Cited: CNN

Buy American. It’s a slogan that you hear all the time from would-be do good’ers trying to support American workers and lately, it’s a key component of the Obama Administration’s plans to get the American economy back up to speed. However, producing goods in the U.S. versus importing them from overseas isn’t as easy as it might appear.

In the first place, labor and material costs here in the U.S. are much higher than abroad making the first hurdle a difficult one. After that, regulations that guide everything from the specs on the factory, to environmental issues, to laws governing workers’ rights all add to the high cost and the difficulty associated with staring a factory in the U.S.

One longtime importer of her products turned U.S. manufacturer knows all too well the high cost and the high hurdles that have to be overcome to produce goods in the U.S. Mei Xu, owns a candle company and recently decided to manufacture her product in the U.S. instead of importing her candles and accessories from Vietnam and China. However in doing so she found that the regulations required to open the factory space that she purchased in Baltimore, MD., were not even exactly known by the local authorities and by the time she was able to get a straight answer, it took her six more months to get up and running and it cost her nearly $2million.

A Florida inventor of a Corona bottle opener has been trying to find a U.S. manufacturer for his product since 2007 but he cites the high cost of labor as one of the reasons that he was yet to find someone to produce his item.

______________________________________

My take:

It will take a lot of growing pains to get American factories up and running again because there are so many other entities involved and many of them haven’t been involved for a while given the decrease in manufacturing in the U.S. These entities are the local and federal agencies that give out the permits and the workers that do everything from building the factory to those that work in the plants. Sounds like a job for a big, big name like Warren Buffet to tackle.

_____________________________________

Other Resources

Single or Double Doors

When a person has the opportunity to create a completely new entryway one of the decisions that can be made is whether a pair of iron doors might look best or whether those doors might look better if they were just a single door at that particular entrance. For the most part there are options that might accommodate either style but if a person would like to create a significant entryway, having a pair of doors is certainly one great way to do that. The tone and feel of a house can certainly be the most impressive change to a house, even if it’s painted a different color.

Marketing for Charity

There is an interesting project by some companies these days that has them utilizing a number of different items which are designed to encourage people to donate to charity and the interesting thing about these promotional products is that they’re designed to create a sense of well being not only for the charitable institution being honored through the charitable efforts but also for the company itself. The reason why it’s a smart move by companies that want to be better regarded by customers is that charity always sells well when it comes to gaining new customers and impressing current ones.

Encouraging Customer Return

There are many methods that a company can use to lure customers back and one of the easiest is presenting a sale to the customer which will lure them back into the business. For anyone who is looking at custom printed bags as a method for making sure customers remain aware of a particular business, it’s not that uncommon for companies to create a particular type of bag that’s actually such that it will inspire continued usage even after it’s been used once because it’s specially designed to see use more than one time due to solid construction.

Valentine’s Day Jewelry

Some people who don’t want to otherwise offer an expensive piece of jewelry to someone on Valentine’s Day but would still like to give something memorable will tend to consider something personalized that isn’t too fancy and this means something like hand stamped jewelry which can be printed with a particular name on it and is likely available in a very affordable version if a person isn’t otherwise able to spend a lot of money on the day. Just because a person can’t pony up the big bucks shouldn’t mean that they’re otherwise unable to offer a beautiful piece of jewelry to their loved one.

Storage of Dangerous Items

Many people consider their garage to be the place where they store things like pesticides and various chemicals that likely shouldn’t be stored closed to where humans live inside the home and this often means that a family should be careful of where they place those chemicals so that they’re not in reach of children. It’s also a good idea to have a garage floor inside the garage that’s not going to be slippery if there are children around because they tend to be quite clumsy when they’re young and on a slippery surface they might tend to slide around all over the place.

Energy Efficient Decoration

Redoing the window treatments in a home is often a great place to start when creating a more energy efficient space and for anyone who is looking at a type of shutters instead of simple curtains, there are a few nice options. One of the reasons things like plantation shutters are a good choice is because studies show that at least ten percent of the heat energy in a home escapes through the windows and in return, during the hotter months, at least forty percent of the heat that enters the space can be kept out through the use of shutters.

Safe for Passengers

One of the great things about a boat is that it can be set up to accommodate a significant number of people for a great time on the water, but just like a vehicle, a boat should only hold a certain number of people for reasons of safety. The general rule is if there aren’t enough boat seats installed then there isn’t enough room on the boat for additional passengers. And installing too many boat seat simply to carry more passengers isn’t usually a good idea either as there are issues with the weight inside the boat and the engines that might appear.

Careers in Cosmetics

For women and men who love making people look beautiful, it can be a great career choice to be a makeup artist and for individuals who adore updated looks such as smokey eyes or cat eyes, the artistry involved in making someone’s eye makeup look stunning is quite amazing. Makeup artists not only make people look beautiful through makeup like eye shadow, lipstick and mascara but they can also create amazing looks that are based upon the ability to make someone look completely different than they might otherwise appear normally such as making them look much older or much younger.