February 9, 2018
Philadelphia -- The trade numbers for 2017 issued by the Commerce Department last week show a bad situation getting worse: Americans bought $796 billion more goods from other countries than we sold to them, an increase of $45 billion, or six percent, over the previous year. Nearly half of the increase in the trade in goods deficit, some $21 billion, was from the deficit with China, which increased from $354 billion in 2016 to $375 billion in 2017.
Those numbers translate into lost jobs, lower pay, family breakup, and drug abuse, says James A. Stuber, author of What if Things Were Made in America Again (www.themadeinamericabook.com). “These are not just numbers,” Stuber said. “The effects on individuals, families, and communities is extremely destructive. For example, we now have research showing statistically significant increases in opioid overdoses and other “deaths of despair” in the communities impacted by Chinese imports. Fortunately, consumers have the power to solve the problem, by buying products made in those communities, instead of China or Mexico.”
Hence the subtitle of Stuber’s book, How consumers can rebuild the middle class by buying things made in American communities. In support of that mission, Stuber has founded Made in America Again, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation dedicated to educating consumers on the problem of sending jobs overseas and how they can solve it. (www.madeinamericaagain.org).
About James Stuber
James A. Stuber is an attorney and entrepreneur who formerly served as legislative assistant to a member of the United States House of Representatives. He holds a law degree from Georgetown University and a bachelor’s and master’s degree in political science from the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University, respectively. Stuber lives in Berwyn, Pa., with his wife Susan and their four children. Building upon this book, he founded Made in America Again, a movement of consumers dedicated to rebuilding the American middle class by buying things made in American communities.
Contact: James Stuber (610) 608-5074; james.stuber@themadeinamericabook.com.