What Price Our Country?

     Republican lawmakers walked out of debt reduction talks this week because they were unwilling to consider additional taxes on corporations or the nation's wealthiest.  Instead, they would rather reduce programs that benefit the young, the elderly, the poor, and the sick and disabled.   

     In the movie, "Jerry Maguire," Jerry's football player client demands, "Show me the money."  Everything seems to have a price these days. Everything seems to be about the money.  What price, I wonder, does our country have?  What does it take for those in positions of power and leadership to forget about the money, and care once again, for our country and its people?

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This week's recommended product:

Craisins - Made in the USA by Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., Lakeville-Middleboro, MA

Blog Source:

"GOP declares impasse on debt", by Lori Montgomery, The Washington Post, June 24, 2011

Land of the Free and Home of the Brave

      To all fathers everywhere, I hope you had...and are still having a very Happy Father's Day!  This is especially true for those fathers who are in the military, and unable to be with their families today.  Thank you for serving to keep our country free and safe.  

      I can't help wondering, though, just how free we are when our jobs are being outsourced overseas, and when our access to health care, retirement benefits, and educational opportunities are being threatened and targeted for reduction.  I wonder just how safe we are when police, fire, rescue services, and services for the sick and the poor, are being targeted for reduction. 

     What price are our fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, and sons and daughters paying to protect a country whose value is diminishing at the hands of greedy, unpatriotic multinational corporations, and the politicians, lobbyists, and judges who protect them?  In March, a Pulitzer prize-winning novel by Geraldine Brooks, the main character, Reverend March, a father and anti-slavery abolitionist serving in the Union army, asks himself,  "If our forefathers make the world awry; must our children be the ones who pay to right it?"  Unless we change the direction of our country,  it is our children who will pay most for  the actions of those who are taking down our country and reaping the spoils.

     We may not all be serving in the military, but as patriotic Americans, we can help to keep our country free and safe for ourselves and our children.  One thing we can do, as we celebrate Father's Day and the days of summer to follow, is to buy and promote "Made in USA" goods and products.   Diane Sawyer and ABC News are doing their part to encourage and promote "Made in USA" products with its "Made in America" program.  The program is scheduled to be broadcast all of this coming week.  To get more information on this program, go to the "Made in America" this week's recommendation below.

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This Weeks Recommendation:

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/MadeInAmerica/

Blog Sources:

March, Geraldine Brooks - published and printed in the USA by Penguin Books, New York

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/MadeInAmerica/

Bringing Back Jobs - Really?

     This week, two Congressmen, Mark Warner (D-VA) and Frank Wolf (R-VA), proposed legislation to give low-interest, "forgivable" loans of $5,000 to businesses for every new "high-value manufacturing job" they establish in a rural or economically distressed area (which is most of the US, these days.)  Eligible businesses must employ a minimum of 50 people, and must also pay wages for the new job that are higher than the average wage of the county where the job is established.  For every year that the job is maintained, the employer gets $1,000 knocked off the balance of the loan. If the job is established for at least five years, the business doesn't have to pay back the loan at all.  The lawmakers hope to lure manufacturing jobs back to the US from overseas with their proposal. 

     Although I like the concept of bringing back manufacturing  jobs to the US,  I don't think this plan will do that.  First of all, $5,000 per "high value" job for five years doesn't begin to compete with the money that greedy, unpatriotic manufacturing companies are making off of workers in third-world countries.  It's difficult to find recent information on wages paid to those workers, but according to information from the World Bank, in 2004, apparel industry workers  were making an average of  13 cents per hour in Bangladesh,  44 cents per hour in China, $1.62 per hour in the Dominican Republic,  49 cents per hour in Haiti, $1.31 per hour in Honduras, 34 cents per hour in Indonesia, 76 cents per hour in Nicaragua, and 26 cents per hour in Vietnam.  Wages in those countries in 2011 are probably not a lot higher, so I hardly think that $5,000 per job over five years is going to do the trick.  In addition, when you take into consideration that these companies have to pay payroll taxes on each US job, the chances that a $5,000 incentive will have any effect are slim to none.

     I believe that the best plan for creating US jobs is to: (1) create a demand for USA-made goods and products by buying "Made in USA" goods and products whenever that option is available, and (2) stop giving federal subsidies and tax breaks to the greedy, unpatriotic US companies that outsource jobs,  or offshore their operations. 

     As concerned Americans, we can't do anything about tax breaks and incentives, other than electing representatives who value our country over their own political war chests, but we can do our part for our country by buying and promoting "Made in USA" goods and products. 

