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College textbooks have risen in price by 812 percent since 1978, far outpacing even the 559 percent increase in tuition and fees over the same period. The average student at a four-year college pays $655 per year for textbooks and supplies.

In equipping its Washington headquarters with solely U.S.-made products, the Alliance for American Manufacturing found that the cheapest domestically manufactured microwave retails for $550. That’s 10 times the price of Walmart’s least expensive offering from Asia, which goes for $55.