First, look at the label

For me, the last straw came a couple years ago when I was buying an American flag. I was comparing the different brands to get the best quality when I noticed that all the flags were stamped "Made in China." Having our national banner made by a political, military, and economic rival is the ultimate irony, but the situation has gotten even worse since then.

The Chinese domination of our marketplace is virtually complete, and we all are likely to suffer because of it.

First, those products have to be manufactured. That means all the jobs that are required to produce these goods are going to Chinese workers, not Americans. Is it any wonder that we are seeing so many manufacturing plants closing down all across the United States?

Yes, it's true that the flood of consumer goods from China serves to reduce the price of the items. But that price break comes with a huge cost -- not only in lost American jobs, but in reduced quality and weaker standards.

Further, the Chinese appear to be caught up in their own culture of corruption these days. To maximize profits, health, environmental, and safety standards are lax, and those standards can too easily be overlooked for a price. Bribes appear to be all too common in China these days.

Partly because of the corruption, the Chinese have given us a long list of dangerous products in the last year or so: Cell phone batteries that may explode. Automobile tires that are defective. Tainted toothpaste. Dolls with kerosene in them. Toys with dangerous contents of lead (remember the library toy scare from a couple years ago?). Pet food ingredients that killed and sickened our dogs and cats. Contaminated seafood. Unsafe bottled water sealed with counterfeit quality standard labels.

Naturally, goods are a lot cheaper when the manufacturer doesn't have to worry about the safety of those using their products.

As consumers, all of us need to pay attention to where the products we buy are coming from. Look at the labels, and whenever possible, don't buy Chinese-made products. It's not easy to find goods that are stamped "Made in USA" these days, but it's vital to try. If you buy from China, your money ends up in China and the jobs stay there too. If you buy products made close to home -- in the United States, the Northwest, or better yet, in Klickitat County -- that's where we'll see the most financial and employment benefits.

Protect yourself. Start demanding products made by American workers, not the Chinese. Maybe we can get some of our jobs back, and maybe we can help protect our families from buying dangerous products.

JB