that many are asking is simple. How did we get into this mess? The answer lies with the manufacturers themselves who began importing from foreign suppliers and from American companies that had relocated and established production overseas. The idea was simple: keep prices low at home by paying low wages to foreign workers in Asia to produce the goods.

It worked, and prices were kept low. The real cost was felt by the American workers whose factories began closing as Company Boards realized that profits could double and triple if more and more of the product could be made overseas. The cost savings in salary, medical, and pension were dreams come to true to owners, but a recurring nightmare to all who made a living in the manufacturing sector.

While consumers have benefited from lower prices on nearly every item they purchase, billions of dollars in lost wages has meant millions of Americans out of work, searching for new jobs with lower wages and fewer benefits.

With the loss of jobs and eventually the factories themselves, the innovative spirit of America is affected as well. From the hybrid car and solar panels, to our iPods, iPads, laptops and cell phones, all built with technologies and innovations developed in America but made overseas, experts are now debating whether America will continue as the center of innovation, or like its industrial production, soon outsource that component overseas as well. In other words, can we be competitive in research and development when we are no longer manufacturing the products we innovate.

America is still the world leader when it comes to manufacturing weapons and military hardware. Protestors in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, and other countries will see the label "Made in America" stamped on every tear gas canister, tank, and other weaponry that their governments have and will continue to use against them. It has been my wish that the factories that make these items would have closed long ago.

The label, Made in America, is more than just nostalgia or wishful thinking. It is a way of life and a guarantee of a future. America's business leaders had better realize this and soon. Otherwise, that iconic label will be merely an identifying marker for antique dealers and collectors. And that is to the point.

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