Made in USA Forever

I was loading a new section for www.MadeinUSAForever.com  on furniture made here in the USA. A lot more similar American made furniture and other products will be coming soon. On the furniture, I could not help but consider how much more the price tag is compared to the imported junk furniture at the big chain retailers. Wal-Mart, and the like, have been encouraging us for years to only consider the price tag, and not factors like quality. Quality meaning how long the item will last in good... Read Full Story

We had a strange experience recently with our local pharmacy. As readers of this blog may know, my wife is pregnant with our second child. She has been taking prenatal vitamins prescribed by her doctor. When she went in to get it refilled, the pharmacist told her in very bad English that there was some issue with her insurance, but my wife could not understand any of the details this person was trying to say. My wife next started trying to check with the insurance company, who also seemed out... Read Full Story

Since I have the dual experiences of having lived in Asia as well as founding www.MadeinUSAForever.com, I have a unique background and perspective. I often get asked why products coming from abroad are cheaper. Hourly labor cost is obviously pointed at, but is actually just one factor involved of many where the USA is at an artificial disadvantage. Here are some other major factors: -The cost of meeting environmental pollution requirements. Meaning some countries either officially or... Read Full Story

 I have had about a half dozen people forward to me a joke chain e-mail where the writer goes down a long list of potential things to buy and all of them are foreign except for the beer and certain services. The point of the joke being that money will just end up going overseas anyway. I know this seems like a fact to anyone walking into a Target or Wal-Mart because of the definite lack of American made products to be found. I suppose their corporate buyers and executives do not consider... Read Full Story

Yesterday, I walked my kids down to Goodale Park here in Columbus, where an “Earth Day” celebration was going on. There were a lot of nifty booths and tents with information about local sustainability projects going on, like the Free Geek Columbus project that rescues computers from the dump, rebuilds them, gives them to non-profits, and provides an opportunity for low-income volunteers to get their own rebuilt computer gear in exchange for time spent rebuilding computers for others. That... Read Full Story