A Personal Observation Concerning The American Economy

An interesting thought came to me today when I went out to look for a do it yourself TV stand, small furniture has always afforded me the means to save money by self assembly in my home. Before I left the house I surfed the Internet to fix pricing. The last time I put together a three tiered stand that accommodates the TV and two other devices I think I paid $40.00 and the same two corporate wood based leading companies were here 5 years ago and they are around now as well. My original purchase became wobbly over the years and duct tape and nailing was of no use. My HDTV weighs maybe 40 lbs which was risky to place on a stand that appeared to be capable of causing a tip over. So I checked prices and found that for some reason a good entertainment center-stand will cost between $150-400 to accommodate my 32" HDTV and self-assembly or shipped complete did not seem to matter with regard to the price. Sometimes when this happens I check out some discount stores on the other side of town. I was born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan prior to gentrification so I actually feel at home on the poor side of town. So I go into this neighborhood discount store and I see in the appropriate section a 3 tiered corner TV stand unassembled indicating the perfect measurements for my bedroom and the fact that it was capable of supporting 135 lbs. The top panel of the box was ripped open and there was a pasty dirt infused into the top packaging. It was marked $25. Astoundingly that did not surprise me, it was made in Malaysia and what I have seen in our nature of importing, maybe this was a possibilty. I feared that what was a preposterous  price would lead to missing parts because the box was open or maybe it would be junk and I would have to toss it. I took it home and unpacked it. It took me 30 minutes to assemble it. The supporting rods were made of what appeared to be industrial strength plastic which I am sure did not amount to the cost of a soda where it was imported from. When I finished putting it together I installed my HDTV, upgraded DVD player and set top box and the whole unit presented  exactly the same appearance and seems to be just as durable as anything on the Internet or sold in major retailers. This item was at least $140 less or more than what American consumers will pay in a department store, how did this happen? If America keeps getting beaten to the punch like this we will end up in the dumper. Look, I have no hopes of my Sebago or Bass penny loafers ever being made here. That goes for my Sperry Topsiders, my leather goods et al. We cannot pay the over head on those types of items. My new TV stand, My Hyundai, All of my clothes, why cannot American industry open up plants and make items on the cheap that function perfectly. Mr. Obama and his administration constantly indicate the need for massive job creation. I advocated opening up factories, many are just sitting there and aim for production whereas we can hire American unskilled labor, train them in a week and then at least they have a job. Stop building malls, I do not need to buy the same Polo all over town. Throwing money all over the place does not create jobs for the unemployed, it just gets us all another day older and deeper in debt.