BSA merchandise should be "Made in America" not China - Online Petition

[scoutldr]

I just looked at the underside of my Dell keyboard...yep...made in china.

[skeptic]

Yep, it is a true dilema. But, I can accept the criticism that the profit is too high. That is legitimate, based on my knowledge of the retail business. That is why you can buy almost identical pants and shirts in some low priced stores at considerably lower prices. They likely pay a bit less, but not much; but they are getting less profit and more volume.

 

From my perspecitive, National should review their pricing and reduce profits by a large percentage; especially in this economy. They have the resources in place to find dollars someplace other than through retail items.

 

JMHO

[SctDad]

I am no Business major, but I can see both sides of this story.

 

I think there are a few things that would have to happen to make this venture possible.

 

+ THere would have to be a factory that can produce the product to meet the demand.

 

+ They would have to be able to keep the pace

 

+ National would have to come off the profit a little. (If they did this showing that they are here to support America, maybe some would be a little more interested in the program. America loves to support America.)

 

+ I understand that the professionals work for a salary and need to live, but do we have to keep doing like congress and raising the salary just because. Pay the professionals a competetive wage.

 

There are a lot of factors that influence "Made in America" The BSA is trying to keep the program going. Maybe they also need to look at what they did in the past. I think if we look at the past we may be able to secure our future.

 

BTW - How much does someone like Mr. Mazuka make. That is just a question.

 

Also, if you are interested in purchasing a car, look for the factory sticker. There are a lot of Toyotas that are built in the US

[BadenP]

What you pro China scouters seem to forget is that we has a country have allowed vital manufacturing industries in the USA, as well as agriculture, to all but disappear due to overly greedy unions and greedy corporate heads to stuff their pockets overseas. Have you seen the latest stats, USA has a 600+ billion trade deficit compared with France, Germany, Japan, and China all who have from a 20 - 100 billion dollar trade surpluses. We are rapidly becoming a second rate country and if we can't manufacture anything competitively anymore that we and the world market want then no economic bailout plan will ever be able to restore our economy for the longterm. We have lost over a billion jobs in this country, we don't make anything much anymore, and Mexico and South America outproduce us in agricultual products and exports better than 4 to 1. Prospects for the future are not looking promising either.

 

So maybe when we are all standing in breadlines unemployed and China becomes the new global economic power you guys can all say well at least we got our scout uniforms cheaper, time to wake up and smell the coffee people. We need to rebuild our former major industries and agriculture so that we can become the economic leader of the world producing the best quality products, anything less is nothing more than a road to nowhere.

[nolesrule]

"We have lost over a billion jobs in this country"

 

I hope that's just a typo or hyperbole. Not sure how we could lose that many jobs. This country doesn't have enough people to fill that many jobs. Everyone would have to work an average of 3 jobs to meet that number, including every child born in the last week.

[SctDad]

I think that the Billion Jobs that BadenP is refering to is all the jobs that we have sent overseas.

 

If securing the future of america meant another $5 in the cost of a uniform, then bring the factory back. Heck even our telemarketers have gone overseas. THe last three surveys that they called me had some one from india on the othher line.

 

Save the American Worker

[Narraticong]

Made in China for BSA is a tough pill to swallow. But I bet much of our gear has been coming from over there for years. We are just now seeing it in our uniforms. I'd rather see made in the USA, but I don't know enough about these products to suggest whether that can be done economically.

 

As to the salaries of the executives, I know all of our Council professionals have taken a 15% pay cut. That's more than I have been asked to do at my job, so far. Corporate donations are almost extinct. FOS is way down. So, I'm not sure just where we expect BSA to come up with this money. I'm not sure what National employees have had to contibute, but I imagine they have been asked to take some sort of cut.

 

For now, I'll keep looking in thrift shops for uniform parts. We'll keep passing down uniform parts to new Scouts. I won't blame BSA. I'll just find a way to get things done. It will get better!

[eagle1977]

SctDad just because you asked:

 

"Williams' successor, Robert Mazzuca, who's been with the Scouts for 38 years, was paid $377,617 in 2007. His deferred compensation of $322,237 includes $252,204 set aside in his supplemental retirement plan and $49,167, which is the incentive to stay with the Scouts that he'll collect only if he does." http://www.seattlepi.com/specials/scoutslogging/398082_scoutfinances30.html

 

This may not include all types of indirect compensation that may be extended to Mr. Mazzuca, he may also have a driver or a car for personal use, he may have a low interest rate on his mortgage, among other perks.

 

I was glad to see that BadenP included the CEOs and not just the unions in his statement. The steel companies of the rust belt did little or nothing to update their furnaces or other production processes throughout the 1960's and 1970's, while our competitors in Japan and China were building new state of the art steel mills. Sure the unions kept up their demands for more compensation but the companies were at fault too. A fair living wage would be a nice thing for an American to expect in return for performing a job. But as others have pointed out here we are all guilty of spending our money on the cheapest available product rather than seeking out a product that may last a little longer and cost a little more. There are quite a few "dollar" stores in my little community. They must be doing a brisk business in order to stay open.

 

I think I would be willing to pay a few dollars more for a uniform if I thought the money would stay in America. But even after receiving those sweet no bid contracts from the government to supply goods and services to the war efforts, Haliburton decided to take their corporate headquarters "off-shore" in order to lessen their tax burden. Can't seem to trust the American corporate folks to stay in the country.

