News, Starbucks Order Gives Ohio Mug Maker A Jolt. (Cleveland: to buy, wages)

[John1960]

For decades, when you slid into a booth at a diner or a local coffee shop, the waitress probably arrived with a standard-issue, off-white mug. More than likely that mug came from the Ohio River town of East Liverpool, which calls itself "The Pottery Capital of the Nation."

A lot of that city's pottery business is long gone. Now, one of the few remaining pottery factories in the battered town is pinning its survival on a major corporation.

Starbucks Order Gives Ohio Mug Maker A Jolt : NPR

[CortlandGirl79]

I love this story, saw it yesterday.

[Cleveland_Collector]

It is inexcusable that the state of manufacturing in the US has come to this. We hear all the time about who/what is patriotic. I think it's high time that people, manufacturers, and suppliers who make it a point source from their own country when at all possible be put at the very top of that list.

[Natural510]

Originally Posted by Cleveland_Collector

It is inexcusable that the state of manufacturing in the US has come to this. We hear all the time about who/what is patriotic. I think it's high time that people, manufacturers, and suppliers who make it a point source from their own country when at all possible be put at the very top of that list.

It's a negative cycle; wages are low, necessitating the average working person to buy cheaper foreign-made products, which causes less demand for domestically-produced products, which in turn creates fewer jobs and less spending capital for the average citizen who could otherwise keep the domestic economy going.

[Cleveland_Collector]

Yes, I believe it is what is commonly referred to as the race to the bottom. The only thing that is never lowered, however, is the profit margin.