Let's hope the famed astronaut ice cream sold at the Smithsonian isn't made in China too!

Not surprisingly, it was learned by an Associated Press reporter this week that most of the cheap trinkets on the shelves of the gift shop of the Smithsonian are made in China…Well, duh, there is a reason why that George Washington bobblehead breaks the minute his head shakes twice.

To help alleviate the problem Rep. Nick J. Rahall II, D-W.Va.  has introduced a bill that would require all items sold in any of the Smithsonian’s 30 stores, located in 19 museums and galleries and its zoo, to be made in the United States. If the Smithsonian were to violate the terms of the legislation, it would lose its federal funding.

According to the Associated Press article, a Smithsonian spokeswoman said the average gift shop visitor buys two items and spends $20. If these items were to be made in America the cost would be about twice as much, making them too costly for most visitors and hurting the museum’s profit margins. Last year, the museum gift shop at the Smithsonian made an astounding $9 Million.

We believe that Representative Rahall is well intentioned but is barking up the wrong tree. We do not want to produce cheap trinkets and tchochkes in America. What we need to do is create the high paying jobs of tomorrow that will keep the country thriving, not jobs producing goods that belong in an episode of NBC’s Outsourced, that pay minimum wage. Keep the plastic Teddy Roosevelt keychain manufacturing in China, and lets create some companies that TR would be truly proud of here at home.