Annotating (and correcting Xenophobia)

A friend sent me the following email - which seems to appeal to a lot of people. I've annotated it quickly to give you an idea of what this nonsense misses. We live in a global economy and benefit from all the kinds of trade that we benefit from. So here is the post (With the annotations)

WHY AMERICA 'S ECONOMY FELL OFF THE CLIFF

John Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock (MADE IN JAPAN ) for 6 am. Actually the alarm clock's new features, like the variable alarm and multiple tones, were designed in the US. The assembly may have been done in Japan - more likely in Vietnam or some other place where costs are lower.

While his coffeepot (MADE IN CHINA ) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor (MADE IN HONG KONG ) Ditto for both those products. The items in production which produced value were probably made in the US. The US brand that the Chinese or Hong Kong people drank was probably Starbucks.

He put on a dress shirt (MADE IN SRI LANKA ),designer jeans (MADE IN SINGAPORE ) and tennis shoes (MADE IN KOREA) If John lived in South Carolina his former textile job which paid slightly above minimum wage has been replaced with jobs like the ones in the BMW factory or the high tech jobs - which pay as much as three times more than the old ones. But again, if he was a Californian his textile job switched from mill work to designing new clothes for the rest of the world.

After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet (MADE IN INDIA )he sat down with his calculator (MADE(ASSEMBLED) IN MEXICO ) to see how much he could spend today. After setting his watch
(MADE IN TAIWAN )to the radio (MADE IN INDIA ) Actually the content on his radio even in India - certainly the content of the movies people watch in Mexico, Taiwan and even India probably were made or financed in the US. he got in his car (MADE IN GERMANY ) Which was designed in LA. Every major car company in the world has a design studio in the LA area to take advantage of the graduates of the Art Center College of Design - which is world renowned. filled it with GAS (from Saudi Arabia ) In part because he needed the Saudi oil - to make the gas because we have artificially restricted where we can search for oil in the US. and continued his search for a good paying AMERICAN JOB. He could have looked in all of those areas above - if he had the education necessary to compete. But even if he moved to any one of those countries, the relative value of physical labor has been declining.

At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day checking his Computer (made in MALAYSIA ), Undoubtedly designed in the US, including the operating system which makes the thing useful.
John decided to relax for a while. He put on his sandals (MADE IN BRAZIL ), poured himself a glass of wine (MADE IN FRANCE ) If he had any taste he probably would have poured a California wine which consistently wins medals over the French ones. and turned on his TV (MADE IN INDONESIA ), To watch TV content in all of these countries and the US that originated in US studios.and then wondered why he can't
find a good paying job in AMERICA

AND NOW HE'S HOPING HE CAN GET HELP FROM A PRESIDENT MADE IN KENYA

Y'all gotta Keep this one circulating, please!

Had I longer I could have annotated more but you get the idea.