John Stossel
Fox Business
3/10/2011
Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT, was so outraged that trinkets made at the Smithsonian are not manufactured in the United States that he wrote to the museum demanding it sell products made in the USA.
“That is pretty pathetic!” said the Senator. “I was not aware that the collapse of our manufacturing base had gone that far.”
He even stopped by Capitol gift shops to buy made-in-America products to take to a meeting with Smithsonian officials. Unfortunately for the clueless Senator, his choices demonstrated why we buy things from other countries, and why trade is good:
The Lincoln Memorial gift shop sells two hats – one made in America and one made in China – and the price difference is drastic. $19.95 for the former, only $10.95 for the latter.
Sadly, even ignorant Senators have clout. The Washington Times reports:
If the Smithsonian does not follow through on its pledge, the senator said he is prepared to introduce legislation that would make the taxpayer-supported museums sell more merchandise made in America.
The fearful bureaucrats at the Smithsonian quickly responded by saying they will move to sell more made-in-America trinkets. They didn’t say how much more they will cost.
How dumb. If trinkets are made in China, so what?
I like GMU economics professor Don Boudreaux’s response to this…
Read the rest at Fox Business.
