China, the REAL threat.

[WadePatton]

Here's some reading that might make more sense to you than my blabbing about it.



http://www.boycottmadeinchina.org/en/why_boycott/qa/



I just bought a pair of boots online. One site said they were made in Italy. HOORAH, but then they were PRICED like they were made in Italy. Anyhoo, the BBGT brought them two days ago and I uncrated them and found "MADE IN CHINA" on the tag. I may send them back.



edit--while I was in the "anti" mood I did another search--paydirt!

http://www.metacrawler.com/info.metac/search/web/boycott%2Bwalmart

 

[illflem]

How's this for a backfire?

Read that a lot of US corporations are using the extra money from their Bush tax cuts to relocate their plants to China!



They say that 58¢ of each dollar from a US owned factory in China does come back to the US in the form of increased corporate profits from the labor savings.

Sure doesn't help a US factory worker though does it?

Perhaps the real answer is to turn those corporate profits into better, easier, cheaper education in this country so people don't have to work in unskilled factory jobs but rather high tech jobs that we are the world leader in. Increasing prosperity in China creates money for a market that we can provide.

Think it's too late for a China boycott and would have little effect anyway. At this point there are many items now that are only available from China.



I bought a pair of made in USA Danner boots online a while back, when they came- made in China. When I complained to Danner they said they had to move some manufacturing to China in order to compete. I sent them back not because they were made in China but because they were cheap.

 

[QRTRHRS]

Re: How's this for a backfire?

Originally posted by illflem

Perhaps the real answer is to turn those corporate profits into better, easier, cheaper education in this country so people don't have to work in unskilled factory jobs but rather high tech jobs that we are the world leader in.

We as a nation are in danger of loosing that world leadership in high tech. Among the reasons are jobs exported to China and grad schools students being other than American.

 

[illflem]

I imagine the Chinese government foots the bill for their top students to get a US tech education.

It happens in this country too in the form of scholarships but perhaps not enough. Maybe it should be paid for by the corporations that are reaping the advantage of cheap Chinese labor. Share a little of that profit to keep America going.

It can be hard for a person to get a higher education and support themselves at the same time.

I don't have the answers but something has to be done. Gripeing about it doesn't solve anything.

 

[Dieselnut59]

At the local Western Wear store where I buy my (made in USA) Wrangler jeans, I went to buy a pair of work boots and the lady came to ask "May I help you?" I said I am looking for your MADE IN USA work boots. She walked me past two aisles of the "import" boots and shoes and said "all of the made in USA ones are on these aisles". I was happy to see there was a huge selection of good boots still made in this country. I bought a pair of Justin steel toe workboots and have two pair of the Justin Lacers and one pair of Justin Ropers (pull-on) boots, all MADE IN USA. Justin, Wolverine, and the other manufacturers all have an "import" line also, but thankfully they still offer the MADE IN USA for folks like me who actually CARE about quality and keeping our manufacturing in our own country. By the way, this young lady said I was not the only one who had specificly asked for MADE IN USA and she was knowledgeable about the products they sell there, so apparently other people do care. Made in USA products are available, but unfortunately, the typical thrifty cheapie convenience-loving woman shopper does not care about value, just how 'cheap' she can get it for and how convenient it is for her to get in her little minivan and run to buy it. Hence the success of walfart through their selling of cheap chinese crap. BUY AMERICAN when possible and when it is not possible, DON'T buy CHINESE!!

 

[Rob Thomas]

Originally posted by Dieselnut59

BUY AMERICAN when possible and when it is not possible, DON'T buy CHINESE!!

Thats the best phrase I've heard in a while! (I follow it too, always have)





Rob

 

[WadePatton]

More

Human Rights issues are found in most of the developing nations that we import from, BUT China represents a Communist Military Threat in my mind.



No matter how many cents come back to the US stockholders, plenty of that money is going to China's military. Buying goods from China is the same thing as handing ammunition/technology to the Red Army.



China threatens America:

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m1061/1_108/55127723/p1/article.jhtml

 

[Rman]

Re: Re: How's this for a backfire?

