November 14, 2025 • 33 mins
Lou turns to a major cultural and economic shift: the revival of “Made in America.” He looks at how major retailers like Walmart are embracing U.S.-made products again, driven by a public moving away from the “cheapest possible” mindset and toward valuing quality, durability, and national pride.
Lou explores why American-made goods are surging back into style during President Trump’s second term and what this shift reveals about consumers’ changing priorities. He also breaks down how buying domestically keeps wealth circulating within our own economy, strengthening national independence and improving overall safety.
Lou closes the hour by tying together the broader implications of this renewed focus on American manufacturing and what it means for the country moving forward.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
A major change in the marketing campaign of Walmart. For years,
as long as I can remember, Walmart had the beware
falling prices right, Prices were constantly falling, hitting people in
the head.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
And that was.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
To reinforce that Walmart was the cheapest place that you
could get the best value. Whatever it is that you're buying,
you could not do better than Walmart. They were going
to guarantee you the lowest price. They would shop Planet
Earth to get the lowest price possible. They now have
a new campaign that celebrates that a lot of their
(00:43):
products are made in America.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
American Main Tour follow me.
Speaker 5 (00:49):
Over two thirds of what Walmart buys is American maid.
There's healthy dried fruit from California, clothing sown in North Carolina,
and jams from right down the street.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
American Mad Tour come up.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
So to be fair, they are they're talking about food.
There dried foods, dried fruit from California, that's raisins, clothing
sewn in North Carolina. That's interesting. I wonder what that is,
but it's a step in the right direction. What was
the third jams from down the Street, so jams from Texas,
so mostly food and a couple of T shirts.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
But that's not the point.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
The point is they have decided, and I'm sure the
significant research behind this that the idea of supporting a
company that purchases items for sale that are made in
America is a thing again, and I think that is
a very healthy pivot for Walmart, are nation's largest real retailer,
(01:47):
and I'm very happy about it, very happy about it.
We need to make more things in America, and we
need to sell the things that are made in America,
and people need to know where they can buy things
made in America because everything in your house, and I
mean everything in your house used to be made in
(02:10):
America by an American at an American factory making really
good money, by the way, and when I say everything,
I mean literally everything. The furniture, the fabric on the furniture.
The furniture was made in North Carolina. The fabric was
milled in mills in upstate, New York, and it was
(02:34):
assembled and shipped to furniture.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Stores and you bought it.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
All the appliances in your house, your washer, your dryer,
your oven, refrigerator, all the kitchen counter appliance is all
made in America at American factories.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
All the electronics all made in the Midwest.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Everything in your house, the kitchen table, the chairs, all
the tools in your dad's toolbox were made.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
In Cincinnati, like everything.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
And it was an incredible economic engine post World War two,
like we didn't come out of world Like we won
World War two, but we didn't come out of World
War two as the number one GDP on planet Earth
today were the number one GDP on planet Earth.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
But that wasn't the case in forty six, forty seven,
forty eight.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
What happened was everybody went to work manufacturing things that
we all needed that we bought, so we circulated our
wealth within our economy. And good news, America has all
the raw materials we need to make all the products.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
We have the workforce.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
And when we go buy a sofa or love seat,
when the wood came from North Carolina and the fabric
came from upstate New York, and it was assembled somewhere
and then sold. When we paid that guy for the
so for love seat, his paycheck then went to go
buy things in America, and that went for the refrigerator
(04:11):
and the stove, and every single thing in your house,
and it worked. It created an unbelievable level of prosperity,
which makes sense because we are taking raw materials, turning
them into products, which is called manufacturing, and paying each
other to do it. So all that money creates velocity
(04:37):
in these factory towns. Think about it. I mean, everything
in your house was American made. If I don't know
how old you are, whether it's your mother or your grandmother.
If they had a washer and dryer, it certainly was
either General Electric or Whirlpool and they were manufactured in
(04:57):
the United States in Ohio, and they were made of
steel which came from Birmingham, Alabama, and the rubber came
from the United States, and.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
You name it.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Every kitchen counter appliance. If your parents had.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
A blender, it was a Hamilton Beach blender, Hamilton Beach
from Wisconsin. Hamilton was the engineer and Beach was the
marketing guy, or maybe it was the other way around.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
I don't remember.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
If your mother had a vacuum cleaner, it was either
a hoover that was manufactured in Pennsylvania or an Electroluxe
which is a Scandinavian brand, but it was American assembled
in Connecticut. Do you remember those vacuum cleaners. Those were
powerful engines. Man, the vacuum cleaner scared the dog. Now
(05:49):
you go buy a vacuum cleaner, it's a piece of crap.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
It's all plastic.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
It's made in China, and it barely picks up the
crumbs on the kitchen table.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Like my mother's vacuum cleaner.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
When after my mother passed away and we sold the house,
my brother nabbed it and I think he still has.
Speaker 6 (06:07):
It like she bought it, like in the eighties.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
But it still works.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
And then we slowly started moving all these jobs overseas
and putting these Americans out of work. And now we
import all the stuff and it's just junk. So we
went from a country where everybody in everybody's house, everything
in everybody's house was made in America by an American,
(06:35):
and now your house is filled with plastic crap from
China and it breaks, and you think you're ahead of
the game because it was cheap to buy, so you
just buy another one and around the merry goa round
we go.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
When we come back, I want to tell you a
little story.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
There is a great story about something that every single
one of us had.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Many of us still have. But it really does tell.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
The story about how we lost this gain of manufacturing
stuff by ourselves for ourselves. I really thought coming out
of COVID, one of the lessons we would have learned.
Remember when the early days at COVID, everybody was concerned
about respirators and whether there were enough respirators in the
(07:22):
you know, in the hospitals because everybody we're going to
deal with surge capacity. Remember those early days the respirators.
