Why America relies on foreign oil/ products?

What are peoples opinions on why we rely so much on foreign oil. And why we use so many foreign products? Almost everything I look at is made somewhere in East Asian countries, I even had a scarf (a SCARF) that was made in China. Is there a reason for this? What are your thoughts on America making a step to produce our own products? Do you think this is in tie with why our economy is dropping? And what are your thoughts on using oil and creating alternative fuels?Why America relies on foreign oil/ products?
We rely on foreign oil to meet the needs of our economy. People don't want to park their cars and/or not go places where buses don't run.





The shifting of manufacturing from America to other countries with cheaper labor has been going on for a long time...about 10 years now.


The largest driver of this shift is Wal-Mart and their drive to cut costs by intimidating manufacturers with loss of such a large portion of their sales if they don't cut prices. Wal Marts trade with China accounts for about 1/5 of that countries exports. There is a political viewpoint that this ';globalization'; of manufacturing will create markets for our own goods and services and lift the economy of our own country.


I myself don't think so.





These two problems may wind up correcting each other. As the cost of oil continues to climb, the cost of shipping goods may overcome the savings of cheaper labor and jobs may wind up returned, particularly for items in which the raw material is shipped from the US and then shipped back as finished products.