Dear Mr. President

Feb. 11, 2009

President Barack Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC

Dear Mr. President,
I am writing to offer a solution to the current economic crisis in our nation, and what I believe to be the only solution.

Mr. President, the American People must solve this crisis, not you and not the Congress. You must lead the People to do this – you have the support of the people and they will follow your lead.

The solution here is for the American people to Buy American and Build American. This is fundamental, it is obvious and it just makes sense. Here’s why:

The real problem is not the collapse of the banking industry and the credit markets and the financial institutions, and the resulting decline in consumer confidence. These are only symptoms of the problem. The real problem is the gradual decline and loss of the manufacturing base in America. The wealth of any nation is directly related to its production of goods, tangible goods, be it manufactured goods, agricultural goods or raw materials. All other economic activity is merely service, in support of that production. Banking, insurance and financial institutions exist in support of the wealth generated by production.

American consumers need to be able to purchase televisions, telephones, clothing, automobiles, bicycles, etc. that are made in America. These goods must be readily available and competitively priced. As a nation, we simply cannot afford to have the majority of our manufactured goods imported from outside the United States.  We must keep the wealth and the jobs here!

As an example, consider purchasing bicycles for your children. By purchasing US made bicycles you are supporting the miner that digs the ore, the steel mill that makes the steel, the fabricator who extrudes the steel tube, the welder who makes the frame, the gear company who makes the sprockets, the chain manufacturer, the rubber company that makes the tires and the pedals, the paint company and the painter. If you buy bicycles made in China, those jobs go to China and they are lost in America. The American people must be made aware of the impact of their buying decisions.

It is up to the American People to Buy American and Build American.  It is your job, Mr. President, to lead them to do so.

There will be many challenges, but they can and must be overcome. The biggest challenge will be from the “nay-sayers”. I’ve heard the arguments of George Will and Senator McCain against protectionism and understand there fear of trade wars. This can be overcome, and you must be strong enough to do what is right and overcome the nay-sayers. I’m not advocating protectionism or tariffs. I’m advocating that you stir the will of the American people to do the right thing and make our country stronger by building products in America and buying products that are made in America.  There will be whining and crying from our trading partners in Europe and Asia. Don’t give in to that. Frankly it is in the best interest of the World to have a strong America. There are many who will say that it is simply not practical to manufacture consumer goods in America at competitive prices, with American labor rates. I say – Horse Hockey. Just do it! They will say we need to be the high tech leader, to invest in R&D. Yes it is true, we should, and we must, but we also must produce, we must manufacture, it is the core of a strong
economy. Sir, do not give in to the lobbyist with their agendas or the politicians trying to help their constituency, or our foreign trading partners or the relentless talking heads on the news. Just do the right thing, and lead the People to do the right thing.

Mr. President, while I’m sure that there are good things in your economic stimulus package, I truly believe it to be inadequate, and frankly wrong, if it does not address manufacturing in America and buying in America. Re-building infrastructure is good, but infrastructure is simply another service that supports production. If our nation doesn’t produce, then it doesn’t really need much infrastructure. And building infrastructure only creates jobs in the short term. It does not build a strong economy.  We need to solve the core problem and generate wealth through production.
Your Economic Stimulus package must stimulate and incent American corporations to manufacture in America and to create jobs, and the American consumer should be incented to buy American. Frankly, they should buy American because it is the right thing to do. Go to the
American People, and tell them that.  You need to give them an inspirational speech, in the spirit of Kennedy; “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
Give this challenge to the American people, and work on solving the associated problems to make it happen.

Thank You.

Sincerely,
Douglas S. Kindred, Ph.D
Kendall, NY