And it turned out that in America we didn't make
any respirators and we had to buy them from China.
And you would have thought that, Okay, when the smoke clears,
one of the things we probably should do as a
country is manufacture respirators just in case. And I was
(07:45):
hopeful that that conversation would continue to everything else that
we need.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
So when we come back, I'll tell you that story.
Lou Penrose on kf.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
I Am six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
You're listening to sixty on demand.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Walmart has decided that made in America is a good tagline.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
American made tour follow me.
Speaker 5 (08:12):
Over two thirds of what Walmart buys is American made.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah, it's a new celebration.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
They're going with American made stuff, and I think it's great.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
I think it's absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I hope that they source more American made products. I
hope that the customer appreciates that American made is good
for a lot of reasons. The quality is good, and
it supports our own economy. And it's also nostalgic because
everything in your house, and I mean everything in your
(08:45):
house used to be made in America by an American
at an American factory, and it was high quality and
lasted a long time. Then we closed the factory, ship
the jobs overseas, and now your house is filled with
plastic craft from China.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
All right, I got a story. I think this is
a great story, great American story.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
In nineteen seventy two, two engineers from the Westinghouse Corporation
were hired to design a high quality, commercial grade kitchen
appliance that went on to become the most recognizable brand
(09:35):
in consumer product history. By nineteen seventy four, more Mister
Coffee coffee makers were sold in the United States and
any other kitchen appliance.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
It was unbelievably successful. Unbelievably successful.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
It was high quality, it was commercial grade, and everybody
had one.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
And they were everywhere, and everybody loved them. They were
in every house.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
They were at the office, they were in the galley,
at the er, they were at the fire station, they
were at the automobile, automobile.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Repair place, they were everywhere. They were.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
In nineteen seventy five, more Mister Coffee coffee makers were
given as Christmas gifts than any other product in its genre.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
And by the way, it wasn't cheap.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
It was twenty nine ninety nine retail in nineteen seventy
five dollars.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
It was an appliance. People gave them as wedding gifts
and it worked. It was unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Made hot coffee every single morning, and sometimes twice a
day if you had people come over for kate and coffee.
And it was a huge success and it proved that
we can make commercial, great products for the home. By
nineteen eighty two, they had closed down the factories in
(11:05):
the United States, moved the production of Mister Coffee coffee
makers overseas, fired all the Americans used American Trade laws
designed by Republicans and Democrats under the guise of free trade,
to bring the product back into the United States under
its original label and brand. It was still called Mister Coffee,
(11:28):
but it was absolutely jump. It was plastic crap from China,
and it wasn't any cheap. I think they did go
down to twenty four to ninety nine, like that's always
been the rub when they say, well, you know, we
can't compete with the American labor costs very expensive to
(11:48):
produce anything here in the United States. Sounds better for
the consumer, don't you know if we keep these costs
under control by firing all the workers and importing the
crap into the United States. But we know it's always
around the same price. And I remember telling the story
and somebody called me on the radio and.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Said, Lou you are so right.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
I probably went through eight or nine Mister coffees from
freshman year through my residency.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
He's a doctor, he's a surgeon for Kaiser.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
He's like, yeah, I went through like nine coffee makers
because they're absolute junk. And my mother, who lives in Burbank,
still has the original Mister Coffee coffee maker that you
had when I was a kid, and it's still there.
And I said, that's right, that's right, it's still there
because it's an appliance. It was American maid and it
(12:46):
was high quality. You know exactly what I'm talking about.
You can still see your mom's Mister Coffee coffee maker
on the kitchen counter. You remember exactly where it was.
That was our entire society. Like everything in our house.
The refrigerators were made in America, the stoves, the ovens,
(13:11):
and all the appliances. They were heavy duty things and
they supported an American manufacturing economy. That was the third
leg of a successful three legged soool that propped up
Americans quality of life and prosperity.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
So in economics you have like three legs.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
You have the professional class that's your doctor, lawyer, right, accountant, architect,
And you have your service economy that's doing each other's laundry.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
I worked in hotels, I've waited tables.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
It's not Roman service work.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
But we can't grow the economic pie making each other's bed.
And the third leg is manufacturing, turning raw materials into
finished products for sale.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
And I know you're going to say, Lou, technology moves forward.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Sure, right, technology moves forward, so you are going to
have a new iPhone every couple of years, but you're
always going to need a stove.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
The technology of an oven hasn't changed.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
The technology, frankly of a washing machine hasn't changed much.
The technology of a vacuum hasn't changed all that much.
So we'll always need most of these things. That will
always eat. Air conditioning units and heating units and furniture.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
That's not really going to change all that much.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
How much has changed between the love seat you're on
now and the love seat you're on growing up as
a kid pretty much the same thing. The difference is
the love seat that you grew up on as a
kid was from wood in North Carolina and fabric from
Johnson City, New York, manufactured and assembled in America by
(14:57):
an American, and the love seat you're on now is
on junk crap wood from Vietnam, and it breaks. I
lived in my house. Let's see the house I live
in now at home. My youngest is twelve, so just
over twelve years. Because my wife was pregnant when we
(15:19):
moved in. I have gone through three refrigerators in those
twelve years.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
And the refrigerator. The refrigerator guy says, unlucky.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Do you ever remember your grandparents getting a new refrigerator?
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Ever? They never did.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Now you go to buy a refrigerator and what's the
first thing they come chasing after you in the store.
They want you to buy the extended warranty. Why because
they know it's a piece of junk and it's going
to break in three years. Did your grandfather have an
extended warranty on his refrigerator?
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Think about it. Lou Penrose on KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Lister, you're listening to KFI A on demand.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Live on the iHeartRadio. I've good to be with you.
George Norri comes up following the news at.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Ten o'clock talking about the decision by Walmart to celebrate
made in America products.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
I think it's a good pivot.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
The American Made Tour follow me.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
Over two thirds of what Walmart buys is American maid.
