There is no doubt that our economy is in the tank right now and all of us are worried about the future of our country and our own personal future.  But, lets channel this concern into something POSITIVE!  I think this holiday season the big and tall community needs to lead the way by looking for the “Made in USA” label in all the products that we buy as gifts and or we need to focus our shopping on locally owned retailers!  When you buy “Made in USA” products you are keeping American companies in business and you are keeping Americans employed!  I think this article pretty much sums it up:

‘Made in America’ must make a comeback

By Paul Sedan, November 28, 2008

Charlotte, N.C. – One thing the financial crisis shows is that the United States is in trouble because Americans have stopped making stuff.

It used to be that we made a lot of stuff: televisions, clothes, washing machines, radios, typewriters, shoes, telephones, and furniture. And we also used to make the stuff out of which stuff was made: steel, aluminum, plastic, rubber, glass, and electrical components. Today that’s largely made overseas. They send us their stuff and we send them our money.

It also used to be that Americans liked to make stuff. Think of all the things Thomas Edison invented. Or consider Henry Ford, who made the car affordable, perfected the assembly line, and paid workers a decent wage. Countless others, such as my grandfather, worked as toolmakers and machinists because they liked to work with their hands. Today we rely on people around the world to do that innovation for us.

To be sure, outsourcing has some benefits, but the danger in abrogating our desire to make things is that, in doing so, we forget what made America great. It wasn’t manipulating money; it was hard work and persistence. It wasn’t “flipping houses”; it was having a dream and being patient and self-sacrificing to achieve that dream. It wasn’t speculative gambling; it was belief in a line of labor that rewarded honest risk. Forgetting that contributes to America’s deterioration.

Nowadays, young people want to work in the financial industry (at least until recently). While money managers may be worthy occupations – we do need capital to meet payroll and buy the goods and machinery used to make stuff – focusing solely on such jobs removes us from the mainstream of making useful things, which, in turn, provide jobs and help to make everyday life more enjoyable and productive.

This is where we have to start questioning what’s at stake. Are we truly satisfied with letting someone else make everything we need? If so, when the time comes for repair and maintenance, who will do the work?

Young people today are not encouraged to work with their hands. It’s thought to be demeaning. But working with your hands to create something new is energizing and rewarding. It boosts self-esteem. Even better, it helps you see how something can be improved. Let’s not forget that Ford and the Wright brothers were mechanics before they became innovators. They saw first hand how things worked so they could make them work better.

Historically, young people were encouraged to learn a trade. This not only taught them the value of hard work, it also gave them a sense of self-reliance and community. The farmer could not only plow the ground, he could also fix the plow and help his neighbors.

Today’s schools must help teach our young people the value of manual labor and help us take advantage of the greatest place to be for innovation. A Japanese neighbor visiting a US factory told me once that he envied Americans because they did not accept cultural limitations in improving the way something is made. He said that you could never go against the grain like that in Japan.

The US just can’t afford to squander this perfect climate for jobs and progress by not placing value in innovation or the act of working with one’s hands.

This current financial mess brings with it a lot of challenges: energy, housing, crumbling infrastructure – to name just three. But the “can-do spirit” is still alive in America.

We just need to encourage it in our young people. We can begin by testing students for a mechanical aptitude. Those who show promise should be encouraged by a coalition of schools and industry to work on real-world projects. That step alone will help place the value back in making stuff and pave the way to return to innovation at a time when we need it most.

So, lets make a difference: Buy “Made in the USA” and lets support our locally owned retailers! If you need to search for goods that are proudly “Made in the USA” then check out these two websites:

www.stillmadeinusa.com or

www.madeinusaguide.com

Well, just in time for the holidays; some good news!  You can eat at McDonald’s and LOSE weight!  So, read the following article and as you are out and about this holiday season enjoy McDonald’s by letting everyone know that it is part of your overall dieting plan!  Here it is: 

Chris Coleson was a surfer, a hiker and a two-time most valuable player on his high school soccer team.
He weighed about 185 pounds when he got married in 1998. “After the kids came, she lost her pregnancy weight and I kept mine,“ said the 42-year-old New Kent County businessman.  Over the next decade or so, the 5-foot-8-inch Coleson ballooned to about 300 pounds, gaining 45 pounds from last August to November.