 

 

[Narraticong]

It's easy to target American Industry as not being "state of the art". But think back to the last Olympics in China and remember the pollution was so thick the athletes had difficulty breathing. In America, we have done the right thing for the past 40 years and have tried to curb industrial pollution. But that is not accomplished without tremendous cost. Worker safety is also greatly improved. But again, not without cost.

 

All of these things add up. Until the far eastern countries compete with us on a level playing field, America will not be able to grow our industry. It would cost us all more money, but I would be willing to consider an import tax on all of those good brought into the USA from countries which do not have the same safety and environmental laws as we do.

[BadenP]

So Nattirong since you feel its not a "level playing field" America should not even try to compete, sounds like a fatalistic copout to me and thats not the attitude that made our country great. Doing nothing about this crisis over the last 20+ years is why we are in the mess we are in today economically. We convinced ourselves that an economy based mainly on selling technology and services could sustain itself, and now that balloon has burst.

 

Remember that old ad, Take Pride in America, Made in the USA , that what we need to do today just fixing roads and bridges isn't enough to restore our economy we need to start making things again, not the cheapest but the best quality to be had anywhere in the world. When and If we can do that, and when the world market starts to demand American made goods again we will be on a solid road to economic prosperity once again.

[GernBlansten]

The American standard of living has steadily increased due to cheap imported stuff. We have multiple TVs, multiple cars, all kinds of electronic dodads and thingamajigs because they can be made cheaply overseas.

In order to level the playing field, we will need to impose import taxes on those products. That will make them more expensive and lower our standard of living. I don't think Americans will except that. We are too selfish.

[eagle1977]

The level playing field issue is really nothing but a cop-out. It really gives the corporate heads a reason to export all our labor to other countries. In those other countries they do not have to worry about meeting environmental conditions as set by our government or pay their workers a fair living wage. They get to exploit the workers and their environment in one fell swoop. Cheap labor and no worries from governmental agencies . . . priceless.

[briantshore]

In refferance to the Wal-Mart statment in a earlyer post. Sam Walton statment did not say that they would only by US made merchandise. The program was to search out and find a US manufacturer that was competitve with the Overseas maufacturer. If it was, they would buy from the US one. Unfortiantly with the cost of labor, government regualations from OSHA, liability, buisness taxes, it is just cheaper to buy overseas. Even when you figure in the cost of shipping, it is still cheaper.

[Beavah]

Have you seen the latest stats, USA has a 600+ billion trade deficit compared with France, Germany, Japan, and China all who have from a 20 - 100 billion dollar trade surpluses. We are rapidly becoming a second rate country and if we can't manufacture anything competitively anymore that we and the world market want then no economic bailout plan will ever be able to restore our economy for the longterm.

 

Yah, there are certainly issues with greedy CEOs and unions, and more properly with just plain stupid management of American firms. But really, the bulk of that trade imbalance is our insane addiction to oil. If yeh want to fix the trade imbalance, slap a big honkin' Patriot Tax on gasoline and let us develop other domestic energy sources.

 

You're also missin' the other real cause, eh? The real cause is the strong dollar. So long as the dollar is a strong currency that everyone trusts, it's harder to pay people to do menial work here in the U.S. Far more economical to ship highly-valued dollars overseas to do menial work, and pay only for the things yeh can't get overseas - financial expertise, knowledge resources, high-quality entertainment, computer software, etc. In a strong dollar world, if yeh want to make a living in dollars yeh have to have an education which makes you worth earnin' those strong dollars. But there's lots of folks includin' all those high school dropouts we have who just don't get that, eh?

 

Of course, those strong dollars have also allowed almost every household to own a car, and a big-screen TV, and personal wardrobes that would make most folks in the world blush, and live in houses with yards or large apartments that are the envy of the planet. The strong dollar which made overseas goods and manufacturin' cheaper has made us wealthier, because we can buy shoes for our kids at Wal-Mart for a third the price we could otherwise, and use da rest of the money for other things.

 

Not to worry, though, the days of weaker dollars are comin' fast. That will shift the trade balance which ain't related to oil. Yah, it will ultimately shift the imbalance for oil, too, as we can't afford it. That will move manufacturing back here. You'll get your wish. Remember that when yeh tell your kids Christmas is goin' to be lean because you're gettin' paid in dollars, and those dollars can't pay for both shoes and new toys.

 

Beavah

 

[BadenP]

Beavah, Beavah

 

The idea of the "strong dollar" over at least the last two decades was based on a false premise, our economy was based on the selling of technology which the rest of the world now has and no longer needs to obtain from us. In the interim what little manufacturing and agriculture remained here has all but disappeared which has been allowed because of corporate and governmental incompetence. The mentality that we do not to produce anything here because we can get it overseas cheaper has truly weakened our country economically to a point where we may never fully recover. You are right about "OIL", which due to corporate greed and government lobbyists have crippled any real development of alternate fuels for decades and has now put us behind the eight ball with our dependence on foreign oil.

 

So what are the solutions? IMHO it is time to climb out of the hole we have dug for ourselves and to do some serious refocusing of new goals for both the corporate and governmental world in how to conduct business. We need to stop the mentality that if someone else can do it cheaper we shouldn't bother developing it ourselves. It is time for Americans obsession for owning all the latest gadgets, SUV's, etc., etc., to end. If we don't all work towards rebuilding a strong economy with a better quality of life available to all who will work for it then this recession will continue to worsen, eventually the economy here and abroad will collapse and anarchy will result. The thing is we have the power and ability to reverse all of that unless we choose to do nothing as a country.(This message has been edited by BadenP)