There's healthy Drive fruit from California, clothing sown in North Carolina,
and jams from right down the street.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah, I love it. I love hearing it.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
I think it's a good marketing campaign and if it
gets people thinking about buying things that are made in America,
then will source things made in America, and that will
put Americans back to work in manufacturing, and that is
so good for all of us. It is such a
driver of the economic engine. We are in the process
(16:54):
now of restoring a lot of American manufacturing, and it
takes time, but it is the healthiest thing we can
do for our country.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
It really is.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Like when you hear the term factory work, you get
images in your mind of gray, drab, dreary. That isn't
so this is not norma ray, This is not the
final scene of an officer and a gentleman. That isn't
what American factories look like. They are bright and vibrant
(17:29):
and high tech. Factory work is very high tech and
it pays really well. And the good news is everything
that we have is made in a factory, and we'll
always need.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
About everything that we have.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
But everything in your house used to be made in
America by an American.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
At an American factory, making very good money.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
And then we ship the jobs overseas, and now your
house is filled with plasticraft from China.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
Damn, I love you, Lou Penroe.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
You are absolutely ten thousand percent right. I am one
hundred percent right.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
You can't be ten thousand percent right, but I do
appreciate the call.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Let me explain it this way. I was just at Costco.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
And I noticed flat screen TVs are really coming down
in price, like even the O leads are coming down
in price. So I'm wondering what the next generation of
flat screen TVs are going to be like, because they're
just blowing out the ones that are in this I mean,
they went for like fourteen ninety nine and now now
(18:34):
the big ones, the sixty inches like nine to ninety nine.
So let's think about that, right you there's a flat
screen TV made in Korea, made in China wherever, not
made in America. TVs used to be made in America,
by the way, RCA Zenith Emerson all American brands manufactured
(18:55):
in America with wood cabinets and glass and and all
kinds of components that were sourced in the United States.
At the components of a TV were manufactured in other
towns and then they were all sent to the RCA
factory in Illinois and they were assembled, and then you
went to go buy a TV, and you're you buying
(19:19):
that TV went into the paycheck of the guy that
manufactured the TV and all the money circulated in the
United States.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
So let's look at a TV.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Now, you get a Costco TV eight ninety nine for
a TV, beautiful TV, big flat screen, new technology, right,
not like the RCA, Zenith or Emerson TV, but effectively
a picture on a glass screen. Take that eight hundred
and ninety nine dollars flat screen TV at Costco and
grind it down to its raw material like literally, grind
(19:52):
it all the way down to dust.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
What do you have?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
You have glass, plastic, a little bit of copper. I
would argue you have five to eight dollars in raw materials,
not including the packaging. Packaging is expensive too. Actually that's
being general. I would say you have under five dollars
in raw materials. But let's just go ahead, right, five
(20:19):
to eight dollars in raw materials, right, that's just the
pile of black plastic dust, the pile of glass, the
copper and the motherboard and all that stuff. Some solder
about five bucks eight bugs of raw materials. The difference
between that eight dollars of raw materials and the final product,
(20:40):
the eight hundred and ninety nine dollars flat screen TV.
That difference, that delta that represented the American manufacturing economy,
and that American manufacturing economy employed tens of thousands of
Americans across the United States, mostly in the Midwest, but
not exclusively, and those factory jobs supported towns all over
(21:04):
the United States where people lived, and those paychecks supported families.
People that worked for Emerson, people that worked for Zenith,
people that worked for Sylvania, people that worked for Hoover
manufacturing products on the assembly line. One paycheck supported the
entire house. One paycheck both spouses could work, but you
(21:26):
didn't have to.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
One paycheck supported bought.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
The house, had a car, had a quality of life
that one paycheck.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Had an unbelievable velocity.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Had enough money in the paycheck to pay for the
house and the car, and the upkeep and the mortgage
and the insurance.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
And there was enough money in.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
That paycheck to take the family out to dinner on
a Friday night, and every once in a while the
wife on the town on a Saturday.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
There was even enough money in.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
That paycheck for the collection plate on Sunday morning, and
factory town's thrived, And like think about that, and think
about everything in your house, like the electric can opener,
the blender, the mixer, the toaster. All that stuff was
(22:18):
heavy duty and manufactured in the United States by Americans
making really good money, and then it all circulated.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
We could do that. Now you still have a toaster.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
The technology, I mean, the design of a toaster hasn't
changed all that much since your grandmother's toaster on the counter,
except now your grandmother's was heavy duty, high quality and lasted.
Yours not so much. It's a tiny piece of crap
because it's made in China. We can manufacture things in
the United States. Here's the good news. Not only do
(22:51):
we still have all the raw materials to manufacture appliances,
household goods, furniture tools, we have all the ability to
do it.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
We have all the raw materials to do it.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
So we buy from ourselves, enriching towns that have iron ore.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Like Birmingham, Alabama.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Birmingham, Alabama was the capital for iron to make steel
in the country. Now it's the murder capital of the
South because we ship the jobs overseas. The Chinese don't
buy steel from Birmingham to make the washer and dryer.
We bring the washer and dryer into the country duty free,
and it's the same price, and it's jump, which is
(23:34):
why they always want to sell you the extended warranty.
So we could resure all that manufacturing, put Americans to
work doing it. And here's the best part. The infrastructure
is already there. It was like they gave us free infrastructure.
