Pick up any item nearby and look for the country of origin on its label. Does it say “Made in the U.S.A”?

At my desk, my camcorder is in easy reach: Japan. My mouse: China. The paper shredder: China. Telephone: China. Roomba vacuum cleaner: China. Plastic toy hammer: China. Picture frame: Thailand. T-shirt: Haiti. Shorts: Alabama.

Finally, something made in America. But wait, upon further review, the shorts were not made in Alabama. Apparently Russell Corporation has a location in Alabama however the shorts were made in Turkmenistan.

Ah, at last, I found something “Made in the U.S.A” – yet another reason to love my FDNY Firefighters Calendar. In addition to featuring the hunky firefighters from New York, this is the first item I could find that was made right here in America.

We can blame corporations for exploiting sweatshops all day long but until we support products made here, nothing will change. Wal-Mart is cheap because the products they carry are cheap. It’s less expensive to ship items from China than it is to manufacture them on our own homeland.

I live in the avocado capitol of the world and do you know where the avocados carried at my local grocery store come from? Chile. I read somewhere that for Valentine’s Day most of the roses were imported from other countries.

What happened to “Made in the U.S.A”? Remember when as a country we were urged to buy American? Do we no longer care about keeping jobs? As more and more companies flock to overseas manufacturing, so too will jobs.

Keep your eye out for products that are made here and support the U.S. economy before it’s too late. If it means I have to buy next year’s FDNY Firefighters Calendar, so be it. I’ll just have to suffer.

By Celeste Stewart