And another thing about that debate
Writing by treason on Wednesday, 28 of November , 2007 at 11:15 pm
Duncan Hunter suggested that we should make it a point to buy American when we’re out there consuming. Why, what a concept! There’s one small problem, however. A lot of us have been trying to do just that, but it’s easier said than done, Congressman. I always look at the labels and I base many of my purchases on where an item comes from. I conjure boycotts in my head and often put things back on the shelf when I discover it’s manufactured in a country or sometimes even a state that I don’t particularly want to support. The problem is that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find items made in the U.S.A.
Been through the produce section lately? You may think the garlic you’ve put in your cart was grown in Gilroy, California, but think again. The garlic you’re buying was probably brought here from China. I like to think I’m buying apples from Washington, but no… they’re usually from New Zealand. Oranges from California or Florida? I rarely find those in the supermarket.
Let me relay a typical shopping experience. I’m standing in an aisle at Sunflower Market and some signage catches my eye. “Ooh. Sun dried tomatoes!” I reach for a jar with a $3.99 price tag, but then I notice there’s another jar on the shelf below at $2.99. And it’s a larger jar. More sun dried tomatoes for a more reasonable price. My resources are limited and these tasty little devils are not inexpensive. Truth be told, they’re sort of a luxury item, but I keep them around because I can’t afford pizza anymore. I’ve found that we can produce one at home on the cheap that tastes even better than what we can get delivered or at a favorite pizzeria. In fact, it’s less expensive for me to stock a particular brand of frozen cheese pizza than to create my own dough and supply the cheese and sauce. Because the foundation is affordable I can splurge a bit on special ingredients to make a pizza taste like I spent a small fortune. And let’s be honest – a little sun dried tomato can go an awfully long way.
So… I really want the big jar that costs a dollar less than the 8.5 ounce jar. Okay, I ask myself, what’s the catch? I look at the label on the more expensive jar. Bella Sun Luci! A product of Mooney Farms, Chico, California. In large letters under the website: PRODUCT OF USA. A million voices in my head – your mother’s name is Lucia and her family called her Luci, your high school friend Linda went to Chico State, there’s a tiny recipe book stuck to the lid of the jar, the tomatoes are packed in olive oil…
I picked up the bigger jar. The tomatoes were packed in a different oil, but there sure were a lot of them. And they were produced in Turkey. Quick check: Do I hate Turkey this week? What are my political feelings towards the Turks at this moment? Do I want to support their economy or ours?
That dollar would buy something else at the market, but I put the smaller jar in the cart. I bought the American product, then wondered who picked the tomatoes.
But that’s not the end of the story (it never is). Later that day I ran into one of our many dollar stores and found the same jar of sun dried tomatoes I’d seen for $2.99 at Sunflower. A slightly different label, but still a product of Turkey. And the price? Well, it’s a dollar store, so you do the math. For the price of the U.S. product, I could have purchased four larger jars of Turkish tomatoes. Like I said, a little sun dried tomato goes a long way so I may have been looking at a one or two year supply of the things. Sad but true, having principles isn’t cheap.
It’s easier to buy American when cost is no object, but what will the average person do when faced with such a substantial price difference? And for those who don’t bother to look at labels, the obvious choice is the bigger jar at the lower price.
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