The rail lines are all there, The foundation of the
(23:55):
factory is still there. The building probably needs some help,
but the foundation is still there. And the rail spur
goes right up to the loading dock, and the rail
lines leave all these factory towns and go to every
major city in America for distribution. So we could literally
overnight fire up American manufacturing and get going. And in
(24:16):
these towns there was one consistency. There was a sign
out in front every day that said hiring today, and
there was advancement opportunities. People worked on the line and
then moved up to foreman, and then moved up and
up and up because people retired. It was a tremendous
component of our economy. And you know, not everybody wants
(24:40):
to be a rocket scientist. Many of us just want
to go do a good day's work for a good
day's pay and go home to our families, which is
what Americans used to do. We used to manufacture athletics shoes,
believe it or not. In Portland, Oregon, I get it.
Making shoes is not the sexiest thing in the world.
(25:02):
But making shoes is an honest day's labor and it
paid like a regular job. Like people had houses and
cars and wives and families, and they worked in factories
that manufactured, among other things, shoes. Now, then they moved
the fat manufacturing to Vietnam, where they paid eighteen cents
an hour. Fired everybody. The Pacific Northwest has never recovered
(25:28):
from the offshoring of shoe manufacturing. They bring all the
shoes back on a boat container. Shit, no tax, bring
it in right, Think about it. The rubber, the leather,
the box, the packaging, celebrity endorsement's the most expensive component
in manufacturing a shoe. Celebrity endorsement, most expensive component in
(25:49):
manufacturing athletic wear. Then they put it on the shelf.
Guess what, It's one hundred and ten dollars for a
pair of Nikes. The price is exactly the same. Yet
we have to show the cost of unemployment of broken families, right,
of people getting fired in the middle of a thirty
year mortgage. So it didn't work. This whole idea of
(26:13):
free trade didn't work out. Free trade is like free love.
Sounds great, doesn't work and in the end, all you have.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Is a social disease. Lou Penrose on KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Following the news, at ten, it's Coast to Coast AM
with George Norri.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
What's going on?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
We're going to talk about that strange object flying around
the solar system, Lou.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
And then later on in the program something very special
on Coast to Coast We're going to go to Heaven.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Uh, we talked elaborate a little bit. That's too much
of a tease.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
How are we going? Are we talking with someone that's
been there and back? You gotta listen to the show.
You gotta listen to the show. Good for you, George Norry.
Always good to talk with you.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Coasta Costa and with George Norri follows the program at
ten o'clock, talking about Made in America.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
It's a thing again and I'm very excited about it.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Walmart, the nation's largest retailer is advertising that many, many
things in Walmart are made in America. Now, to be fair,
the two of the three things in the TV ad
are food, which it's easier to make food in America
than stuff.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
But it's a step in the right direction.
Speaker 4 (27:43):
American Maid Tour follow me.
Speaker 5 (27:45):
Over two thirds of what Walmart buys is American maid.
There's healthy drive, fruit from California, clothing sown in North Carolina.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
And jams from right down the street. American Maid Tour
come up.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Yeah, so he said it three times.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
I mean that is is obviously a decision by Walmart
to attract people that want made an American, made in
American products, or at least feel good about the fact
that they're trying.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
It's gonna take time.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
It took a while, but we effectively successfully offshort every
single thing. And it was not a good idea. It
was definitely not a good plan, and it was bipartisan.
Both Republicans and Democrats agreed to create trade laws that
allowed factories to move production overseas and import it all
(28:36):
back and put the Americans out of work. So now
we're trying to reverse course, and it certainly can be done.
So I'm very excited about it. Christmas is coming. Talk
about American made. You're not going to believe this, that
you're gonna find this hard to believe.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
I was talking during the break.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
With the broadcast engineer Mario. He doesn't know anything that
is made in America, like nothing in your house, right, yeah,
but things in your parents' house certainly were made in America.
But you growing up, nothing in your house made in America.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Believe it or not.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
We used to make toys in America, and it wasn't
that long ago. So post World War Two, plastic was
a thing, and plastic was good for toys. Toys used
to be made out of wood or metal, and metal
got sharp and it rusted or it got hot it
(29:32):
was left outside Tonka. Toys were made out of metal
and it wasn't the best thing. It was dangerous or
wooden toys would warp. So plastic was a thing. And
there was a company right here in Los Angeles and
El Segundo called Wammo, and they used plastic to manufacture
(29:53):
one of the hottest toys of the decade in the fifties.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
It was called hula hoop.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
In fact, so many hula hoops were sold in the
United States because it was such fun that the Department
of Defense actually got involved because the Department of Defense
were the first ones to really start using plastic. They
had lots of use for plastic and it made sense, right,
(30:24):
but there was a there were shortages of plastic, especially
the colors of plastic that the Wammo company was using,
and the dods like they had, they had to ask
for proprietary rights for the purchases of plastic for their
needs in the United States military because Wammo was taking
(30:46):
so much plastic out of the out of the supply
to manufacture their hula hoop. And after the hula hoop,
everything else just got really really popular and there were
manufacturing all kind of things and.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
It was all made out of plastic and it was
made here in the United States.
Speaker 6 (30:59):
And then it spurred these incredible companies like Hasbro that's
an American toy manufacturer, Kenner that's an American toy manufacturer,
and we made American toys.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
And that lasted for a while, but those were the
first to go. The toys first went overseas and they
were made in China.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Then the electronics went to Japan and then to China.
