The other day, I received a forwarded e-mail excoriating the purchase of canned fruit that was made in China. The e-mail continued on to state how the writer ended up purchasing a Dole brand of fruit since it is from California. The e-mail proceeds to encourage Americans to boycott imported goods and "Buy American", using the perceived inferiority of the products and the idea of reducing the trade deficit as reasons to do so. Finally, the e-mail concludes with the riveting statement, "Send this to everybody you know! Let's show them that we are Americans and NOBODY can take us for granted!".
Inspiring, eh? Patriotic, eh?
I think not. In fact, I find it very misguided.
I'm as ethnocentric as they come. I love America and want it to be the dominant nation in the world. My viewpoints are often guided by an "America first" state of mind. Thinking like this does not preclude me from seeing the error in the logic put forth by the e-mail. As a seeker of fact, of truth, I cannot let my own patriotism cloud my sound economic judgment. So I felt it proper to respond to some of the people in the e-mail and inform them about the issues I had with the arguments in the e-mail. I also decided to go ahead and post my response here, as well.
Free trade--even the import of Chinese goods--is a good thing.
First, To answer the e-mailer's alternative purchase of Dole products--Dole has a large majority of its plants and operations overseas in Asia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Central and South America. So, just because you are buying Dole doesn't necessarily mean you're "buying American". Dole is a multinational corporation, and while it is an American company, its economic impact is not exclusively American.
That's a good thing, though. You see--when companies like Dole are able to invest in operations overseas, it means they can now produce their goods and services more cheaply than before. This results in a benefit for all consumers through lower food prices.
You may ask, "But Matt, what about the people who lose their jobs when a company moves its operations overseas?"
To that, I answer that the greater good of society is served when an economy operates based on the efficient allocation of scarce resources. Which is what a capitalistic, free-market economy should be. Maintaining artificially high prices to protect a few jobs will hurt a much larger number of people in the end. Think of the millions of people who are able to buy Dole fruit at a reasonable price. How many of those people would lose that ability if Dole had to double or triple their prices in order to pay the high costs of an average American worker?
At the same time, I don't lose sight of the fact that people need jobs and it is unfortunate when the advancement of the economy causes some to lose their jobs. But think about this--at one point, the horse carriage industry was a large and vibrant business. Think of all the people who lost their jobs with the advent of the automobile. But isn't society now better off because of the innovation? Or you can think of the milk man. In 1961, a gallon of milk would've cost $1.05, but that would be nearly $7.45 in today's dollars when adjusted for inflation. Today, a gallon of milk is around $3.50. The advent of mass-production of milk and distribution through grocery stores has cut that price nearly in half!
The great thing about living in a free-market, capitalistic society is that even when jobs in other industries are lost, new jobs in different industries are created. Think of all the technology jobs that have been created in the past 20 years alone--you're talking millions of jobs that did not exist a generation ago. When the milkman loses his job delivering milk, he can always take his knowledge of the milk industry and his customer base and go work for a grocery store or a dairy farm. Or, he can acquire new skills and begin an entire new career.
The bottom line is we cannot remain stagnant and still improve our way of life. We always have to be advancing, getting smarter, getting better, becoming more efficient. That is why we enjoy a lifestyle today that is far above what even a very wealthy person would've lived like 100, or even 50 years ago.
