The Factory man fights back

With over $500 million a year in sales, the Bassett Furniture Company was once the world's biggest wood furniture manufacturer. Run by the same powerful Virginia family for a century, it was also the center of life in Bassett, Virginia -- an unincorporated town that existed solely to fuel the business. But beginning in the 1980s, the Bassett company suffered from an influx of cheap Asian furniture as the first wave of imports struck, and ultimately moved nearly all its production to Asia.

Only one man fought back: John Bassett III, a shrewd and determined third-generation factory man who used grit, tenacity, and will to compete against China and ultimately save his family's company. In Factory Man, Beth Macy brings to life John Bassett's fascinating business, with wildly colorful stories from an American industry that once ruled the world and might again see better days. As Macy shows how he uses legal maneuvers, factory efficiencies, and sheer will to save hundreds of jobs, she also discovers the hidden history of industry in America.

Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Company today employs more than seven hundred people, with John Bassett at the helm. His story unveils shocking truths about American business, including the hidden fallout of offshoring on communities across the country. By revealing how one businessman took on China -- and won -- Factory Man raises a flag for the return of made-in-America products.

Check out the book here

2000 jobs being added in the USA for a new car model

After years of delay and debate, the German automaker finally announced today it would build a seven-passenger SUV based on the CrossBlue concept at its Chattanooga, Tenn., plant. The $900 million project will add 2,000 direct jobs in Tennessee as the plant ramps up production by late 2016 Source Justin Hyde  Motoramic

This is great news for Americans everywhere. I have no desire to enter a union or non union argument and would rather celebrate jobs in the USA.

We have not created a listing for American made cars because it is very confusing as to where everything is made. Many cars on the American road were made here of course but many American brands are made in Canada and Mexico and the manufactures don't advertise any of it.

Keep your money at home keep you job at home

Are we going backwards in the fight to preserve American Jobs?

Always a sad task when I have to remove a company from the products made in the USA directory. Today I was informed by a site visitor that a long time listing on our site no longer makes their products in America. I won't name the company as I have no desire to shame anyone, however I recall how excited they were to be on our site.

On the upside traffic to our site is increasing and people are still requesting to be listed every day. Remember American Made, Americans Paid!

Another bites the dust

Always a sad task when I have to remove a company from the products made in the USA directory. Today I was informed by a site visitor that a long time listing on our site no longer makes their products in America. I won't name the company as I have no desire to shame anyone, however I recall how excited they were to be on our site.

On the upside traffic to our site is increasing and people are still requesting to be listed every day. Remember American Made, Americans Paid!

Light bulbs made in the USA? Could it be?

Did you know you can still buy incandescent light bulbs that are Made in the USA. Yes that's right, today we added a company to our site that makes light bulbs right here at home. Also added today to the Made in the USA directory were baby clothes, stoneware, and men and women's clothing all made in America. Don't forget when you keep your money in the USA you help keep jobs in the USA.

Are we going to get tough with China?

According to many media reports the US Government has directly accused  and charged several Chinese officials with spying on and stealing trade secrets from US companies via hacking.

American companies have been complaining about this for years and no one has done anything. One of the many things that separates the US from other parts of the world is we protect a persons inventions and ideas. This is one of the ways people that came from nothing can improve their lives and become successful maybe even creating generational wealth.

The Chinese government has long been accused  of these practices and really stealing directly from American inventors. One important thing to keep in mind and think about. China does not want to just make cheap goods for the rest of the world, to be laborers for other companies. They wish (as they should) to own the companies that create the goods. That is normal and nothing wrong with that unless you are stealing the technology to make that possible.

This is just another reason to keep your money in the US and keep your job in the US. Buy American Made and Americans get paid!

Mermorial Day is a great time to think American Made

This weekend is Memorial Day, which so much of the country has been treating as a time to have a sale or just a three day weekend. For me it is the ultimate American Made Holiday as the men and women we are remembering built our freedom, they made America.

Remember who the muscle behind the mouth, the way behind the will. My family and I will remember you this weekend. We are going to play baseball and assemble freely!

American Made from top to bottom

Many people claim there are not enough choices to buy clothing that has been made in the USA. I disagree so starting today and for the next week we will show you from top to bottom you can dress American Made.