      What exactly does "promote" mean?  We can start by telling our friends, neighbors, and even people we meet when shopping, that such-and-such a product (e.g., paper plates, dog food, etc.) is "Made in USA" as opposed to those made elsewhere.  I have found that most Americans really do want to buy "Made in USA" goods and products when given that option.   In order to do a better job of promoting those products myself, starting with today's blog, I not only will be recommending goods and products that are "Made in USA," but reporting on competing products that are NOT "Made in USA."
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Taking calcium supplements is a good way to ensure that we are getting enough daily calcium to develop and maintain strong bones.  Following are those recommended calcium supplements "Made in USA" followed by those NOT recommended and NOT Made in USA. Product research was done in stores.

 This week's recommended products:

        ·         vita fusion calcium gummy vites - Made in USA by northwest natural products, 
                Vancouver, WA

·         up&up adults' gummy calcium dietary supplement with vitamin D; up&up calcium + vitamin D chews - Made in USA by Target Corp., Minneapolis, MN

·         Citracal with vitamin D plus magnesium tablets; Citrical calcium + D3 caplets; Citracal calcium gummies with D3 - Made in USA by Bayer, Morristown, NJ

NOT recommended:

·         Caltrate calcium tablets + vitamin D tablets; Caltrate calcium + D soft chews; Caltrate  calcium + D chewable tablets - NOT Made in USA

·         NatureMade adult gummies calcium + vitamin D3; NatureMade calcium tablets - NOT Made in USA

·         Origin calcium + D3 soft gels; Origin calcium tablets - NOT Made in USA

·         up&up calcium + D tablets - NOT Made in USA

·         Viactiv calcium + D soft chews - NOT Made in USA

Blog sources:

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/06/va-lawmakers-propose-5k-job-lure-employers

http://www.independent.org/publications/working_papers/article.asp?id=1369

E. coli - Another Reason to Buy USA

      My April 3, 2011, post to this blog was about the dangers of consuming food and drugs from foreign countries (see "Eat At Your Own Risk:  Foreign-Made Food and Drugs.") This week, a particularly virulent strain of E. coli appeared on the scene, as people in Europe (and four in the US who recently returned from Germany) came down with nasty symptoms, including stomach cramps and bloody diarrhea.  Currently, 1,833 cases of the E. coli infection have been confirmed, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. What makes this strain of E. coli even more dangerous is that it attacks not only the digestive system, but also produces a by-product called the "shiga" toxin that may damage the kidneys.  Reports indicate that this strain of E. coli originated in produce, primarily bean sprouts, grown in northern Germany.  However, sprouts, cucumbers, and tomatoes grown in Denmark, the Netherlands, and Spain are also suspect. 

     What exactly is E. coli?  It's a bacteria (Escherichia coli) that is commonly found in our intestines, and helps our bodies to break down and digest food.  Certain strains of E. coli, however, move from the digestive system into the bloodstream, where they can cause serious infections.  E. coli can contaminate crops when manure is used to fertilize crops, or if water contaminated with E. coli is used to irrigate the crops.  .
    
     According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA),the government recently has stepped up testing of food from Germany and Spain, although very little in the way of produce is imported to the US from those countries or from other European countries.  (I have found a lot of produce sold in US grocery stores from Mexico, and Central and South America.)

    Be aware that meat and produce from the United States is not 100% safe from E. coli contamination either.   There was a small outbreak in the US (145 reported cases) of a similar E. coli strain reported by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in 2010.  That outbreak originated from US-produced shredded romaine lettuce.  In general, however, according to Don Kraemer, deputy director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, the United States has "one of the safest food supplies in the world."  Compared to reported outbreaks of E. coli worldwide, this appears to be true.
      
     Treatment for the present outbreak of E. coli is primarily accomplished by keeping patients hydrated with water, and by dialysis, which is used to scrub the blood of patients with infected bloodstreams.  In the case of E. coli infections, antibiotics don't help, and may make symptoms worse because they may increase the release of toxins into the bloodstream.

     Precautions that we can take to protect ourselves from E. coli contamination are: (1) eat meat that is cooked well - not red or pink; (2) wash produce well (I use a vegetable and fruit spray), even if wrappers or labels say the produce has already been washed; (3) wash hands well before preparing food, and (4) wash countertops where food is prepared.
    
     The final precaution that we can take to protect ourselves and our families against E. coli is to buy food and produce made and grown in the USA.  With fewer E. coli outbreaks from USA food, buying food and eating "grown in USA,  and "product of USA"  food  just makes good sense - not to mention that it helps our economy.  This summer, buy locally grown produce, shop at community farmers' markets, and look for "Made in USA," and "Product of USA" labels on food and produce.
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This week's recommended product:

• Fruits and vegetables that are "Product of USA," including "locally grown" fruits and vegetables (as they come into season.)

• All Natural Veggie Wash Fruit and Vegetable Wash - Made in USA by Beaumont Products, Inc., Kennesaw, GA

Sources :  

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/04/earlyshow/saturday/main20068944

http://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2010/ecoli_o145/index.html

http://kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/food/ecoli.html

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-03/water-dialysis-only-treatments-for-deadliest-european-e-coli-outbreak.html