Ralph Lauren is an Asshat!

This handsome fellow is Ralph Lipschitz, we all know him as Ralph Lauren. Ralph started his career in fashion as a tie salesman. He has worked his ass off. He is a true American success story.

Up from nothing (his old man was an immigrant Jew from Belarus who made his living as a house painter) by his bootstraps, as the old story goes. The US of A welcomed Ralph's old man and mother gave them a life with hope. Ralph grew up and eventually had great success selling "Iconic American Style". Lauren was commissioned to design and manufacture the clothing for our Olympic Team. You know where those iconic All American red, white and blue outfits are made? In China. You'd think RL could have found somebody in  the US to make the damned things! Shame on you, you asshat!

After reading the story about the Olympic uniforms, I surveyed my clothing for today. Aasic running shoes, a non US company. made in Malaysia. Champion underwear, a US company, made in Vietnam. (I'm glad 58,000 Americans died  so we could get a good deal on undies!) Hilfiger polo shirt, US company made in Thailand! Levi 501's, another American icon, made in Mexico. I'm guessing my socks are from some other 3rd world hellhole.

When I got to work, my cell phone rang, its a Blackberry phone, made in Canada! The call was from a US company, SiriusXM sattelite radio. My free year was up, I thought I had purchased an additional year on line, nope, I hadn't. SiriusXm called to tell me I owed them $106. The SiriusXM employee had an accent, I asked her where she was calling from and she said SiriusXM. No, I want to know where you are calling from in a physical sense, after some confusion she said the Phillipines. Okay then, can you give me a number to call in the US, she said okay and gave me another 866 number. I called it and ended up back in the Phillipines call center. After fencing with guy who answered the phone I asked for the supervisor. I told her my problem and how when I dialed the US call center I ended up back in the Phillipine center. She said if I kept calling I would eventually get somebody in the United States...great fucking answer! She told me if I was reluctant to give my American Express card number to somebody halfway around the world, she understood and suggested I pay on line. I asked her if payments on line were processed in the US, she said no, all service calls, information calls and billing were done in the Phillipines! Mel Karmazin is also an asshat.

I'm not too upset about products made in Mexico or Canada, they are neighboring countries and they buy a lot of US made goods. The Phillipines, Malaysia, China and Vietnam, not so much. When Walmart opened its first store in Beijing a Chinese woman complained that there were so few "foreign made" goods for sale.

I bought my Hilfiger polo at his company owned discount store in Pismo Beach. It was 50% off retail. I paid 25 bucks for it. Hey Tommy, you're certainly making a shit load of money selling the shirt for half off, make the damn shirt in the USA, sell it for 70 bucks retail and when you put it in your factory discount store I'll pay 35 for it and be glad some little kid in North Carolina, has a Mom with a job!