What is causing this situation? Much like our government, Greece has continued to borrow and spend much more than it’s economy can support, with a government spending deficit exceeding 12% of their total economic output (don’t laugh as our’s is approaching 10%).

However, real life is never quite so simple – also like the USA, Greece has let it’s industry falter and close. This has led to a massive trade deficit, including a $15 to $20 billion dollar annual trade deficit with Germany alone. Like a tire needs air, an economy needs the good paying jobs that only industry can bring to the middle class.

Economies are circles and without a healthy trade balance, large government spending deficits are certain. This situation in Greece also clearly shows that low paying tourism related service jobs, along with government jobs, cannot make up for the lack of industry and healthy trade.
There is talk of a temporary bailout, led by the Germans and French, with forced government austerity measures. As Greece owes German and French banks over $170 billion, it is little wonder Europe is starting to sweat. Clearly the Germans, and to a lesser degree French have been supporting Greek government bond sales the last few months behind the scenes to stave off a complete collapse. Even with all that support, interest rates for Greek bonds are rising, and all three main Greek banks credit ratings have been downgraded by S&P, etc.

What is the plan to fix this? There is no plan. It seems the Germans and French politicians, though they think little of Greece, have decided that carrying than nation for a couple years and praying for miracle is better than that country going down on their watch.

Why should they care if Greece goes down to economic ruin? We could talk in big words about European unity, but in the end it comes down to money. That $170 billion that Greece (a nation smaller than Los Angeles) owes the Germans and French is a hard pill to swallow, but Germany also needs that trade deficit to keep it’s own workers employed. Much worse is that Greece dropping off the cliff will take the other nations who let their industry die with them – Spain, Portugal, Italy, and even Britain face the same fate. Even Germany cannot carry more than one Greece, not to mention bigger nations like Spain, etc.

These are warnings we desperately need to heed while there is still time for the USA. The government budget deficit and our trade deficit are tied to the deindustrialization of the USA, just like any other nation. Just as we could not have fought WWII without our industry, we cannot stem the tide of economic decline without it being healthy.

Todd Lipscomb
Founder of MadeinUSAForever.com, a source of American-made products.

Toyota has been focused intensely on overtaking GM as the biggest automobile producer in the world and has sacrificed the simple, yet vital basis for their success – quality.

Toyota/Lexus has halted sales of a long list of products and is facing a recall that could top 10 million vehicles worldwide.

This did not just happen overnight, as Toyota’s quality had been slipping for some time, though the perception of many folks had yet to take notice.

Readers that know someone who drives a Toyota or Lexus should urge that person to check with their dealer about the recall and what to do if this type of unexpected acceleration occurs. This is serious and could save not just their lives, but those of innocent bystanders…
In fact, guess who Consumer Reports now ranks ABOVE Toyota in overall quality? Ford Motor Company!

This I can attest to, as I have owned a Ford Escape Hybrid for just over two years and had literally zero issues with it. A friend who owns a Lexus has had it in for several repair problems in the same time-frame.

The days when Tokyo dominated Detroit on quality are over. Though Ford is shinning, all three American automakers have made great strides in quality improvement.

Another great reason to buy American-made vehicles, especially a Ford!

Todd Lipscomb
Founder of MadeinUSAForever.com, a source for American-Made items.

Expectations had been for the cost to be roughly $40 billion, but somehow the Korean team managed to come in with a bid of only $20.7 billion, drastically below competitor’s bids.

How can they be that much cheaper? I wish our media would be smart enough to ask such questions without having to be spoon fed, but there is not magical way for a $40 billion facility to suddenly cost $20.7 billion. It had to be extremely heavily subsidized by the Korean government. Their government at least had to put $10 billion of loans, support, and direct cash into this project, if not more.

Ironically, the USA is paying indirectly for the costs on several fronts. For instance we subsidize the defense of both South Korea and the UAE. We allow open access of goods from South Korea, though it is very difficult for American companies to export there. Also, we spend tens of billions of dollars on oil from the UAE. Without America this ridiculous bid could neither be made or paid for, yet our companies lost out on a deal that will put hundreds of thousands of Koreans to work for a decade.

Korea is taking a long-term view of this nuclear energy market – The world needs energy that does not burn oil or coal and is relatively “green” because of the lack of polluting via putting carbon in the air (by burning coal, oil, etc.). Wind, solar, etc. have potential, but to generate power on a large scale without heavily polluting there is only one choice for much of the world the next few decades, nuclear power. Korea is out to develop a single type of nuclear power plant it can build not just in the UAE, but all over the world. Hundreds could be necessary, and all will be showcased by this project. That is why it is worth a $10 billion+ bet on their government’s part.

