Buffalo, New York native Tim Ingle and entrepreneur Don Buckner of Made in America.org teamed up with Red Gold to create an “All-American” premium custom tomato ketchup that supports www.MadeinAmerica.org.
“Never before has it been so important to help consumers understand why they should become Patriotic Spenders. When we buy American-Made products, we have to understand that some of those dollars will return to us. Buying American made products benefits us all and only makes this country stronger. Many only consider price or brand name when making a purchase. Made in America.org will educate consumers on why they must also consider the country of origin and purchase America made products whenever possible”, says Don Buckner, CEO and founder of the Made in America movement.
“Nickel City Ketchup is a custom label tomato ketchup manufactured by Red Gold, who is proudly American Owned, Grown and Made,” says Tim Ingle.
Tim created the Nickel City Brand to represent the pride and passion of the hardworking blue-collar Americans who were responsible for the flourishing of industrial manufacturing along the Great Lakes waterways and making American manufacturing and ingenuity the envy of the world.
This region in the late 1800s had an abundance of paved roads, water canals, and railroads. Transportation infrastructure than developed west to source the iron ore found in northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Upper Michigan with the coal mined from the Appalachian Mountains, the Steel Belt was born, which soon developed into the Factory Belt with its great American manufacturing cities of Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Toledo, Cleveland, Rochester, St. Louis and Pittsburgh among others. The linking of the former Northwest Territory with the once-rapidly industrializing East Coast was affected through several large-scale infrastructural projects, most notably the Erie Canal in 1825, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1830, the Allegheny Portage Railroad in 1834, and the consolidation of the New York Central after the American Civil War.
The Great Lakes region for decades served as a magnet for immigrants, industry, innovation, architecture and arts, and even a melting pot for culinary cuisine. Coal, iron ore, and other raw materials were shipped in from surrounding regions, which emerged as major ports on the Great Lakes and served as transportation hubs for the region with proximity to railroad lines. Coming in the other direction where millions of European immigrants, who populated the cities along the Great Lakes shores with then-unprecedented speed. Chicago, famously, was a rural trading post in the 1840s but grew to be as big as Paris was by 1893.
In 1901, Buffalo, NY, then the 8th largest city in America was chosen to host the Pan American Exposition; and Thomas Edison displayed the region as the first “city of lights” powered by electricity from nearby Niagara Falls.
In the 20th century, local economies in these cities and states specialized in large-scale manufacturing of finished medium to heavy industrial and consumer products, as well as the transportation and processing of the raw materials required for heavy industry. The area was referred to as the Manufacturing Belt, Factory Belt, or Steel Belt as distinct from the agricultural Midwestern states forming the so-called Corn Belt and Great Plains states that are often called the “breadbasket of America”. This entire region developed skilled trades and generations vocational workers that fueled a strong economy and a dominance of the USA in global trade. It was roughly sixty years ago that the USA began investing its manufacturing outside of the country to take advantage of cheap labor and fewer government regulations.
Since the 1960s, the expansion of worldwide free trade agreements has been less favorable to U.S. workers. Imported goods such as steel cost much less to produce in Third World countries with cheap foreign labor with disregard for fair labor laws or environmental protection or other social issues. Beginning with the recession of 1970–71, a new pattern of deindustrializing economy emerged. Competitive devaluation combined with each successive downturn saw traditional U.S. manufacturing workers experiencing lay-offs. In general, in the Factory Belt employment in the manufacturing sector declined by 32.9 percent between 1969 and 1996.
Deteriorating U.S. net international investment position has caused concern among economists over the effects of outsourcing and high U.S. trade deficits over the long run.
Outsourcing of manufacturing jobs in tradeable goods has been an important issue in the region and America overall. One source has been globalization and the expansion of worldwide free trade agreements. Anti-globalization groups argue that trade with developing countries has resulted in stiff competition from countries such as China, which pegs its currency to the dollar and has much lower prevailing wages, forcing domestic wages to drift downward. Some economists are concerned that long-run effects of high trade deficits and outsourcing are a cause of economic problems in the U.S. with high external debt (amount owed to foreign lenders) and a serious deterioration in the United States net international investment position.
