Yet Another Reason Not To Buy 'Made In China'

http://www.economyincrisis.org/articles/show/3030 (for Video)

According to The New York Times, the government in Beijing is asking that local municipalities try to “Buy Chinese” whenever possible in order to prop up domestic commerce. This comes just days after China’s President, Hu Jintao, met leaders from Russia, Brazil, and India to denounce protectionism. It also comes on the heels of several months of animosity from the Chinese about proposed “Buy American” clauses in the United States.


China has been one of the loudest voices against the perceived evils of protectionism, yet this episode once again illustrates that China is indeed one of the most fiercely protected economies in the world. China clamors for “free trade” when it serves its interests, but the Chinese government easily switches over toward economic nationalism when it suits the country.


Thus far China has introduced a domestic stimulus plan valued at $586 billion – far smaller than the cumulative stimuli and bailouts in the United States. Obviously it would make sense, and have the most stimulating effect, to make sure that money stays in the domestic market. With major building projects to organize and equip “Buy Chinese” will force out foreign competition and favor newly created domestic heavy industries.


Foreign suppliers have been locked out of much of China’s domestic economy for decades. The only time a foreign company is allowed entrance is when it promises to build factories there and employ Chinese workers. It must share its profits and technology in order to enter the coveted labor market.

I blame the greedy bastards that import the shit under American labels. You cannot buy a pair of American shoes anymore, not even from so-called American shoe companies like Red-Wing and Wolverine.

And the kicker is, these companies haven't lowered the price of their products to reflect lower labor costs, they have only increased their profit margins.

Why the hell dosen't America charge the same import tax that other nations charge for American goods?

You're still a valuable human being, even if you are in favor of import tariffs. As I am also.


;)

Miniature figures play a part in my gaming experience. Now part of the hobby has been to purchase unpainted pewter miniatures (lead was used back in the day when I first began this hobby). You purchase the miniatures, prime them, the paint them. MAny people considered this a hassle and never painted the miniatures. Other people hone their painting skills until they produce true masterpieces.

Back in 2003, Wizards fo the Coast inttroduced a set of pre-painted plastic miniatures. The paint jobs were never good, but lots of people went with these miniatures due to the ease. To prop up sales, they made the game a collectibale miniature game, which meant you never knew what miniatures you'd get. Sales skyrocketed and profits were enormous. Some miniatures went for as much as $100 on the after market due to rarity.

The key to success here, though, was the fact that production of these miniatures was outsourced to China where cheap labor produced the paintjobs.

Many other companies followed suit.

I purchased two packs back in 2003. I haven;t purchased a single pack since when I discovered the "MAde in China" text on the box.

Needless to say, my miniatures are cast in the U.S. or Europe and I paint them.

It tries to protect its border from illegal immigrants coming in from the south while at the same time asking us to allow for and decriminalize those coming into our country from Mexico...

http://jasongrote.blogspot.com/2009/01/wall-of-violence-on-mexicos-southern.html

The bottom line is that we need a global labor union movement to make it so that the "bottom" doesn't exist that the multinationals want to race to, so that at some point they all have to be paying fair wages to everyone on the planet. That way, hopefully at some point, we can see everyone's lot pick up, and have less need for migrant workers everywhere.

People will be happier living close to their families, and the earth will be happier with less climate change with us trying to move people and products around the world a lot less then.

Yes, we might see some inflation of typically lower cost items like food, etc. with higher wages we get, but the real big expenses we have should level off (housing costs, health care costs, etc.) at some point when we get more power, and the lobbyists have less money or less ability to throw money at government officials to buy them off.

they can often be as cheap (but not cheap in quality) as the imported stuff from china that sells at your world market-type stores - plus they have real value that the slave-produced generic-quality "art" will never have

As a friend of mine noted the other day, Christmas is only six months away. ;-)

If you want to help your local economy, support your local artists and craftspeople. I can't imagine that many of us DUers live so isolated from civilization that we won't have access to at least one local craft show between now and the December holiday season. For the most part, you'll be bypassing all the corporate middlemen and directly supporting people in your community.

Tansy Gold, who really needs to devote herself to more holiday-season crafts production. . . . .

But as someone who sold American crafts for 20 years, once you've acquired the taste you can never go back. And people walking into your home will always be amazed and charmed.

here's one about china and honey, buy local from the bee keeper if you can

http://andrewschneiderinvestigates.com/2009/05/11/honey-laundering-thrives-despite-fed-crackdown-on-two-operations-smuggling-tainted-chinese-honey-into-the-u-s-what%E2%80%99s-on-grocery-shelves/