We need to take a closer look at our supposedly “closest ally in the region” the UAE. Why did they throw the American bid out if they are such a close friend?

I don’t blame the Korean govern for trying to take care of their own people. Unfortunately, it is at the expense of American workers . We need to keep this in mind not just on a government level, but also when we make any purchase.

Todd Lipscomb
Founder of MadeinUSAForever.com, a source of products made in the USA

The toys included Mattel , and one each labeled with Barbie and Disney. You can see the article for specifics. None of the toys cited as having high lead are made in the USA. All of the toys mentioned are foreign produced, mostly from China.

A total of 83 million toys were recalled in 2007 (all foreign, 80% from China), at which point toy importers and large retail chains promised to do take ownership of this issue. How little things really change…

Companies like Mattel are toy importer, not really a maker since they contract out production to foreign suppliers, mostly in China, who in turn farm out production to subcontractors and so on. At the subcontractor level, quality control becomes less of an issue than cost. Yet another dangerous side effect of allowing our industrial base to be shipped abroad.

Is 2.8% of imported toys really significant? Simply put, a family with three kids that receive a total of 10 toys each would have nearly a one in three chance of getting a toy with dangerous levels of lead in it. If three such families live on your street, statistically one would have a dangerous, lead tainted toy in their household. That one toy could expose lead to all three children in that household and any child that visits!

Unfortunately, or perhaps I should say inexplicably, no one is at the border or ports opening cargo containers checking for dangerous toxins. This study only checked for lead, ignoring Mercury, etc. that could also pose a health threat. When will we put our children’s safety first?
Naturally, 2.8% becomes zero percent if USA made toys are given.

Todd Lipscomb
Founder of MadeinUSAForever.com

Before I continue, let me clarify that MadeinUSAForever.com, which I founded and own, is not affected by the CIT bankruptcy. It has no debt, and is fully funded by myself and revenue generated from product sales. My concern is for the hundreds of thousands of other business affected.

CIT filed for bankruptcy last Sunday. The good news is it is expected to survive and emerge from bankruptcy a much smaller, but at least viable firm. The bad news is thousands of businesses have already been frozen out of normal lending, and hundreds of thousands of others will shortly find themselves without a willing lender.

Credit is still very hard to get, not just for people but also for businesses, as financial institutions react to the economic downturn. CIT going into a coma and shrinking drastically means many businesses will suddenly face much higher interest rates if they can borrow at all. For example, for a business considering a factory expansion that wants to borrow $10 million, they could easily see an extra $500,000 in interest expenses in this climate without CIT. That is a high hurdle that few will make it past, meaning new jobs associated with such projects will not be created.

Worse yet, those business already facing hard times with revenue dropping in this economy may find themselves facing layoffs or even closures.

Since small and medium sized businesses create 70% of new jobs, this is a very serious issue for the economy and our nation. The media has not caught on, but the shockwave from this situation could easily destroy or put off more jobs than the 600k+ supposedly “created or saved” by the government’s stimulus plan.

Cash availability is vital to small and medium sized businesses, which in turn are the only real option for creating enough good jobs to pull us out of recession. This issue must be addressed.

Todd Lipscomb
Founder of www.MadeinUSAForever.com, your source for made in USA products.

It goes on to detail how one corporation was robbed of valuable defense related R&D data and how the effort was tracked to computers in Beijing.

This clearly has a military intent and reduces our ability to effectively defend ourselves and world freedom, not to mention the theft of billions of dollars worth of research. Oddly, this important story barely reaches our media!
The article did not really touch on it, but these efforts clearly forewarn of an eventual cyber attach on our computer systems via the Internet in the event relations with China turn sour. If they did not want to do it directly, they could easily turn over this ability to countries Iran or North Korea as a proxy.

This is a gaping hole in our security the government must stand up and address. Also, as individuals I can say as a form tech executive that we each need to have the very latest anti-virus security software on our computer, should use complex passwords on important files and change them occasionally, allow Microsoft, etc. security updates as soon as they are released (often they fix the many security holes in Vista), not leave unattended computers on all night, and should keep at least one copy of key files saved on something other than our computers.

Not to mention, that when we buy products made in another country, we are transferring money there that helps pay for these antics.

Todd Lipscomb
Founder of www.MadeinUSAForever.com, your source for made in USA products.

According to this morning’s Wall Street Journal, China and Iran’s alliance continues to grow with billions of dollars in trade and projects. Plus, China shielding is Iran in the United Nations on its nuclear weapon ambitions. I would not be surprised if China has secretly shared dangerous weapon technology with Iran.

