Buy American...from Wall Street to Wal-Mart

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This morning in the New York Times, Warren Buffett makes the case for investing now in American stocks.

A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.
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To be sure, investors are right to be wary of highly leveraged entities or businesses in weak competitive positions. But fears regarding the long-term prosperity of the nation’s many sound companies make no sense. These businesses will indeed suffer earnings hiccups, as they always have. But most major companies will be setting new profit records 5, 10 and 20 years from now.

Buying American takes some doing these days. Just last weekend, I wove through the road construction and asphalt trucks of l'il ol' Park Rapids, Minnesota for a rare visit to the local Wal-Mart in search of something I knew I couldn't find in the other smaller stores of the community.

While there, I decided to look for a new juice container.

I'm pragmatic about my fears. I don't worry about boogey-men popping out from behind the tall timbers. The only orange alert is the color of the tamaracks.

I don't shy away from paying my taxes....just how do folks think that road construction and those asphalt trucks get paid for, anyway? I just want to be sure that when I do pay those taxes, the money's spent responsibly, wisely and prudently. So reading that one of John McCain's chief fundraisers is under investigation for war profiteering...now that's something I fear. And that's something I expect the government I'm paying for to do something about...to protect this country and to protect my family.

And when I see economist Joseph Stiglitz telling Colbert about how global corporations have figured out how to bill bilk the American taxpayer out of gazillions of dollars doing things like truckin' sand from Kuwait to Iraq. What, said Colbert, they don't have enough sand in Iraq?

Yeah, sometimes I wonder if we should be learning from history not just by reading Orwell's 1984, but we should also be reconnecting with Milo Minderbender in Catch-22.

But back to storing stuff in plastic made in China. You see, I worry about that. Plastic, any plastic, gives me pause. And, yes, I did see The Graduate in original release. But sorry, plastic don't float my boat. So there I was in Wal-Mart. Looking for a glass juice container. Not made in China.

And I found it. Anchor-Hocking, said the label. Made in America. By a good ol' American company that's been around since long before I was writing ad copy for the housewares sales at the regional hardware and sports chain where I started biz writing.

Nice to see an old friend.

So there's a couple of new glass carafe-shaped pitchers ready for juice and iced tea in the tall timber now.

And if you are willing to do a little extra work, make a little extra effort, you, too, can "buy American" and invest in putting this country back on its feet.
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