I've heard this argument as well, but I don't think it would change much. Why? Because
None of those things seem to apply to insomniasexx's point. Maybe some housing materials, it's possible. But the rest are either intangibles or presumably domestic food. I think the article's idea stands firm, that goods in general represent an extremely small part of our monetary outflow, and thus Chinese manufacturing doesn't affect us as much as is assumed. When phrased like that, things seem to make a lot more sense. These were the numbers that really surprised me:
I would have assumed we buy a huge percentage of our cheap plastic Christmas gifts, our furniture, etc., from China.In 2010, the average American spent 34% of their income on housing, 13% on food, 11% on insurance and pensions, 7% on health care, and 2% on education.
Just 6.4% of nondurable goods -- things like food, clothing and toys -- purchased in the U.S. are made in China; 76.2% are made in America. For durable goods -- things like cars and furniture -- 12% are made in China; 66.6% are made in America.
FYI, this site does a nice job of explaining how the "made in the USA" process works.
Healthcare for example, Does this include medicines? Surely one of the most widely consumed treatments are antibiotics (for both humans and animals)
Yikes, that's a comprehensive list from the FTC. Health care ... hmm. You open a lot of loopholes with your points. Health care I would assume is predominately insurance, but does health care insurance fall into the "insurance" category or the "health care" category? If it falls into the former, what is health care spending? Great question, I think you're right that it's got to be prescription medicine in large part, which of course would bring those numbers under fire. It could also, however, be services rendered beyond what is insured (an extremely common medical expense for Americans) -- and those services are almost certainly American. I don't know enough about the subject to weigh one over the other.
So that leaves approx 30% for discretionary spending. Also, I would like to see what constitutes those categories. You would think that each one is cut and dry but people tend to get pretty creative when they're trying to make a point. I guess my point is that the authors point of "American Made goods", doesn't mean much aside from assembled in the US. My family provides parts for the automotive industry that can be labeled as US parts but they can source goods from elsewhere to go in to those parts. If you were to follow the raw materials of everything stamped made in the USA, my guess (and it's just a guess) is that many of the items wouldn't pass the BS test.