As you know I'm VERY protective of American jobs, and I was pissed to say the least because I can hardly find products made in the USA here in Chihuahua (free trade my arse!). Well, I needed a saw for household stuff, and some clippers to prune the rose bushes that were already here and for the ones that I will be planting. I found a Stanley Sharktooth saw and Fiskars plant clippers with made in USA label on the carton! Glad to know that even though I'm in Mexico for healthcare and recovery that I can still know that somewhere in our country someone has a decent job and can put food on the table because we purchased their products!
Truper is the main craft tool here in Mexico, and I have to admit, they do build a badarse pick and some gardening tools. I just wish our respective govts would agree to let people have a choice in the selection of tools. Did you know many Mexicans go to El Paso to buy tools at Sears and Home Depot there? Why? Here in Mexico Sears only gives a one year guarantee, in the U.S. it is LIFETIME! The Home Depots in the U.S. have a much wider selection of goods. So they do appreciate and buy our products as well. If only those rich Texans I saw driving to C.C. would pay their factory workers here a little more, our trade might increase even more, and both sides can have more employment. I also envision the day when Advance Auto Parts and other companies can move in to the northern states and provide employment for Americans to run things yet pay the workers the same wages as in the U.S. thus giving the Mexicans no reason to want to invade our country to look for work. I would also like to see the airlines like southwest be able to compete with Mexicana airlines. Do you know I can get from Austin to El Paso for a little over 100 dollars if I buy in advance? El Paso is a ten hour drive from Austin. Yet Mexicana airlines wanted almost 300 dollars one way to C.C. from El Pasp to C.C. and that is a 3 1/2 hour drive for me.
H.E.B. needs to expand as well, there are NONE in El Paso yet Albertsons grocery store is established there, yet H.E.B. has something like 12 stores in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, and that is an 8-10 hour drive from Austin. We have Sam's and Wal-Fart here, but big deal, it's mostly Mexican products, and anyone familiar with H.E.B. (especially their central markets) will tell you they rock! They have American groceries, Mexican groceries, Indian groceries, European groceries, you name it, all under one roof!
On another note, what was so funny is that I was cutting up vines and a rose bush it was killing so that it would be compact in the garbage can, and all these Mexicans walking by asked if I had work for them doing anything, like sweeping, cleaning, ANYTHING. I kindly explained that I wanted to do this myself for personal reasons (recovery, keeping busy), and that if I did not know how to do it then I had friends here that could help me. They all thought I had my own "crew!" If they only knew that in the U.S. my disability pay from VA is NOT rich by any means, but for some reason they think all Americans are rich.
I really feel for these people but I can do nothing, they have to rise up and demand a slice of the PEMEX pie and other taxes. It will get worse for us because we have Americans losing jobs yet the Mexican population is WAY majority under 25, and these people will not quit having babies (thank you Catholic church and no birth control or condoms allowed). If we can barely support our infrastructure right now, how can Bush expect us to support even more people from other countries when there are no jobs available?
Topic: I actually found products in Mexico but made in the US of A! (Read 1188 times)