Recently, I had a thought…what would happen if for one year, I attempted to purchase only things that are made in America?   Its funny because my immediate next thought was “that’s impossible!”  After shrugging off the initial can’t do attitude, I decided to give it further thought.   To begin my assessment, I started with what I am typing on (Macbook pro), looking at (Vizio Monitor) and writing notes with (Papermate flexgrip).  China, China and China.  Next, I made my way over to take out 4 random items a pair of sneakers, a tie, tshirt and a sweater.  India, China, China and you guessed it, China.

The thing is, this is not some sort of  xenophobic article which expresses disdain for the Chinese, in fact I don’t blame them at all.  The real culprit here is American business.  Its the classic case profit vs. greed story.

I come from the school of thought that everyone is entitled to an honest and fair profit for their time, ideas and labor.  It is the quintessential backbone of an economy.  The problem in my estimation ultimately boils down to one’s definition of honest and fair.  Which then leads me to the conclusion that the line between profit and greed is moral in nature.  To further compound the problem, the very premise of a corporation is basically creating an organization that is looked at as it’s own entity, sort of like a person.  The “sort of” is key, because outside of written law, a large number of corporations really do not have a strong moral compass.

So, asking something generally void of clearly defined morals, to make a decision on where the line falls with respect to profits vs. greed is problematic at best.  I wonder how most americans would respond to the question “if you could pay 50 cents extra and you knew the item would result in Made in USA and a job here at home for a fellow American, would you pay it?”  I’d like to believe most of us would say yes.

Its long overdue that we translate that “yes” answer into how we spend our dollars.  It would be a great 101 lesson to companies of the true difference between profit and greed.