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