And then lastly, what we used to call.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
White goods but large products washers and dryers and ovens
and refrigerators and stoves all went overseas and we had
nothing left. And so now we have an opportunity to
bring back the manufacturing.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Employ Americans.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
You will always need most of these things, most of
these products.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
They will always pay well.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
The idea that it's too expensive to pay American labor
is false. It is the biggest lie out there that
we had to ship the jobs overseas because the American
workforce was too expensive. That is a myth that is
absolutely false. It's one of the worst narratives ever to
be perpetuated because it destroyed factory towns. We absolutely can
(32:20):
afford to pay Americans to manufacture products. You know how
I know that because everything in your house used to
be made in America. Was your grandfather a billionaire? How
is your grandfather able to buy a washer, a dryer,
a stove, an oven, a refrigerator, kitchen counter appliances. They
were all made in Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, right, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
The Sylvania light bulbs were made in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
We can make things in America and pay Americans to
make them. Lou Penrose ONKFI AM six forty and live
everywhere on the iHeartRadio
Speaker 1 (32:56):
App KFI Ami Demand
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
A major change in the marketing campaign of Walmart. For years,
as long as I can remember, Walmart had the beware
falling prices right, Prices were constantly falling, hitting people in
the head.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
And that was.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
To reinforce that Walmart was the cheapest place that you
could get the best value. Whatever it is that you're buying,
you could not do better than Walmart. They were going
to guarantee you the lowest price. They would shop Planet
Earth to get the lowest price possible. They now have
a new campaign that celebrates that a lot of their
(00:43):
products are made in America.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
American Main Tour follow me.
Speaker 5 (00:49):
Over two thirds of what Walmart buys is American maid.
There's healthy dried fruit from California, clothing sown in North Carolina,
and jams from right down the street.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
American Mad Tour come up.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
So to be fair, they are they're talking about food.
There dried foods, dried fruit from California, that's raisins, clothing
sewn in North Carolina. That's interesting. I wonder what that is,
but it's a step in the right direction. What was
the third jams from down the Street, so jams from Texas,
so mostly food and a couple of T shirts.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
But that's not the point.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
The point is they have decided, and I'm sure the
significant research behind this that the idea of supporting a
company that purchases items for sale that are made in
America is a thing again, and I think that is
a very healthy pivot for Walmart, are nation's largest real retailer,
(01:47):
and I'm very happy about it, very happy about it.
We need to make more things in America, and we
need to sell the things that are made in America,
and people need to know where they can buy things
made in America because everything in your house, and I
mean everything in your house used to be made in
(02:10):
America by an American at an American factory making really
good money, by the way, and when I say everything,
I mean literally everything. The furniture, the fabric on the furniture.
The furniture was made in North Carolina. The fabric was
milled in mills in upstate, New York, and it was
(02:34):
assembled and shipped to furniture.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Stores and you bought it.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
All the appliances in your house, your washer, your dryer,
your oven, refrigerator, all the kitchen counter appliance is all
made in America at American factories.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
All the electronics all made in the Midwest.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Everything in your house, the kitchen table, the chairs, all
the tools in your dad's toolbox were made.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
In Cincinnati, like everything.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
And it was an incredible economic engine post World War two,
like we didn't come out of world Like we won
World War two, but we didn't come out of World
War two as the number one GDP on planet Earth
today were the number one GDP on planet Earth.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
But that wasn't the case in forty six, forty seven,
forty eight.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
What happened was everybody went to work manufacturing things that
we all needed that we bought, so we circulated our
wealth within our economy. And good news, America has all
the raw materials we need to make all the products.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
We have the workforce.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
And when we go buy a sofa or love seat,
when the wood came from North Carolina and the fabric
came from upstate New York, and it was assembled somewhere
and then sold. When we paid that guy for the
so for love seat, his paycheck then went to go
buy things in America, and that went for the refrigerator
(04:11):
and the stove, and every single thing in your house,
and it worked. It created an unbelievable level of prosperity,
which makes sense because we are taking raw materials, turning
them into products, which is called manufacturing, and paying each
other to do it. So all that money creates velocity
(04:37):
in these factory towns. Think about it. I mean, everything
in your house was American made. If I don't know
how old you are, whether it's your mother or your grandmother.
If they had a washer and dryer, it certainly was
either General Electric or Whirlpool and they were manufactured in
(04:57):
the United States in Ohio, and they were made of
steel which came from Birmingham, Alabama, and the rubber came
from the United States, and.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
You name it.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Every kitchen counter appliance. If your parents had.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
A blender, it was a Hamilton Beach blender, Hamilton Beach
from Wisconsin. Hamilton was the engineer and Beach was the
marketing guy, or maybe it was the other way around.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
I don't remember.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
If your mother had a vacuum cleaner, it was either
a hoover that was manufactured in Pennsylvania or an Electroluxe
which is a Scandinavian brand, but it was American assembled
in Connecticut. Do you remember those vacuum cleaners. Those were
powerful engines. Man, the vacuum cleaner scared the dog. Now
(05:49):
you go buy a vacuum cleaner, it's a piece of crap.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
It's all plastic.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
It's made in China, and it barely picks up the
crumbs on the kitchen table.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Like my mother's vacuum cleaner.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
When after my mother passed away and we sold the house,
my brother nabbed it and I think he still has.
Speaker 6 (06:07):
It like she bought it, like in the eighties.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
But it still works.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
And then we slowly started moving all these jobs overseas
and putting these Americans out of work. And now we
import all the stuff and it's just junk. So we
went from a country where everybody in everybody's house, everything
in everybody's house was made in America by an American,
(06:35):
and now your house is filled with plastic crap from
China and it breaks, and you think you're ahead of
the game because it was cheap to buy, so you
just buy another one and around the merry goa round
we go.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
When we come back, I want to tell you a
little story.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
There is a great story about something that every single
one of us had.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Many of us still have. But it really does tell.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
The story about how we lost this gain of manufacturing
stuff by ourselves for ourselves. I really thought coming out
of COVID, one of the lessons we would have learned.
Remember when the early days at COVID, everybody was concerned
about respirators and whether there were enough respirators in the
(07:22):
you know, in the hospitals because everybody we're going to
deal with surge capacity. Remember those early days the respirators.
And it turned out that in America we didn't make
any respirators and we had to buy them from China.
And you would have thought that, Okay, when the smoke clears,
one of the things we probably should do as a
country is manufacture respirators just in case. And I was
(07:45):
hopeful that that conversation would continue to everything else that
we need.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
So when we come back, I'll tell you that story.
