That’s right, the online shopping company that calls itself Select-A-Vision is hocking “Official Licensed Products Of The Us Amy” manufactured in China.
In light of the anger and disappointment our country’s Olympic uniform ignited, this seems especially unwise. We’ve all heard it before, a “true patriot” buys USA only; to do otherwise is seen as a betrayal, a slap in the face to our economy. As for the military, well, you can’t even criticize our oppressive and greedy occupations of other countries without being labeled as a traitor and accused of not “supporting the troops.” The (perfectly reasonable) question “Are we doing more harm than good? Isn’t it time we back off?” sends many people, especially righties, into a frothy rage. So how is it that the very institution that prides itself on it’s rigid nationalism is allowing their marketing products to be produced overseas by slave labor?
Genuinely shocked and intrigued by this, I began searching for other military products made in China, hoping that I wouldn’t find anything.
I did.
Apparently, this is not uncommon. Check out this U.S. Army Combat Knife, whose Taiwan manufacturer, Taylor Brands, boasts:
Taylor Brands manufactures Smith & Wesson Cutlery such as S.W.A.T., Extreme Ops, Homeland Security, Search & Rescue, and H.R.T. Taylor Brands is also renowned for their specialty items and custom designed pieces such as the Texas Ranger Commemorative Knives celebrating the 180th Anniversary of Texas Rangers.
[...] Outdoor enthusiasts, hunters and, most recently, law enforcement and fire safety professionals utilize Taylor Brands products.
What kind of fuckery is this? Where are all the angry conservatives? Why aren’t they beating their chests with their fists, screaming about ‘Murrkah? Oh, that’s right – they’re probably too busy shopping at Wal-Mart. The rest of them – the 1%, like Romney – wouldn’t dare make an issue of this. Not because they don’t want to criticize the military, but because they don’t want to criticize themselves. After all, it’s the practice of outsource jobs overseas that has made companies like Bain so wealthy.
We have the most powerful, well-funded military in the entire world. There is absolutely no good reason that we cannot use a portion those funds to open our own manufacturing companies right here in the United States; especially considering our current economic climate, which is growing, but ever so slowly. There is no shortage of unemployed Americans who would be thrilled to work hard for the Army.
Speaking of unemployment, the rate among new veterans was an outrageous 12.7% in May. We have the ability to bring this rate down, if only we cared enough. We could put these people to work and help them prosper, instead of relying on foreign countries that hate us (with good reason) to stock our households with everything from knives and sunglasses to cell phones to dog food. We could revitalize our economy by penalizing companies that outsource instead of giving them tax breaks; congress could pass a bill today, immediately making it illegal for our military to produce anywhere but right here at home.
Our veterans deserve at least that much, don’t they?
Follow me on Twitter and Facebook
I knew the Army official sponsors a NASCAR team and supports athletes in the Olympics. But I didn’t know they had officially licensed products. Doing a google search pulls up a bunch of shady websites touting official army gear (none of which is intended for military use).
When I looked through DoD pages, I found this: http://www.defense.gov/trademarks/
That page doesn’t really have any info other than stating that military seals are property of the government and shouldn’t be used without authorization. There are links to each brach for licensing contact info.
Given the amount of army/military themed things I’ve seen over the years, both in and out of the military, I’d say they don’t really keep tabs on 90%+ of the people selling “army” products. In Korea, the merchants were selling counterfeit stuff on post, in the PX.
I doubt many of the companies making these products are actually paying any licensing fees to the DoD, much less being endorsed by any part of the government or military.