Citizens Can Improve Economy

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Former Green Beret, company owner says buying American is key.
RISMEDIA, Oct. 21?As stock portfolios plummet in value, and the unemployment rate approaches 5%, few Americans are confident about the economy. A possible solution for our economic woes comes from an unlikely location, in Yuma, Arizona.

There, the owner of Gulfvet Communications, David Scholl, believes that economic recovery will not be found Washington or New York, but on Main Street. According to Scholl, “Americans can preserve factories, jobs, and towns by buying American whenever possible.”

Recently, a prominent economist wrote “Our preliminary macroeconomic analysis of the employment effects of the U.S.-China trade balance estimates (that) as many as 760,000 U.S. jobs have been lost in the U.S.-China trade deficit since 1992.” These are not only low level manufacturing jobs, and they are not just going to China. American Corporations are moving factories, outsourcing labor, and spending investment capital overseas that is much needed here at home.

According to Scholl, “American corporations will not slow down the process until they see a quantifiable market for American made goods. The problem is that Americans don’t believe that there is much made in America anymore, or if there is they don’t know where to find it.” After not being able to find a single comprehensive directory of products made in America, Scholl decided to create one.

PreferAmerican.com was created so that companies who produced American items could list their products, and consumers who wanted to buy American could find them. One aspect of Prefer American is the criteria for listing a product. “After consulting with numerous MBAs, it was clear we needed to differentiate a Toyota made in Tennessee from a Chevrolet made in Mexico, or whether either used American made parts. American made is a complex issue.” Scholl said.

Their solution was to list products with three different values. A red star represents made in America, a white star represents more than 50% of the company is owned by Americans, and a blue star represents that at least 51% of the value of the parts are American made.

The company claims that they are not promoting isolationism. Scholl states, “We do not believe that driving a Nissan is unpatriotic, we are simply asking consumers to consider buying American first.” To assure that every company has an opportunity to be seen, a listing into the database is free of charge, and there are no plans to change that practice.

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