A gradual expansion of the U.S. trade deficit with China began in 1985. In the ensuing years, the U.S. developed a massive trade deficit with the East Asian nations of China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. As a result, the traditional manufacturing workers in the region have experienced economic upheaval. This effect has devastated government budgets across the U.S.
Problems associated with the Rust Belt persist even today, particularly around the eastern Great Lakes states, and many once-booming manufacturing metropolises dramatically slowed down. From 1970 to 2006, Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh lost about 45 percent of their population and median household incomes fell in Cleveland and Detroit by about 30 percent, in Buffalo by 20 percent and Pittsburgh by 10 percent.
Some economists contend that the U.S. is borrowing to fund consumption of imports while accumulating unsustainable amounts of debt. On June 26, 2009, the CEO of General Electric, called for the United States to increase its manufacturing base employment to 20 percent of the workforce, commenting that the U.S. has outsourced too much in some areas and can no longer rely on the financial sector and consumer spending to drive demand.
Since that time, General Electric has continued to deteriorate, as had the role of American Manufacturing in its role of the US economy. By 2019, over 85 percent of all pharmaceuticals now come from China, while a majority of other US technology and consumer staples are imported from China or other countries. Food companies such as Kraft/Heinz boast that they have food manufacturing in over 39 countries outside of the USA, while it becomes more difficult to source USA made apparel and numerous other consumer products. The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic shed light on the fact that critical PPE equipment is also predominately manufactured in China.
It has become ever apparent to all Americans regardless of politics, that American-Made is good for our economy, communities, and future generations.
Today, Nickel City stands for made in the USA, as America sees a rebirth in American Manufacturing and ensuring that our essential items are produced right here in the USA as a matter of national security, safety, and sustainability. Nickel City Ketchup allows consumers to have the power of change in their pockets. By purchasing Nickel City Ketchup, a portion of proceeds will go toward funding Made in America.org and accelerating the movement to bring jobs back to America in all areas of manufacturing. Nickel City Ketchup and Made in America believe in the American dream, the American worker and support vocational trades and increasing America’s role once again in manufacturing. This is the time to make sure to take the time to really know where your products come from and the ripple effect to jobs, community, schools, and small businesses. Kraft/Heinz is largely Brazilian-owned and invests in manufacturing plants all over the world. Del Monte is Philippine owned, and several other National brands are co-manufactured in Canada, Mexico or other countries.
Nickel City Ketchup and Red Gold is 100 percent domestically sourced and is American-Owned, Grown, and Made. Nickel City Ketchup is proud to help in raising awareness of the Made in America movement and affiliated with Made in America.org, the Made in America store, and in supporting All-American values.
Please consider supporting Nickel City Ketchup and be a part of the movement.
Nickel City Ketchup can already be found online at the Made in America stores, Top’s Friendly Markets in WNY, Latina Boulevard Foods, US Foods Buffalo, and other select retailers or Foodservice distributors and the finest restaurants.
www.madeinAmerica.org
https://madeinamericastore.com/nickel-city-tomato-ketchup-20-oz/
https://www.instagram.com/nickelcityketchup/
Unfortunately, we also learned that we are far too dependent on a global economy and the whims of national and international leaders. Not only did “supply chain disruption” become a household word in the last year, but we also discovered that critical supplies like food and medicines come from overseas and can be held-up in California ports.
We also learned just how important it is to buy American-made products during this period. Of course, this means more quality jobs that support our families and loved ones and a more robust U.S. economy. We learned that with supply chain disruptions and the fact that many critical supplies – including food and essential pharmaceutical products are made overseas – that keeping the manufacturing of products close and local can also mean the difference between life and death. In short, we saw that “Made in America” has never been more important.
