This claim raises serious questions

 I love cities, towns and villages. I truly love investigating what makes an urban area tick, so to speak. I could be wrong but I sincerely believe many of our communities in North America "ticked" better 70 years ago.

In my rather brief lifetime, I have watched entire communities die as the one industry that made the place work packed up its bags and left. All too often it was the call of offshore sirens that were responsible.

The story is always the same: making the widget is cheaper done offshore. The widget factory is closed, production moves offshore and society benefits from the availability of a less expensive products. Well, not every one benefits. The employees, especially the older one, find themselves unemployed, unable to land another job paying a comparable wage. The community suffers from the loss of the business paid by the departed company and other associated losses. The community may even be saddled with the task of finding a new use for the now empty building or for the land it sits upon.

But, it was inevitable, right? This is where my puzzlement comes in.

Some Kamik boots, made in North America with some offshore materials, cost in the neighbourhood of $80. Some Sorel boots made offshore in Vietman also cost in the neighbourhood of $80.

That's right. No difference. If there is a savings it is not being passed on to the customer. And, these boots are just one example of something that I have been noticing for years. The local factory closes, the buy-straight-from-the-factory discount outlet closes, the workers are left to fend for themselves and the local suppliers may also close.

Yet, the price of the product doesn't go down a noticeable amount. In fact, some products go up and go up a lot, when the original factory is closed and production moved offshore. 

I've been known to complain about this, I'll bet you are not surprised. One reason, I've been told, is that it costs more to ship a shirt from China half way around the globe away than to ship it from Toronto, not even two hours distant.

My gut feeling, and it is just that, is that the savings are being hoarded by the company behind the product. If a hedge fund owns the company, my gut feeling is even stronger.

Oh, one last thought: when we last bought winter boots for our youngest granddaughter we noticed that the Kamik, made in North America boots, were about twenty dollars less than what appeared to be comparable boots from Sorel. Offshore production. Humbug!