Nail Clippers- Redefining The American Dream - Made in the U.S.A. vs. China

Sometimes it starts as something as simple as trimming your nails. I was using a standard nail clipper. Although it did the job, the cut left my nails jagged and rough. This was not due to user error. Revlon is a household name, which manufacture a wide array of beauty care products and not for cheap I might add. Never the less; I went into my draw and dug out my grandparents' nail trimmer kit. Its a black leather pouch with a button that fastens the 3 folds shuts and a golden buck on a hill painted on it. When you flip top flap up and bottom flap down you can see 3 sown round leather loops. These loops hold 3 nail trimming tools. Two of them are standard nail clippers, one gold, one silver. The last tool is a filer and hook. These had U.S.A. stamped into them just as Revlon has CHINA stamped on its filer. Trimming my nails with the gold trimmer left no jagged edges on my nails and were smooth to the scratch. 

I'm not sure when these nail trimmers were made, nor the name of the trimmers or case. I just looked it up and can't find it. I started to ponder. Why were these good old products seemingly made in the 1960's (could be wrong but everything I have salvaged from my grandparents seem to be made from the 1960s-70s) so well made? Why was quality in products made so stressed heavily compared to today. We could make the argument easily, that products made today are made with less quality so consumers have to buy new products more frequently to advance the cause of capitalism, sales and greed. But was there truly a sense of pride back then that took the form of quality control that went into the goods made? Was there a higher sense of competition with foreign nations to prove that we had the superior product? Or was the competition local, in which we could have higher quality products at a modest price range because even those companies who made standard nail trimmers were competing against other companies making really great nail trimmers as well. 

Possibly all these factors can come into play. Unfortunately with regards to the present, I'm afraid this sense of quality and pride seems lost upon us. With the exception of a few, quality is something products which are made rarely posses. Those products which do bear the resemblance of quality, you will often find yourself spending a hefty sum for. A friendly reminder that you paid for your quality. Thus even inspiring you to gloat about it to your friends and family. This is how one would purpose status symbols are made. Although not all material status symbols are made with or known to possess quality. 

With what we come to know now and the demand of jobs that are needed in the U.S. Do you think that products made in the U.S. today, would possess the same quality made back in the 1960's? Would companies give any thought to how well a product is made? I mean after all, these companies clearly did not care when they shipped off your jobs and production to China. As long as the product worked to any degree and were cheap enough that they were being bought wide spread by consumers; Why would they need to change their product? The responsibility falls upon us. If more jobs are created in the U.S. once again, we are to prove that there is a reason why our products are superior. Why other countries should buy OUR goods at higher prices. Because our products are worth it, the companies who produce them give a damn, and it shows. 

As long as the people of this nation are silently compliant to buy shitty made products cheaply and accept poorly made products that are manufactured in the U.S. if any, then there is no reason for Americans to make anything. Companies might as well send their products to made overseas. Save the embarrassment of this nation as well. I fear that we no longer care in the pride of manufacturing and detail which was once a virtue Americans took stride in showing. A job is just a job. Something that we have to grudgingly do just so we can earn some income to really enjoy ourselves. 

With money comes purchasing power. Together, we chose who to give money to. That choice is power within itself. Power to fuel quality, power to fuel ignorant greed. 

If we all took pride in producing something of quality we were proud of, isn't there only honor and commendation to reap?