Back in December 2011 I did a
post on buying
American made goods, and how it would help our economy here in
the
United
States.
Well recently I came across an article that was written about this very issue at
the Perfect Fly. The article was written by James Marsh with what I think is a
very in depth view of why we as individuals should buy American made products.
This article really touched me to the point I just had to share it with you
guys.
Fly Fishing
Gear Made In America?The other day a friend of mine said
something like "I wouldn't have such and such -
it isn't made in
America". It reminded me of an annoying automobile insurance
company TV
ad and I said in response, "have you been living under a rock'? I
wasn't sure he caught on to that so I added "Get your head out of the sand, Sam
- fly fishing gear isn't made in America".I reminded him of the last trip I
made to Bentonville Arkansas to deal with the
sporting goods buyer for
Walmart. She said, "Mr. Marsh, you are lucky to get an
appointment with
me - I'm in China most of the time". If you took everything made in
China out of the nation's largest retail stores of Walmart, there wouldn't
be anything
left but the girls that cut hair in the beauty salon and
most of them are probably from
Asia.
The same thing is true of
the so-called sporting good box stores. If Bass Pro Shop
gear was made
in America, Jamie McMurray would watch Saturday's Bristol Nascar
race
from his couch instead of the #1 Bass Pro car. There has to be a White River
in Asia.
If Cabelas fly fishing gear was made in America, Dick
Cabela would probably still be
selling "hand tied flies" by mail order
from his kitchen table. Well, I take that back.
He's a very smart man.
He would have probably developed the world's first machine
that ties
flies but for now, I think Cabelas gets their flies from
Kenya.Oh, I
almost completely forgot about the few remaining Mom and Pop fly
shops.
They all would
feature "Retail Space for Lease" signs except for those that
still had
a few pairs of Simms waders and patch kits remaining in their "Going out of
business sale".
I can't think of any other waders made in America.
Everything sold by Patagonia, for
example, sure wasn't made in
California. All the other items Simms sells, or
soft-goods such as
their fly fishing bags and other accessories come from China
unless I'm
badly mistaken.
By the way, check the shoes on your own two feet. Where
did they come from?
Where did the computer monitor your reading this
article on come from? Do you
have an American made TV? If so, please
let the rest of the world know who
manufactured it. What about your
cell phone - was it made in America? If you have,
a fishfinder or GPS
receiver on your boat, was it made in America? If you're going to
pretend to buy America, you better crawl under your couch and do it. Well,
maybe
not the couch. If it's fairly new and the entire sofa didn't come
from a foreign
country, the material it's made of probably did. By the
way, the flies in the fly box on
the coffee table - the ones you just
purchased from your local Mon and Pop fly shop
- they most likely came
from Indonesia.
Oh, please excuse me. I almost forgot the American fly
fishing icon - Orvis.
They still assemble their
high end fly rods in Vermont - but not the low priced ones -
they come
from China along with
all of their fly reels and most everything
else they
sell. If Orvis
product was made in American, they have a Guinness Book
of World
records - the world's smallest factory. The only Orvis factory I've seen isn't
much larger than an average automobile tire shop.
Now you may be
one of those highly sophisticated anglers. You may buy from Hardy of Great
Britain? They almost
have a complete line of fly fishing tackle.
That's just fine with me
as long as you realize everything the sell is made in
China.There are still a few fly rods made
in America but I guess as a matter of survival,
companies like Winston
and Saint Croix now have their low-end rods made in China.
Loomis Rods is
owned by Shimano of Japan. They are certainly not made in
America.
Even the age old icon of an American rod company Sage, now
owns Redington.
Everything Redington sells is made in China unless I am
bad wrong and I don't think
so. Well, some of the parts may come from
other foreign countries.
I'll give Scott Rod Company credit. They are
still all made in America as far as I
know. Notice they no longer make
an entry level rod. I wonder why?
Not everything is seemingly
non-American. When you get away from the small
markets like fly
fishing, you have to consider that many of our large, good old
American
companies such as Bank of American and General Motors
are still
going strong, or at least they seem to be doing well. I'm glad they are
because like
most of you, some of the income tax I paid went towards
the money the
federal government loaned them back when they were
bankrupt and year
or two ago.Opps, let me get back to fly fishing.
I almost forgot the newest, hottest fly rods on
the market -
Temple Fork. They are
good old made in Texas fly rods - right?
No, Wrong. Temple Fork fly rods
are made in
Korea. Yes, even
though 75% or
more of the people that own a Temple Fork fly rod are
unaware of it, their rods were
made in Korea. Yes, I'm sorry but this
is true even though the fly fishing American
Icon himself, Mr. Lefty
Craig, praises them enough to put his name on some of
them. He's the X
Mr. Sage fly rod man, remember?
By the way, I own a Temple Fork fly rod.
They are very good rods for the money.
They are more than that. They
are proof of the real problem that exist on a much,
much larger scale.
They are proof that
fly rods made in America cost a lot
more for very little
more.Just in
case you are wondering, writing this is making me
sick at my stomach
because I don't like anything about what I have written..
China and other
countries are rapidly replacing what made America and for my grand
children's
sake, I'm very concerned about it. One reason this is happening, is the
general public is mostly unaware of just how big this problem is. The
average
person is not aware of just how fast we are losing out to other
countries and what
that means to the security of this country.
I
am writing this for information to make sure none of the thousand plus people
that
read my daily articles on this website are not living under a rock
like my buddy Sam.
If you did the numbers, you would find less than 10% of all fly fishing
tackle,
gear and flies are made in the United
States.If
every citizen n the United States was aware of just how much of the product they
use came from foreign soil, they would likely be just as upset as I am.
It's not just the
small items like electronics and fishing gear. It's
not just the furniture, clothes,
shoes, etc. It's not just a part of
the automobile industry. Nowadays, it's even most
of what a high-rise
building is constructed of. It's almost everything we need or use.
It's
almost everything but the soil we live on.
If you think there's not
anything you can do about it, your wrong. The only one that
can do
anything about this is you. That said, buying only American made
product isn't the answer. That's not a feasible solution for anyone.
That's probably
even impossible. Like it or not, we live in a global
economy.I
think the answer lies in electing leaders who first of all are able to grasp and
understand the problems involved and who will strive to do the things
that are in the
best interest of the United States of America.