Lou Penrose on kf.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
I Am six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
You're listening to sixty on demand.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Walmart has decided that made in America is a good tagline.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
American made tour follow me.
Speaker 5 (08:12):
Over two thirds of what Walmart buys is American made.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah, it's a new celebration.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
They're going with American made stuff, and I think it's great.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
I think it's absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I hope that they source more American made products. I
hope that the customer appreciates that American made is good
for a lot of reasons. The quality is good, and
it supports our own economy. And it's also nostalgic because
everything in your house, and I mean everything in your
(08:45):
house used to be made in America by an American
at an American factory, and it was high quality and
lasted a long time. Then we closed the factory, ship
the jobs overseas, and now your house is filled with
plastic craft from China.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
All right, I got a story. I think this is
a great story, great American story.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
In nineteen seventy two, two engineers from the Westinghouse Corporation
were hired to design a high quality, commercial grade kitchen
appliance that went on to become the most recognizable brand
(09:35):
in consumer product history. By nineteen seventy four, more Mister
Coffee coffee makers were sold in the United States and
any other kitchen appliance.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
It was unbelievably successful. Unbelievably successful.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
It was high quality, it was commercial grade, and everybody
had one.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
And they were everywhere, and everybody loved them. They were
in every house.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
They were at the office, they were in the galley,
at the er, they were at the fire station, they
were at the automobile, automobile.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Repair place, they were everywhere. They were.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
In nineteen seventy five, more Mister Coffee coffee makers were
given as Christmas gifts than any other product in its genre.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
And by the way, it wasn't cheap.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
It was twenty nine ninety nine retail in nineteen seventy
five dollars.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
It was an appliance. People gave them as wedding gifts
and it worked. It was unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Made hot coffee every single morning, and sometimes twice a
day if you had people come over for kate and coffee.
And it was a huge success and it proved that
we can make commercial, great products for the home. By
nineteen eighty two, they had closed down the factories in
(11:05):
the United States, moved the production of Mister Coffee coffee
makers overseas, fired all the Americans used American Trade laws
designed by Republicans and Democrats under the guise of free trade,
to bring the product back into the United States under
its original label and brand. It was still called Mister Coffee,
(11:28):
but it was absolutely jump. It was plastic crap from China,
and it wasn't any cheap. I think they did go
down to twenty four to ninety nine, like that's always
been the rub when they say, well, you know, we
can't compete with the American labor costs very expensive to
(11:48):
produce anything here in the United States. Sounds better for
the consumer, don't you know if we keep these costs
under control by firing all the workers and importing the
crap into the United States. But we know it's always
around the same price. And I remember telling the story
and somebody called me on the radio and.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Said, Lou you are so right.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
I probably went through eight or nine Mister coffees from
freshman year through my residency.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
He's a doctor, he's a surgeon for Kaiser.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
He's like, yeah, I went through like nine coffee makers
because they're absolute junk. And my mother, who lives in Burbank,
still has the original Mister Coffee coffee maker that you
had when I was a kid, and it's still there.
And I said, that's right, that's right, it's still there
because it's an appliance. It was American maid and it
(12:46):
was high quality. You know exactly what I'm talking about.
You can still see your mom's Mister Coffee coffee maker
on the kitchen counter. You remember exactly where it was.
That was our entire society. Like everything in our house.
The refrigerators were made in America, the stoves, the ovens,
(13:11):
and all the appliances. They were heavy duty things and
they supported an American manufacturing economy. That was the third
leg of a successful three legged soool that propped up
Americans quality of life and prosperity.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
So in economics you have like three legs.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
You have the professional class that's your doctor, lawyer, right, accountant, architect,
And you have your service economy that's doing each other's laundry.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
I worked in hotels, I've waited tables.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
It's not Roman service work.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
But we can't grow the economic pie making each other's bed.
And the third leg is manufacturing, turning raw materials into
finished products for sale.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
And I know you're going to say, Lou, technology moves forward.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Sure, right, technology moves forward, so you are going to
have a new iPhone every couple of years, but you're
always going to need a stove.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
The technology of an oven hasn't changed.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
The technology, frankly of a washing machine hasn't changed much.
The technology of a vacuum hasn't changed all that much.
So we'll always need most of these things. That will
always eat. Air conditioning units and heating units and furniture.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
That's not really going to change all that much.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
How much has changed between the love seat you're on
now and the love seat you're on growing up as
a kid pretty much the same thing. The difference is
the love seat that you grew up on as a
kid was from wood in North Carolina and fabric from
Johnson City, New York, manufactured and assembled in America by
(14:57):
an American, and the love seat you're on now is
on junk crap wood from Vietnam, and it breaks. I
lived in my house. Let's see the house I live
in now at home. My youngest is twelve, so just
over twelve years. Because my wife was pregnant when we
(15:19):
moved in. I have gone through three refrigerators in those
twelve years.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
And the refrigerator. The refrigerator guy says, unlucky.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Do you ever remember your grandparents getting a new refrigerator?
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Ever? They never did.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Now you go to buy a refrigerator and what's the
first thing they come chasing after you in the store.
They want you to buy the extended warranty. Why because
they know it's a piece of junk and it's going
to break in three years. Did your grandfather have an
extended warranty on his refrigerator?
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Think about it. Lou Penrose on KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Lister, you're listening to KFI A on demand.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Live on the iHeartRadio. I've good to be with you.
George Norri comes up following the news at.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Ten o'clock talking about the decision by Walmart to celebrate
made in America products.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
I think it's a good pivot.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
The American Made Tour follow me.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
Over two thirds of what Walmart buys is American maid.