Frustrated by a number of false starts with losing weight, Coleson made a bold prediction to his wife, Tricia Sumner — that he could lose weight and do it by eating only at McDonald’s. He chose the fast-food chain partially because its locations are convenient for his busy schedule.  “There was a level of fear after I said that,“ said Coleson, who has no affiliation with McDonald’s other than eating every meal there during his diet. “At that point I had to stick with it.“He eats mostly salads, wraps and fruit, and the occasional cheeseburger without the bun. Coleson dropped from 278 pounds when he started the diet on Dec. 3 to 203 pounds as of Wednesday.

Coleson is a partner for NEIE Inc., a provider of environmental, industrial and engineering clean-up services. The company is based in Massachusetts but has offices in Henrico County. He and his family live in Quinton.  Coleson says that the stress of a busy work schedule and raising a son and daughter left him with no time to exercise. After someone stole a large amount of money from his company last year, his gorging spun out of control.  “I was a stress eater,“ he said.
He would eat straight from the refrigerator, sometimes consuming enough for a family meal in one evening. And sometimes, his wife said, she would make school lunches for their children and their father would scarf them down.
“I’d do a lot of grazing,“ he said.  Coleson said he got to where he couldn’t fit into a booth at restaurants, could barely tie his shoes and had to sleep sitting up to be comfortable. His children, James and Meghan, would call him old and fat and pound on his belly as a joke.

 Their dad finally put “OLD-NFAT” on the license plates of his red Porsche Cayman.

Coleson said he was inspired to change his life after hearing about a blind war veteran who rode cross country on a tandem bicycle. He also wanted to improve his health so he’d be around for his kids.  Sometimes it was tough. One of his hardest days was when he was grilling hot dogs at a concession stand. Another time, he had only black coffee while business associates ate dinner at an upscale restaurant downtown.   He kept his receipts from his nearly daily visits to McDonald’s and taped them on the pages of four journals that also include regular entries.

At his request, the Chickahominy Family YMCA started a program called Mission Possible that’s modeled after the TV show “The Biggest Loser.  “For his wife’s 40th birthday in April, Coleson spent $274.18 on McDonald’s food, which he brought to the YMCA for about 35 people (the receipt’s in one of his journals). But the big present for his wife came when he put on his wedding ring, which he had removed from a painful swollen finger seven years ago.

The license plates on Coleson’s white Land Rover now say “MCFIT.“ His waist size has dropped from 50 to 36.

He became something of a small-town celebrity in New Kent after a local paper profiled him this year. His wife, with some embarrassment, recalls someone yelling “Mrs. McFit” across a softball field at their daughter’s game.  Sandra Hillquist, who works at NEIE, joined Coleson’s Mission Possible team.  “It kind of inspired me to kind of get a grip on my own weight issues,“ Hillquist said, although she added that there was no way she could eat only McDonald’s.  Coleson said he plans to quit the McDonald’s diet on June 19 — Day 200 of his diet — but continue to eat healthier and keep portion sizes under control.

Day 200 comes two days before his 10th wedding anniversary. He’s hoping to weigh 185 by then, his weight when he walked down the aisle. He’s got his work cut out between now and then.  “I’ve got a lot of running to do,“ he said.

  WWW.TURNERORIGINAL.COM

Turner Originals has gotten their website up and running….FINALLY!  They make a great pocket tee and carry sizes 2X to 8X and XLT to 6XLT.  Now, I know that pocket tees aren’t all that cool…but man, these are great long wearing pocket tees!  They have also added Goin’ Coastal screenprinted tees to their line (used to be known as Caribbean Soul) and they started their own line of big and tall screenprinted tees under the label, HEY, TURNER…Big Guys with Attitudes!  So, stop by their website at www.turneroriginal.com and check out their shirts!

They have been manufacturing big and tall shirts in the USA since 1991 so no one knows big and tall like Turner Originals!