Chapter 4 Video Case: Not Made in the U.S.A.
From toys to tennis shoes to toasters, many products Americans buy these days come from China. Could U.S. consumers get by without Chinese-made goods? That’s the question Sara Bongiorni and her family tried to answer when they decided to go for an entire year without buying any products made in China. She chronicled the experience in a book, A Year Without“Made in China.”
The Bongiorni family had nothing against China. Rather, it was anexperiment to see the extent to which Americans depend on reasonably-priced Chinese imports. “Two days after Christmas, it dawned on me that our home was absolutely full of things made in China,” says Sara Bongiorni. She wondered what it could take in willpower and ingenuity to go a whole year without Chinese products. She found out it takes not only willpower and ingenuity, but also research, extra cash, and going without some items.
Sara couldn’t find anon-Chinese-made, reasonably-priced coffeepot to replace the one that stopped working. Her husband, Kevin, had to leave his tools lying on a garage workbench instead of hanging neatly on a pegboard, because tool hangers for pegboards all come from China. Replacing his $20 Chinese-made sunglasses when they broke set the couple back about $150 for a pair made in the United States. New shoes for their fast-growing young son cost $65, more than they would normally spend. Toy shopping was especially challenging, since most toys attractive to children are made in China. Since Star Wars light sabers were out, a less-exciting sword from Thailand had to do. For the Bongiorni’s young daughter, a tiny German-made doll costing $20 wasn’t a satisfactory replacement for a glittery, Chinese-made, $5 Barbie.
The Bongiorni family’s experience is aptly summed up in the book’s subtitle, One Family’s True Life Adventure in the Global Economy. The global economyseems far removed from individuals, but “you’re mixed up in it, right in your living room,”Sara says. “You see these things on a store shelf and you forget that individual people make these items that are all over your house.”
Most low-cost goods in American stores come from China, now Asia’s top exporter and the largest exporter to the United States. One fourth of that country’s exports are sold here. Chinese importshave increased sixfold over the past decadeto $322 billion, compared with $313 billion in Canadian exports and $146 billion in Japanese exports.
The U.S. trade deficit with China has surpassed $256 billion. For every dollar in U.S. exports to China, the United States imports nearly $5 worth of Chinese goods.
The proliferation of Chinese imports means not only that Americans can buy many items at low prices, but also that Chinese workers can enjoy a higher standard of living. Whereas China’s economy was once run by the government, now private industry has taken hold, contributing nearly $300 billion to the country’s economy.Although the wages would be low in the United States, Chinese workers in the many apparel and electronics factories earn several times what their parents make as farmers and are able to buy furniture and TV sets or save to buy a house.
Questions
1. How does this video illustrate the global economy?
2. Why are goods from China often priced lower than they would be if made in other countries?
3. Do you think many Americans are concerned about where products are made? Do you know anyone who checks the country of origin before buying something?
Sources: “A Year Without ‘Made in China,’” accessed July 30, 2008; Rose A. Horowitz and William Armbruster, “Vanishing Act,” Journal of Commerce, April 28, 2008; and Len Lewis, “China Syndrome,” Stores, December 2007, p. 46.