There's healthy Drive fruit from California, clothing sown in North Carolina,
and jams from right down the street.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah, I love it. I love hearing it.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
I think it's a good marketing campaign and if it
gets people thinking about buying things that are made in America,
then will source things made in America, and that will
put Americans back to work in manufacturing, and that is
so good for all of us. It is such a
driver of the economic engine. We are in the process
(16:54):
now of restoring a lot of American manufacturing, and it
takes time, but it is the healthiest thing we can
do for our country.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
It really is.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Like when you hear the term factory work, you get
images in your mind of gray, drab, dreary. That isn't
so this is not norma ray, This is not the
final scene of an officer and a gentleman. That isn't
what American factories look like. They are bright and vibrant
(17:29):
and high tech. Factory work is very high tech and
it pays really well. And the good news is everything
that we have is made in a factory, and we'll
always need.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
About everything that we have.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
But everything in your house used to be made in
America by an American.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
At an American factory, making very good money.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
And then we ship the jobs overseas, and now your
house is filled with plasticraft from China.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
Damn, I love you, Lou Penroe.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
You are absolutely ten thousand percent right. I am one
hundred percent right.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
You can't be ten thousand percent right, but I do
appreciate the call.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Let me explain it this way. I was just at Costco.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
And I noticed flat screen TVs are really coming down
in price, like even the O leads are coming down
in price. So I'm wondering what the next generation of
flat screen TVs are going to be like, because they're
just blowing out the ones that are in this I mean,
they went for like fourteen ninety nine and now now
(18:34):
the big ones, the sixty inches like nine to ninety nine.
So let's think about that, right you there's a flat
screen TV made in Korea, made in China wherever, not
made in America. TVs used to be made in America,
by the way, RCA Zenith Emerson all American brands manufactured
(18:55):
in America with wood cabinets and glass and and all
kinds of components that were sourced in the United States.
At the components of a TV were manufactured in other
towns and then they were all sent to the RCA
factory in Illinois and they were assembled, and then you
went to go buy a TV, and you're you buying
(19:19):
that TV went into the paycheck of the guy that
manufactured the TV and all the money circulated in the
United States.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
So let's look at a TV.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Now, you get a Costco TV eight ninety nine for
a TV, beautiful TV, big flat screen, new technology, right,
not like the RCA, Zenith or Emerson TV, but effectively
a picture on a glass screen. Take that eight hundred
and ninety nine dollars flat screen TV at Costco and
grind it down to its raw material like literally, grind
(19:52):
it all the way down to dust.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
What do you have?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
You have glass, plastic, a little bit of copper. I
would argue you have five to eight dollars in raw materials,
not including the packaging. Packaging is expensive too. Actually that's
being general. I would say you have under five dollars
in raw materials. But let's just go ahead, right, five
(20:19):
to eight dollars in raw materials, right, that's just the
pile of black plastic dust, the pile of glass, the
copper and the motherboard and all that stuff. Some solder
about five bucks eight bugs of raw materials. The difference
between that eight dollars of raw materials and the final product,
(20:40):
the eight hundred and ninety nine dollars flat screen TV.
That difference, that delta that represented the American manufacturing economy,
and that American manufacturing economy employed tens of thousands of
Americans across the United States, mostly in the Midwest, but
not exclusively, and those factory jobs supported towns all over
(21:04):
the United States where people lived, and those paychecks supported families.
People that worked for Emerson, people that worked for Zenith,
people that worked for Sylvania, people that worked for Hoover
manufacturing products on the assembly line. One paycheck supported the
entire house. One paycheck both spouses could work, but you
(21:26):
didn't have to.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
One paycheck supported bought.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
The house, had a car, had a quality of life
that one paycheck.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Had an unbelievable velocity.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Had enough money in the paycheck to pay for the
house and the car, and the upkeep and the mortgage
and the insurance.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
And there was enough money in.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
That paycheck to take the family out to dinner on
a Friday night, and every once in a while the
wife on the town on a Saturday.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
There was even enough money in.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
That paycheck for the collection plate on Sunday morning, and
factory town's thrived, And like think about that, and think
about everything in your house, like the electric can opener,
the blender, the mixer, the toaster. All that stuff was
(22:18):
heavy duty and manufactured in the United States by Americans
making really good money, and then it all circulated.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
We could do that. Now you still have a toaster.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
The technology, I mean, the design of a toaster hasn't
changed all that much since your grandmother's toaster on the counter,
except now your grandmother's was heavy duty, high quality and lasted.
Yours not so much. It's a tiny piece of crap
because it's made in China. We can manufacture things in
the United States. Here's the good news. Not only do
(22:51):
we still have all the raw materials to manufacture appliances,
household goods, furniture tools, we have all the ability to
do it.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
We have all the raw materials to do it.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
So we buy from ourselves, enriching towns that have iron ore.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Like Birmingham, Alabama.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Birmingham, Alabama was the capital for iron to make steel
in the country. Now it's the murder capital of the
South because we ship the jobs overseas. The Chinese don't
buy steel from Birmingham to make the washer and dryer.
We bring the washer and dryer into the country duty free,
and it's the same price, and it's jump, which is
(23:34):
why they always want to sell you the extended warranty.
So we could resure all that manufacturing, put Americans to
work doing it. And here's the best part. The infrastructure
is already there. It was like they gave us free infrastructure.
The rail lines are all there, The foundation of the
(23:55):
factory is still there. The building probably needs some help,
but the foundation is still there. And the rail spur
goes right up to the loading dock, and the rail
lines leave all these factory towns and go to every
major city in America for distribution. So we could literally
overnight fire up American manufacturing and get going. And in
(24:16):
these towns there was one consistency. There was a sign
out in front every day that said hiring today, and
there was advancement opportunities. People worked on the line and
then moved up to foreman, and then moved up and
up and up because people retired. It was a tremendous
component of our economy. And you know, not everybody wants
(24:40):
to be a rocket scientist. Many of us just want
to go do a good day's work for a good
day's pay and go home to our families, which is
what Americans used to do. We used to manufacture athletics shoes,
believe it or not. In Portland, Oregon, I get it.