Our test with start with Hats Made in the USA. On our page for hats you will find a wide selection of styles. I found fancy hats like you would wear to the Kentucky Derby and hats you would wear if you were to climb a mountain and everything in between. So when dressing yourself from top to bottom with products Made in the USA start on our hats page

Furniture Made in the USA offers many choices

Take a few minutes to browse our American Made Furniture pages and I think you may be surprised by the number of offerings. We have listed dining room, bedroom, occasional furniture and more. Also waiting to be listed we have dozens more.

I have bought from several of the companies listed on our site myself and I'm very happy with the quality and looks of the product.

Keep your money in the US, keep your job in the US. Buy products made in the USA

New report suggest US businesses are being deystroyed

According to the Washington Post "U.S. businesses are being destroyed faster than they’re being created"

The article goes on to read "The American economy is less entrepreneurial now than at any point in the last three decades. That's the conclusion of a new study out from the Brookings Institution, which looks at the rates of new business creation and destruction since 1978.
Not only that, but during the most recent three years of the study -- 2009, 2010 and 2011 -- businesses were collapsing faster than they were being formed, a first. Overall, new businesses creation (measured as the share of all businesses less than one year old) declined by about half from 1978 to 2011." Source http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/05/05/u-s-businesses-are-being-destroyed-faster-than-theyre-being-created/?hpid=z5

I hope this serves as a wake up call for all of us to look inward to what we can do. We can help our fellow American workers when we vote with our dollars. Not only does it help our fellow workers but it helps the country when another worker is employed and paying taxes.

Don't forget when you are out and about shopping look for the Made in the USA label because when it is American made, Americans were paid.

Create great high paying jobs when your buy items Made in the USA

I don't want to get into the argument over minimum wage or taxing the rich. There is something that is known to create high paying jobs. Before I get too far please allow me to confess this is not easy and I'm only bringing up a part of the solution not solving the entire thing.

As a small business operator I have lived through many recessions and a couple boom times. During the boom times as a business operator I had to offer a higher wage in order to get people to accept the job. At the time this was good business because everyone was spending money and business was booming everywhere. During times like this the classes do not fight about wages because the free market kicked in and the short supply of employees to fill jobs caused those looking for a job to be desired by the market. When multiple companies desire the same thing what happens? The object that is desired benefits.

Currently we are in a market where the companies don't desire more workers and more potential workers desire a job. Now we have flip flopped and the desire to work is creating an environment where the worker to be more desirable to the company will take less.

We have to create more jobs in America of all types to fix this. We need to make companies compete for employees again at every level not just the highest paid.

How do we do this? Well that is another story, however one step we can all take is to buy Made in the USA products. Keep our money at home and keep our jobs at home. This keep money here to pay taxes and build infrastructure.

Your source for all things Made in the USA

This spring as you begin to shop for summer clothes or maybe tools for the garden don't forget to check our list of items made in the USA. Our list of products is always growing and evolving.

When it's American Made, Americans got paid!

Quality begins with products Made in the USA

Here is a great story about an iconic American invention and company. I bet like me you never gave this product much thought.

InSinkErator has been manufacturing garbage disposers in Racine, Wisconsin for more than 75 years – and the company’s president Tim Ferry says there are no plans to move production overseas.
“[W]e have over 1,000 employees in Racine here for this production facility. We are very automated, but in terms of serving our customers in North America, this is by far the most cost-effective way to do that from a logistical standpoint. And the demands of our channel partners and what they expect, this is where we need to be in serving them in a timely fashion at the rates they expect,” says Ferry in a Conference Room interview with FBN’s Jeff Flock.

Source http://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/2014/04/29/insinkerator-president-on-keeping-manufacturing-in-us/?intcmp=obnetwork

This is a great example of a product Made in the USA that is serving everyone well, the company, the employees and the consumer. I say good for them and congratulations

According to the news the American Economy had a major slow down

Here is proof that we need to keep more of our money at home.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy barely grew in the first quarter as exports tumbled and businesses accumulated stocks at the slowest pace in nearly a year, but activity already appears to be bouncing back.

Gross domestic product expanded at a 0.1 percent annual rate, the slowest since the fourth quarter of 2012, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday.

That was a sharp pullback from the fourth quarter's 2.6 percent pace and was worse than economists' expectations for a slowdown to a 1.2 percent rate. The slowdown partly reflected an unusually cold and disruptive winter, marked by declines in sectors ranging from business spending to home building.

