What's wrong with this country?

About a year ago I needed to get myself a new belt. The one that I had got destroyed- another story for another time. I found a belt at, where else, Walmart that was a reversible brown/ black belt just dressy enough for my suits, yet casual enough to wear with jeans. It lasted me all of 4 months... the buckle came apart. So I decided to get another one. This one came apart in a much shorter period. So I bought a third one... which promplty broke the first time I wore it. OK, I thought, enough of this. What is it about these belts that is causing them to be so cheap. I took a closer look at the belt, flipped it over and read the writing on the back of it (actually, it wasn't the 'back' since it's reversible). Lo and behold! Right there on my belt were the words "Made in China." Actually, since we are now a Spanish speaking nation, it read, "Hecho en China." That would be comical if it weren't so tragic. "Made in China" written in Spanish!

So I still need a belt. It needs to be black. Damn that whole reversible thing (I bought a brown belt that was, oddly enough, made in China). I want a simple, black belt that will work for slacks and jeans. I want it to be made of leather, and most importantly I want one that wasn't made in China.
I was out and about today and decided at the last minute to try to find myself a new belt. I drove down to the mall and went straight to Dillard's. Surely, the men's department at Dillard's would have a belt made in America! I looked at all the brands they had and not one of them was made anywhere but China. I then went to JC Penney, thinking my luck would be a little better. It was not. They had an even bigger selection of brand names, but none were made in America. One more stop at the mall: MACY'S.
Macy's has a selection that was about as big as the first 2 combined. I'm certain that at least one of the belts here would be American, after all, a few of the brands actually have the word 'America' in them. Yet, each one that I picked up and turned over lessened my hope that I was going to find an American made belt this day. One by one, I turned over the brands and was more disappointed each time I saw the words "Made in China" printed there. What's even worse is the fact that they wanted $25 or more for these items.

Well, it's Sunday and I need a belt. I fgured if I was going to have to buy a Chinese made belt, I was going to get it at a Walmart price, so off I went to Wally World. When I got there I saw that they had a decent selection. "What are the odds?" I thought. I looked at the first brand, Dickies, and was disappointed once more. Same with the house brand, Faded Glory. China, China, China. I picked up one more belt, flipped it over and read the words...

"Made in Mexico!" Well, it's a start. I found a belt that wasn't made in China. To be honest, I probably could have found one on the internet, but I needed it right away. I plan on getting my next one through a high end store or through an internet source. Maybe my luck will be a little better. Some day, maybe more American companies will realize that many Americans want to buy American products at a reasonable price. Without doing tons of reasearch, but relying on my own, limited experience, I believe thatAmerican products can be manufactured and distributed for the same price as their Chinese counterparts. It's about time that Americans begin to insist that American products are readily available. This is America! We can do anything! This is the greatest country the world has ever known and the stringest economy in the world. Why can't we make our own leather products? It iasn't as if we are short on cows, we eat a lot of beef in this country. We drink a lot of milk in this country. It's only a guess, but I'm pretty sure all those milk and beef cattle are covered in leather. Perhaps if we start small, insisting that our leather belts are mde in America, we can expand our demands to include purses, gloves and baseball mitts. Heck, let's have some vision! We could produce American made steering wheel covers, batting and golf gloves and even leather covered seats for our motorcycles and trucks! One step at a time, folks. Let's buy American when we can.