Making shoes is not the sexiest thing in the world.
(25:02):
But making shoes is an honest day's labor and it
paid like a regular job. Like people had houses and
cars and wives and families, and they worked in factories
that manufactured, among other things, shoes. Now, then they moved
the fat manufacturing to Vietnam, where they paid eighteen cents
an hour. Fired everybody. The Pacific Northwest has never recovered
(25:28):
from the offshoring of shoe manufacturing. They bring all the
shoes back on a boat container. Shit, no tax, bring
it in right, Think about it. The rubber, the leather,
the box, the packaging, celebrity endorsement's the most expensive component
in manufacturing a shoe. Celebrity endorsement, most expensive component in
(25:49):
manufacturing athletic wear. Then they put it on the shelf.
Guess what, It's one hundred and ten dollars for a
pair of Nikes. The price is exactly the same. Yet
we have to show the cost of unemployment of broken families, right,
of people getting fired in the middle of a thirty
year mortgage. So it didn't work. This whole idea of
(26:13):
free trade didn't work out. Free trade is like free love.
Sounds great, doesn't work and in the end, all you have.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Is a social disease. Lou Penrose on KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Following the news, at ten, it's Coast to Coast AM
with George Norri.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
What's going on?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
We're going to talk about that strange object flying around
the solar system, Lou.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
And then later on in the program something very special
on Coast to Coast We're going to go to Heaven.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Uh, we talked elaborate a little bit. That's too much
of a tease.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
How are we going? Are we talking with someone that's
been there and back? You gotta listen to the show.
You gotta listen to the show. Good for you, George Norry.
Always good to talk with you.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Coasta Costa and with George Norri follows the program at
ten o'clock, talking about Made in America.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
It's a thing again and I'm very excited about it.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Walmart, the nation's largest retailer is advertising that many, many
things in Walmart are made in America. Now, to be fair,
the two of the three things in the TV ad
are food, which it's easier to make food in America
than stuff.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
But it's a step in the right direction.
Speaker 4 (27:43):
American Maid Tour follow me.
Speaker 5 (27:45):
Over two thirds of what Walmart buys is American maid.
There's healthy drive, fruit from California, clothing sown in North Carolina.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
And jams from right down the street. American Maid Tour
come up.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Yeah, so he said it three times.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
I mean that is is obviously a decision by Walmart
to attract people that want made an American, made in
American products, or at least feel good about the fact
that they're trying.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
It's gonna take time.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
It took a while, but we effectively successfully offshort every
single thing. And it was not a good idea. It
was definitely not a good plan, and it was bipartisan.
Both Republicans and Democrats agreed to create trade laws that
allowed factories to move production overseas and import it all
(28:36):
back and put the Americans out of work. So now
we're trying to reverse course, and it certainly can be done.
So I'm very excited about it. Christmas is coming. Talk
about American made. You're not going to believe this, that
you're gonna find this hard to believe.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
I was talking during the break.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
With the broadcast engineer Mario. He doesn't know anything that
is made in America, like nothing in your house, right, yeah,
but things in your parents' house certainly were made in America.
But you growing up, nothing in your house made in America.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Believe it or not.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
We used to make toys in America, and it wasn't
that long ago. So post World War Two, plastic was
a thing, and plastic was good for toys. Toys used
to be made out of wood or metal, and metal
got sharp and it rusted or it got hot it
(29:32):
was left outside Tonka. Toys were made out of metal
and it wasn't the best thing. It was dangerous or
wooden toys would warp. So plastic was a thing. And
there was a company right here in Los Angeles and
El Segundo called Wammo, and they used plastic to manufacture
(29:53):
one of the hottest toys of the decade in the fifties.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
It was called hula hoop.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
In fact, so many hula hoops were sold in the
United States because it was such fun that the Department
of Defense actually got involved because the Department of Defense
were the first ones to really start using plastic. They
had lots of use for plastic and it made sense, right,
(30:24):
but there was a there were shortages of plastic, especially
the colors of plastic that the Wammo company was using,
and the dods like they had, they had to ask
for proprietary rights for the purchases of plastic for their
needs in the United States military because Wammo was taking
(30:46):
so much plastic out of the out of the supply
to manufacture their hula hoop. And after the hula hoop,
everything else just got really really popular and there were
manufacturing all kind of things and.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
It was all made out of plastic and it was
made here in the United States.
Speaker 6 (30:59):
And then it spurred these incredible companies like Hasbro that's
an American toy manufacturer, Kenner that's an American toy manufacturer,
and we made American toys.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
And that lasted for a while, but those were the
first to go. The toys first went overseas and they
were made in China.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Then the electronics went to Japan and then to China.
And then lastly, what we used to call.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
White goods but large products washers and dryers and ovens
and refrigerators and stoves all went overseas and we had
nothing left. And so now we have an opportunity to
bring back the manufacturing.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Employ Americans.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
You will always need most of these things, most of
these products.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
They will always pay well.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
The idea that it's too expensive to pay American labor
is false. It is the biggest lie out there that
we had to ship the jobs overseas because the American
workforce was too expensive. That is a myth that is
absolutely false. It's one of the worst narratives ever to
be perpetuated because it destroyed factory towns. We absolutely can
(32:20):
afford to pay Americans to manufacture products. You know how
I know that because everything in your house used to
be made in America. Was your grandfather a billionaire? How
is your grandfather able to buy a washer, a dryer,
a stove, an oven, a refrigerator, kitchen counter appliances. They
were all made in Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, right, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
The Sylvania light bulbs were made in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
We can make things in America and pay Americans to
make them. Lou Penrose ONKFI AM six forty and live
everywhere on the iHeartRadio
Speaker 1 (32:56):
App KFI Ami Demand
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