Originally posted by QRTRHRS

We as a nation are in danger of loosing that world leadership in high tech. Among the reasons are jobs exported to China and grad schools students being other than American.

I can vouch for that one. I'm just starting grad school in mathematics (hopefully next spring i fi get accepted) and i checked the students out. I could only pronounce one persons name... the computer science department was even worse! The new hotspot for tech jobs is India from what i've been told. They have TONS of graduate school grads, and they only gotta pay them about 20 bucks an hour, which in India is quite a bit of money to live well on, so its a win win for corporations. People luve comfortably and the pay is cheap. Doom and gloom it's a revolving door.





p. s. WALMART SUCKS (thought i'd just interject that)

 

[Rman]

Originally posted by Dieselnut59

At the local Western Wear store where I buy my (made in USA) Wrangler jeans, I went to buy a pair of work boots and the lady came to ask "May I help you?" I said I am looking for your MADE IN USA work boots. She walked me past two aisles of the "import" boots and shoes and said "all of the made in USA ones are on these aisles". I was happy to see there was a huge selection of good boots still made in this country. I bought a pair of Justin steel toe workboots and have two pair of the Justin Lacers and one pair of Justin Ropers (pull-on) boots, all MADE IN USA. Justin, Wolverine, and the other manufacturers all have an "import" line also, but thankfully they still offer the MADE IN USA for folks like me who actually CARE about quality and keeping our manufacturing in our own country. By the way, this young lady said I was not the only one who had specificly asked for MADE IN USA and she was knowledgeable about the products they sell there, so apparently other people do care. Made in USA products are available, but unfortunately, the typical thrifty cheapie convenience-loving woman shopper does not care about value, just how 'cheap' she can get it for and how convenient it is for her to get in her little minivan and run to buy it. Hence the success of walfart through their selling of cheap chinese crap. BUY AMERICAN when possible and when it is not possible, DON'T buy CHINESE!!

Oh it's not just women my friend... go check out the walmart thread, there's plenty of cheap men too.

 

[HEMI®Dart]

Is it true that China makes the best small arms assault weapons?

 

[merryman]

I try to avoid "made in China", stuff, but sometimes it hard to find anything else!!!



On using corporate profits to better educate our kids-----.



About 15 or 20 years ago, a "do gooder" group in one of the Kansas Cities (can't recall now which), sued everyone and every bit of governement that had anything to do with education and funding education in an inner city, poor school dist. claiming that the children were doing so poorly on achievement test because they were not funded as well as the schools for the kids from afluent neighborhood schools.



Well, they got befor a liberal-fuzzy thinking federal district judge who bought their claims.



The U S District Court assumed overall control of the school dist and required the school dist. , the county, the state and whom ever else was involved to provide top level funding for the school dist.

They had the best of everything,

they had the best teacher/student ratio

they had computers, etc, etc,

they had it all, and this went on for 13 years, K through 12.



At the outset they tested the graduating 12 graders and the tested other grades.

They were going to demonstrate that if we just funded the schools at an optimum level, our kids would be well educated.



WELL, at the end of the 13 years when all the kids in the dist. had enjoyed this super funding level, they did their big test routine again.



Guess what?? They kids who had enjoyed the best of everthing educationally only scored a little POORER than their underfunded predicessors.



Interesting that all the hoopla that was prepared to spread the word throughout the nation about the wonderfull results, was droped like the proverbial hot potato; the media ignored the story.



Vaughn

 

[WadePatton]

What?! You mean money doesn't solve EVERYTHING?



Thanks for the info. I'll be sure to share it with my teacher/professor friends--yes, a bunch of liberals.



As for China made only--that's where we're headed.



Cheap flip-flops and such should be made in China, I unnerstand that. But when I drop a couple of bills for fancy leather/kevlar/water-proof/vibram-soled rock stompers--I'd like to think that I could find them otherwise. You can, but it ain't easy, and will cost a few bucks more.



I did some math on the Jim Hightower article figures for actual wage, housing and food costs. If they work 15-hour days at 13 cents per hour, it takes 3. 8 work days to cover rent and food. Good thing they have 3. 2 more work days in a week.