Made in USA Incentives

Just telling people that it is important to buy products made in the USA should be good enough, but it’s not.  I tried.  For my Nova company, I always emphasize that all of our products are designed and manufactured in the United States, and, fortunately, companies with Hope that tomorrow is better will usually buy American.

However, if our government really cares that products are Made in USA, then there needs to be some financial incentives.

• Buy American Instant Credit program.  I tried this type of program at Nova and it worked until a customer wanted to apply the Instant Credit to something we don’t sell.  Ideally this program would be funded by the manufacturer and marketed by the Government.
• Import Tariffs for Countries where balance of trade is not established or not working.  For example, we buy technology from them although they don’t buy technology from us.  A good example is China.  Actually not sure they buy anything from us.  Collected tariffs go to our Government and, as a result, increase the cost of an import over something Made in USA.
• Remove Limits from Investment Tax Credits.  Currently there is a limit of $500,000.  If our economy is suffering, why is there a limit?  Why limit investments into the United States?
• Allow Investment Tax Credits to Carry Forward.  Why only allow losses to carry forward?

Unfortunately, it is my opinion that any additional incentives for Made in USA would probably be misused by greed inspired entrepreneurs looking to take advantage of a swing back to Made in USA.  One thing the recession successfully accomplished was to get rid of US manufacturers that produced poor quality products.  The US-based model of producing low quality products doomed to a scheduled obsolescence became the economic model basis for Chinese manufactured products.  And Washington actually prefers the shift of poor quality products manufactured in China for a number of reasons, among them is legal accountability.  If a Chinese manufactured product kills or maims, you can’t sue!  I’ve always found it odd that a company executive without Hope for a Better Tomorrow is more likely to purchase a Chinese manufactured product for their business, although would not purchase a Chinese manufactured automobile for a family member.   Why is it that a company executive’s faith in his/her company’s well being so much less?