Buy China

Not a few weeks into twenty eleven and my Buy China program is a roaring success. I elected to spend my 2% social security relief windfall on imported Chinese shit this year.

At the Orchard Supply Hardware store the other day I was after a new 14 gauge extension cord, something to replace my fraying 12 gauge cord that had provided me nearly 20 years of service.

That it lasted 20 years tells me one thing -- it wasn't made in China. But, I had no option to replace it with another US made cord, because OSH doesn't sell any that aren't made in China. So, my Buy China program had its first customer as I proudly walked out of the store with a product proudly made in Hangzhou. My head was held high, my chest was puffed out -- I didn't realize how liberating that feeling could be...I felt good for the first time in days.

The cord now hangs with care in my housal unit's garage, after it performed admirably during its first deployment to power the edger for the front yard. The yard is clean and crisp, the cord worked wonderfully, and I feel particularly good about not having had to pay a bloated American wage to a manufacturing wage earner to produce it.

Of course, these good feelings won't last. The cord won't last more than five years, at which point I will get to repeat the Buy China program -- I will make sure that I won't keep American workers employed by recycling rubber -- no, I will toss this cord deep into the trash so it can never be reused. This way, Chinese workers will stay employed recycling their own rubber, converting these raw materials into an electrical cord to be shipped to Oakland and driven by tractor-trailer to the Elk Grove OSH store where I still won't have to pay an arm and a leg for it.

I think my little program is wonderful. Wouldn't you agree?