Many won't be back; take shopping cart and check out why

07/20/03

Two people walked into a Huntsville Wal-Mart last week on a challenge: Spend $400 on products made in America.

Two people walked out of Wal-Mart one hour later after randomly checking 40-plus items. Only 10 were made in the USA.

It isn't just Wal-Mart, America's largest retailer. Imported goods line shelves elsewhere, too. But what that means for American workers is the subject of a new economic debate.

"It's a huge issue," Wal-Mart spokesman Bill Wertz agreed Friday, confirming the import trend. "Customers are looking for value ... we try to stock what our customers want to buy."

New Hampshire economist Russ Thibeault threw out the Wal-Mart challenge July 10 on "Marketplace," an award-winning public radio show about the economy.

"Take a trip into your local Wal-Mart and spend your tax refund check on stuff that will generate U.S. jobs," Thibeault said in a commentary. "Chances are your shopping cart will be pretty empty when you get to the checkout counter."

Thibeault was discussing the strange fact that America's economy has been out of recession for well over a year, yet it continues to lose jobs. The National Bureau of Economic Research said Thursday that 1 million jobs have been lost during this recovery.

Many of those jobs aren't coming back, Thibeault thinks, despite tax cuts and strong consumer spending. They aren't coming back because they've moved overseas.

Hence, the Wal-Mart challenge.

Walking into Wal-Mart with a Times reporter was Randall Collier, 37, of Rogersville. Since 1987, Collier's primary business has been buying industrial sewing machines from plants closing here and shipping them to new plants in countries such as Peru.

"For every machine I sell," Collier said Wednesday, "there goes another American job."

Collier is promoting a new venture. He's trying to establish the USASells.com Website to give consumers a place to find American-made products.

"I don't know of one product we don't make," Collier said. "But if people don't start (buying here) now, they won't have a job themselves."

The Wal-Mart challenge was to spend the check coming soon to all American families with children. Congress this year increased the tax credit for raising children by $400 per child, and the money will be "advanced" to taxpayers in the form of checks beginning in a few weeks. The minimum check for a family with one child is $400.

Inside this typical Wal-Mart, clothes greet customers first. Clothes for the new school year would be a logical purchase with any cash windfall.

Virtually every brand is made overseas, including those with strong American images.

Levis jeans: Made in Cambodia.

Faded Glory shirts: Bangladesh.

Hanes underwear: Pakistan. Fruit of the Loom underwear: Honduras and El Salvador.

In the infant section, Cosco infant child seats are made in America, but Cosco playpens are made in China. Many companies seem to have one foot over the border.

A Disney "Winnie the Pooh" bear for baby? Made in China.

Fisher-Price diaper bag? China.

New shoes would be nice for fall.

Dr. Scholls? Made in China. Starter sneakers? China. Faded Glory sandals? China.

Curiously, America still makes the shoe strings and cushion insoles.

"Can we mention these?" Collier says, holding up a Murina brand T-shirt. It's a rare brand made in America.

"See these? These are Tee-Jays," Collier says. "They were in Florence, had 2,000 employees. They sold out. They're made in the Dominican Republic now."

The pattern continues across the store.

Foster Grant reading glasses? China.

Silk flowers? "All China now," Collier says. "They have a major distributing center in Haleyville."

Fabrics? India. China. Some are printed in America on imported fabric.

Rubbermaid and Igloo coolers? Made in the U.S.A.

Zebco fish fryers? El Salvador.

Rawlings baseball gloves? U.S.A.

Wilson, Prince and Head tennis rackets? China.

Black & Decker drills? Assembled in China.

Stanley hammers? Mexico.

Murray lawn tractors? The first in a line outside the Wal-Mart was made in Lawrenceburg, Tenn. The second? "Assembled in Lawrenceburg, Tenn."

Wal-Mart spokesman Wertz said the retailer stocks American items and regional favorites where it can. An Alabama example is Chilton County peaches, he said.

Wal-Mart also helps producers of American products like Denver's Orange Glow cleaner by selling that product in Wal-Mart stores abroad, Wertz said. The company has a special office devoted to that effort.

What economists wonder now is whether an up-and-down cycle of imports and exports has become a steady downward trend.

Collier estimates more than 5,000 textile and manufacturing jobs have left the Shoals area since the economy went global.

"And when (laid-off workers) went on unemployment, they went to the cheapest place they could to shop," he said. "They took their unemployment checks and went to Wal-Mart."