I listen to Morning Edition on NPR during my commute to work. This morning, they aired an interview that they had with a granite company owner in Barre, Vermont.
Barre toutes itself as the Granite Capital of the World. Have you ever been there? It is a very Italian community with many very skilled atisians. The Hope Cemetary, as are many of the other cemetarys in central Vermont, is a showplace of the scupltures that these talented folks create.
The interview wasn't about how gifted these people are. Instead, it is about how much of the talent and granite is now imported from China. The granite company owner said that what would cost her over $2000 to create is available, delivered from China, for LESS THAN HALF of what it costs her!
What will this do to the granite industry in the US? What about the scupltors who live here? What does this have to say about us, the consumers?
It made me think about how we in this country have raised the bar of living so high that we have driven ourselves right out of the market place; we are too high priced! The people in China are happy just to have a pot to, well, cook in! We on the other hand, not only need more, but WANT more!
Seperating our needs from our wants must become a priority. Lowering our standards might help to drive down our costs, and eventually turn things around for us.
Could this be what happens when a people become materialistic?
What are you thoughts? How do you feel about our standard of living? Do you feel that by having such high standards that we have ruined it for ourselves? Do you think that we have too many luxuries that have turned us into spoiled children?
Here is a link to the NPR podcast "U.S. Increaasingly Turning Overseas for Granite"
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