The tragic irony is that our dollars are funding both these governments through our twin deficits. We have two huge trade deficits – one for goods and the other for energy. The tens of billions of dollars of cheaply made goods from China directly support their goal to be the world’s next super power. On energy, we import over 50% of the oil we use. Though we do not import directly from Iran, they earn billions from our energy imports because of oil prices.

As the money drains from our economy we weaken while enriching those that hate us.

We can still make real choices that really help fix this situation both on a personal and cultural scale.

Personally, my family and I now do not buy anything imported if we can possibly buy something made here in the USA. I drive a Ford Escape hybrid. It gets excellent millage and has had zero quality issues in the two years I have owned it.

Culturally, we need make some real choices about whether we want good jobs here or in places that have cost advantages due to lack of environmental controls, poor worker and product safety, currency manipulation, etc. We used to be a nation that made things, and we can be again. On energy, we need an emergency plan to produce more from domestic resources including wind, solar, and yes even safe nuclear power. Also, we need take a real look at consumption and see where we can use less.

Todd Lipscomb
Founder of MadeinUSAForever.com (www.MadeinUSAForever.com), your source for American-made products.

However, the official unemployment rate underestimates the reality, because it excludes numerous people who have given up looking for work, been unemployed for over one year, or have taken some part-time work. Given that over 33% of those that are unemployed have been that way over six months, a record in our nation’s history, there is little doubt the number unemployed for over a year is surging.

Many sources in the media had expected the amount of jobs lost to be around half what was officially shown. That means less potential the economy is pulling out of this mess and indeed this recession will likely continue to worsen.

Recessions are getting worse. It does not take an Edison or Einstein to figure out it is because of our de-industrialization leaving more good folks vulnerable. When factories close here and get moved overseas, mainly to China, the “service” jobs that are supposed to replaced them can be lost in days.

Recent economic booms were not caused by new factories opening, but by fake financial card tricks – the Internet .com stock market spike and particularly the ridiculous housing price surge. Wall Street had a hand (many hands) in both and seriously profited by it while times were “good”.

The fantasy is fun for awhile, but the reality is that without industry making real stuff here in the USA there can be no prosperity.

Todd Lipscomb
Founder of www.MadeinUSAForever.com a source for American-Made products.

This has been a big year for our dollar to weaken against global currencies, like the European Euro. The exception, which is mathematically impossible if currencies were allowed to float appropriately, is the Chinese Yuan. On January 1st 2009, the Yuan was at 6.83 against the dollar, the Euro was at .72. Now the Euro is roughly at .67, meaning its goods have become 4% more expensive against American-made products. For example, if BMW wants to make a car in Germany and ship it to the USA, in just this past year it would have to raise its prices by 4% just to stay even with relative currency changes due to the weakened state of America’s economy. The Chinese Yuan is now where? One would expect that with their massive trade surplus shipping to the USA their currency should strengthen significantly. However, it is still at exactly at 6.83 Yuan to one dollar! What are the odds!

This flagrant manipulation has their currency undervalued by at least 40%. So what? Some news sources were indicating recently with the tire tariff that the actual amount Chinese tire makers were undercutting the market was by 19%, sufficient to close many American tire plants force the layoff of thousands of workers – yet that difference was less than half amount the value currency manipulation. If China were fairly allowing its currency to float, its tires would have cost approximately 20% MORE than tires produced here in the USA.

No nation that allows flagrant currency manipulation should be allowed in the World Trade Organization or access to world markets. China is building up its own industry at the expense of the world, and jobs not just here in the USA, but around the globe. We simplistically talk about free trade, but ignore facts like there cannot be free trade where there is not free currency exchange. China is playing the game to win and we need to wake up.

Todd Lipscomb
Founder of MadeinUSAForever.com a source for products made in the USA

American’s Working by David Riley at http://www.americansworking.com/ is an excellent resource for hundreds of American-Made products, plus I completely agree with his pro-America views. David also does an amazing free newsletter, which you can sign up for on his homepage.

I also really like MadebyYankees.net at http://madebyyankees.net/p1.htm which has a very extensive database of products made in America. Plus, if you cannot find what you are looking for, you can e-mail them and they will try to locate it for you for free.

Naturally, Roger Simmermaker’s website How to Buy America at http://www.howtobuyamerican.com/index.php is an inspiring resource (Please ignore my competitors advertising there. Ha! Ha!). Roger is author of the book How American’s Can Buy American is available there or on MadeinUSAForever.com. With his many TV appearances, while maintaining his job as a union machinist, has done more American industry recently than anyone I know. He is my hero.

With every American-made product we buy, we put someone back to work. These three websites are in the thick of the fight, and I am proud to stand among them.

Todd Lipscomb founder of MadeinUSAForever.com (http://madeinusaforever.com/) a source for products made in the USA.