FTC: Made In The USA Comments Concerning Marc Elliott--P894219 Marc Elliott July 21, 1997 Federal Trade Commission Fax: (202) 326-2496 Dear Secretary: I wish to express my position with respect to your currently pending rule change regarding the “Made in the USA” (or whichever nation) labeling requirement. It has become abundantly dear that the "free" trade laws of recent years (NAFTA and GATT) have been the proximate cause of much underemployment in the United States. The US foreign trade deficit now stands at record levels. (How much worse shall you make it?) The standard of living for Americans should be increasing at a much faster rate than it is. Instead, citizens who used to earn a respectable living in the ever- shrinking manufacturing sector now work two jobs in the service sector just to survive. Enough is enough! The “Made in the USA” (or whichever nation) label requirement is an essential part of the protection that the Federal Trade Commission is expected to provide for the Americans who have paid the taxes to support said agency and who desire to support good-paying jobs for their own people instead of child-labor sweatshops and communist forced-labor work camps in Latin America and Asia. It is your duty to MAINTAIN THE LABELING STANDARD AS IT IS WITHOUT CHANGES. Instead of contemplating a change in the labeling law, you should be strictly enforcing the law against those firms that are abusing it. Yours Truly, Marc ElliottMarc Elliott American Citizen |