FTC: Made In The USA Comments Concerning Sarkis Khan--P894219 May 22, 1997 Sarkis Khan Made in USA, Policy Comment Dear Secretary, I am responding to an article regarding the manufacture of items made elsewhere, to he entitled to claim as made in the USA. This is very wrong. Perhaps there should he a disclosure as to what percentage of a product is made in the USA, and what percent is made elsewhere. I believe the country (ies) of origin should be disclosed. We must preserve our right to he correctly informed. We must not defeat the purity in meaning of the term Made in the USA. Although the notion of global competition is a nobel one, it should go without saying that the ideal must include fair competition. Also, the flood gates need not be opened wide with haste. It should be a managed and deliberate process predicated on balance of trade. Fair and equal competition opportunity; on a global scale, should mean that where any country enjoys the proliferation of its products, to a market arena of a certain country, so too should that country allow equal access to its market arena, in turn. If this is not the case, then it is not fair, it is not competitive, and it is by design detrimental to the well being of this nation, and its future industry. It took a lot of hard work and capital, to make the United States the powerhouse industry nation it once was. Is it right, to bring the rest of the world up to speed, at our expense? Is that what other countries would do for us, if we needed a market to sell to? I believe, we as a nation, are being milked. We are opening our markets to foreign made products, while not negotiating equal ingress rights for Ourselves. Our role in this play is ultimately just, as a consumer. We have to he producers, not just consumers. We can't have much chance left, if we introduce cheaper, and cheaper goods; produced by worker Individuals (societies) that consider a bowl of rice as payment for a days work. This Scenario undermines and takes away the standard of living our American legacy established. I believe the marketplace itself, is paramount in the hierarchy of values. No fair trade, no access to the marketplace. This would be the prudent course. Otherwise, other nations; and certain private companies, will have their way with us, and reduce us further from our previous standards of living. We cannot allow our precious marketplace, to be run by corporate or foreign interests. Competitiveness be damned, if just for the sake of maximum profit. There is the ancient proverb, "when drinking from the well, remember the one who dug it". The system at present is a mechanism draining revenues out of this country, and one that serves' to further dismantle the productive segment of our industries; a negative spiral, if you will. The Japanese demonstrated what closing a market with impunity, means. Now, we are allowing the Chinese to come in the same way, while we are shut out. Rather one sided, isn't it ????????? I protest in the strongest terms, and urge not to dilute further the last bastion of our American Industry, and to not desecrate the sacred ground established by; Made in the USA. Remember, this nation didn't become the industrial giant it once was, by the production and consumption of foreign made products. Very truly, Sarkis KhanSarkis Khan |