The only way to fix a problem is to talk about it.
Hi, my name is America. I have lost control of manufacturing and retail to China and need help to get it back.
Do you find that a bit harsh? Did you know that in January of this year, China-based sellers represented 75 percent of new sellers on Amazon? That was up from 47% the previous January. And Walmart is even worse, as Chinese suppliers make up 70-80 percent of their merchandise. So much for the little family company founded in Arkansas.
It is time to do something. And our country needs your help. It starts by saying #byebyechina and starting to buy American again.
Made in China
When I was a child, Made in China was synonymous with poor quality. While I’m not sure that has changed, what has changed is the ubiquity of products manufactured in China and the range of impact they have had on the US retail market.
The use of cheap labor (largely due to the use of slave and child labor) has created an inability for US manufacturers to compete. We continually turn a blind eye to it, even as we pick up our phones and place another order using Amazon Prime for something that we just have to have tomorrow.
Owned by China
So many of the brands that we interact with on a daily basis are either partly or completely owned by Chinese firms or investors. Some of the names would shock you. Forbes, the Chicago Stock Exchange, AMC Theatres, GE Appliances, the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Smithfield Foods, Spotify, Snapchat, Motorola Mobile, Hilton Hotels – to name a few. And behind the scenes, the Chinese are buying up real estate, ports, service brands and infrastructure that underpins our economy.
Our supply chain dependence on other countries has come to light for most Americans in recent months, as we begin to feel the shortages that are the result of the backlog of orders held up in ports around our country.
According to USA Today, the number of mega-cargo ships off the coast of California for just the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports number in the hundreds, carrying tens of thousands of containers of goods. The East Coast has a similar backup at ports up and down the coast.
The problems have been blamed on everything from the pandemic to the Union dockworkers to the truckers, and the regulations that emanate from climate change concerns.
Turning the tide back to the US
This should all both astound and appall us. But instead of getting upset, a few months ago, a group of us got together and formed a new venture.
MyPatriotMarketplace.com is dedicated to doing something meaningful about turning the tide from Made in China to Made in America.
We’ve built a SHOP Red White & Blue online marketplace with over 750 stores. We need your help to expand it and to promote it. That may mean waiting a little longer for your goods and yes, even paying a little more, but it is worth it. #byebyeamazon
Identifying missing industries and products
In putting together MyPatriotMarketplace, we have had a hard time sourcing partners in the following categories. We need your help to identify alternatives or even to start companies to fill the gaps.
- Christmas lights
- Athletic shoes, comparable to the best ones on the market
- Fabrics and threads
- Garlic (funny, but not funny)
- Vehicles and their components
We realize that some problems are bigger than others (cars and trucks as an example are a little tougher to solve than growing garlic), but even then, there is an answer. We just haven’t found it yet.
The best place to interact about these things is on our Community.
Come and join us (it is free) and let us know your ideas. The same business incubator that we run can be applied to new ideas and we would love to collaborate on solving the bigger problems.
We can only truly LIVE FREE (the name of our community) when we regain our independence as a country.