BayouVixen's Blog

The Gulf of Mexico decided to dump all its humidity on us the other day and it got sticky in a hurry. I noticed this because I woke up from my afternoon nap drenched in sweat. After cutting my way through the steam to reach the little window air-conditioning unit, I turned the knob and awaited relief.  But it didn't come.

"I meant to tell you," the wife drawled, "I think that little window unit finally gave out on us."  Perturbed but not yet plussed, I pulled on my jeans and a shirt and headed to the store to rectify the problem.

Now, since, I'm no genius when it comes to fixing things, my proposed solution was a new A/C unit. I had two criteria -- at least 6,000 BTUs to get it nice and icy in our bedroom even when the wife's not there, and I wanted it made in America so that if something went wrong I could talk with a live person who could remedy the situation. I headed for Home Depot, figuring that they of all the big-box operations could fulfill my needs.

I found what I wanted for the price I wanted -- a small little Zenith unit rated at 6,000 BTUs. I chose the Zenith because all the other brands of air conditioners they carried were non-name brands stamped "MADE IN CHINA," and the last thing I wanted to do was contribute to our trade deficit.

But as I picked up the box to set it into the cart, I noticed the manufacturer's details on the side. Sure enough, there on the box, were the same words: "MADE IN CHINA."

You've GOT to be kidding me, I mentally groaned. Even brands which have signified "AMERICAN MADE" for almost a century are now "Made in China?"

Welcome to the Third World, America.

It shouldn't come as a giant surprise, I guess -- after all, we've been sliding down this slope since the 1960s, when the federal government intentionally dumbed-down public education and greedy unions began putting our heavy industry out of business. But still ...

I wandered around the store and checked a few other recognizable "American" brands ... made in China, made in Mexico, Product of India, Assembled in Taiwan. Ticked off, I shot next door to Target: same deal. On to Wal-Mart -- hell, they had "MADE IN CHINA" stamped all over an entire pallet of boxes I saw being brought to the sales floor. Sam Walton is spinning in his grave, no doubt.

I won't embarass the retailer where I found them, but I even found American flags with "MADE IN CHINA" stamped on them. My God, we can't even produce our own FLAGS any more?

We have become a lazy, complacent, cheap, weak people. Our spirit of enterprise and vision is gone. We still fight wars better than anybody, but how much longer is that going to last, since the government won't even execute spies it catches?

We produce less and less every year, and we work less and less every year. Jobs I would have been proud to take as a teenager are now going to foreign invaders because we've taught our teenagers that manual labor is beneath them. I see landscaping crews doing lawn chores in yards where teenagers live (I know they live there because I can hear them from blocks away) and wonder, why aren't those kids working? Then I see the 2008 car the kids are driving, bought by Mommy and Daddy.

It's not just the traditional work-up-a-sweat jobs we won't do any more.  We don't believe in the work ethic, Puritan or otherwise.

I had a conversation with a young man I work with the other day who is attending school and looking to get into one of those high-tech fields. I asked him why he wasn't already working in the field, getting an entry-level job in the mailroom or wherever to establish credentials within the company. He rolled his eyes and sneered at me.

"Those people bust their butts trying to work their way up," he replied. "When I go in, I want to go in on top right off the bat."

Our growing dearth of industry and our lack of a work ethic means that more and more, we're becoming a consumer society -- one which buys a lot but doesn't produce much. I got a lecture on this particular subject a while back from my banker, explaining why it was my account kept getting overdrawn.

"You see, Mr. Mundy, you have to deposit at least as much money than you write in checks, otherwise your account is going to be overdrawn," he said. "Sure, you're depositing larger amounts than you used to, but you;re also spending a lot mor ethan you used to. Once you're overdrawn enough, you can't buy anything any more."

America is overdrawn, and if we don;t want to see our bank account closed, we need to get on the ball and find some way to make a few more deposits.