Source Reuters http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cold-weather-seen-temporarily-slowing-051130436.html

Let's all help jump start our economy by spending your money on items Made in the USA. Every dollar counts to help keep your neighbor working or maybe but them back to work

How much do you spend on American Made products

Whenever you buy products Made in the USA you help an American business employ fellow Americans. A couple years ago ABC news ran a story regarding how many jobs a person could help create by spending several dollars more for products Made in the USA.

I don't recall how much it was however I recall it was not very much. When you are out shopping please look for items marked Made in the USA, every little bit helps keep us employed! I have noticed more and more signage and packaging marked Made in the USA

Why Made in the USA is important

A new report recently published detailed how we have in fact been creating jobs in the US, however all on the lowest end of the pay scale. This is a result of the so called "service economy" which is needed of Couse but should be accompanied by a manufacturing and skilled labor jobs.

When you are out shopping support your country at the same time by looking for clothes made in the USA as an example!

American Made, Americans Paid

Made in the USA

The Made in the USA movement continues to strike a chord with the American people of all types. Does your political affiliation or lack thereof make any difference whether American Made products are important to you? I can't see why? Seems liberal, conservative, or libertarian minded people could all agree that products made in the USA means jobs for Americans. Finally something we can all agree on.

So next time you are looking to buy a product look for the Made in the USA label and help a fellow American, our economy, and get yourself a new product all at the same time.

American Made, an American Paid 

Cool American Made Journals made with old vinyl records

What struck me about this product is the creativity and the re purposing of the old vinyl albums. You will just have to check it out for yourself to really understand. I think this American Made product reflects what is great about us! They are cool, they are useful, they are made new from old and much more.

We created a new page called Paper Products Made in the USA in order to feature this company Vintage Vinyl Journals please check them out

More companies added to the American Made Directory

We added some great companies today to the list. An American Made knife company, a Frames made in the USA company and a few others. Check them all out at www.americansworking.com

Remember American Made Americans Paid!

What is your take on the minimum wage?

Do you think the minimum wage has any effect on jobs in the US? As a nation we have decided to mandate a minimum wage to ensure workers received what society perceived as a fair wage. I certainly don't want to argue about whether we should have a minimum wage or not, fact is we do and it's not going anywhere but up.

If everything was made in the US, the minimum wage would not have an impact on our jobs. The reason for this is because if you opened a factory and I opened a factory both of us would be paying employees the same minimum wage or better right, it's the law. What would happen if the government allowed my factory to ignore the minimum wage and labor was plentiful? The result would be my factory would operate at a much lower labor cost and allow me to sell my goods at a lower price than your products and make the same profit margin and increase my sales at your expense. So of course in the US we don't allow that. If you and I have the same labor cost we are forced to innovate and get creative with ways to out perform one another. Maybe I would choose to modernize my factory lowering cost. Maybe you would focus on branding and image. The point is that it would not be a race to the bottom with prices and wages.

The problem as I see it is that while in the US we create a baseline, we have no limits on factories operating in other countries. Of course we don't they are not in America and none of our business right? Why do we allow companies to bring in goods made by workers that are not paid minimum wage if that product could not be made in the US? Is that not unfair? They call it fair trade but is that misleading? I think it is in fact misleading. Often times it is American corporations that are using the cheap labor (again that would be illegal here) that compete with factories that use American workers paid a minimum wage or better.

What is the answer? Should we not import? If we don't import then all our cost for products we have become accustom to buying will increase dramatically. Do we wish that to happen? Probably not. Should we impose huge tariffs on imported goods?

I have a couple solutions to kick around. First off is not allow American Corporations to import products made overseas that were made by workers not paid an equivalent minimum wage to ours. If they are going to have all the protection and benefits of America then they should be forced to use American labor or pay the same amount or get out! When we allow American Companies to use cheap labor in other countries and flood our domestic markets with those products all we do is sub contract worker abuse.

What can you do right now about this problem. Buy American Made products when you can. You will empower the American worker and the American company that is trying to do the right thing.

Added some great companies that make products in the USA

A company emailed and asked to be on our directory that makes some really interesting products we probably all see often but never think about where they come from. The make Recycling and Waste Containers in the USA. You know the ones you see in food service locations where you separate glass from food and paper etc. I'm very happy they wrote to us to become part of the American Made Directory.

We also added another company that specializes in a variety of items made in America and put them on several different pages.

Added a few companies today

Today I found a company that makes Combs in the USA out of stainless steel. Added them to our Hair care products made in USA page.

We also created a new page for shelves Made in America today and linked to a company.

Remember American Made, Americans Paid!