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Message |
    
Bill Nelson
Unity Member
Post Number:
2943
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2008 - 10:12 am: |   |
Here's an E-Mail I got today.
What do you think?
"Are we Americans as dumb as we appear --- or --- is it that we just do not think?
While the Chinese, knowingly and intentionally, export inferior and even toxic products and dangerous toys and goods to be sold in American markets, the media wrings its hands and criticizes the Bush Administration for perceived errors.
Yet 70% of Americans believe that the trading privileges afforded to the Chinese should be suspended.
Well, duh…why do you need the government to suspend trading privileges?
SIMPLY DO IT YOURSELF, AMERICA !!
(What a concept! Being responsible for our own lives!!!)
Just look on the bottom of every product you buy, and if it says 'Made in China ' or 'PRC' (and that now includes Hong Kong ), simply choose another product, or none at all. You will be amazed at how dependent you are on Chinese products, and you will be equally amazed at what you can do without. Who needs plastic eggs to celebrate Easter?
If you must have eggs, use real ones and benefit some American farmer. Easter is just an example, the point is.. do not wait for the government to act.
Just go ahead and assume control on your own.
THINK ABOUT THIS
If 200 million Americans refuse to buy just $20 each of Chinese goods, that's a billion dollar trade imbalance resolved in our favor...fast!!
The downside? Some American businesses will feel a temporary pinch from having foreign stockpiles of inventory. Wahhhhhhhhhhh
The solution ?
Let's give them fair warning and send our own message. Most of the people who have been reading about this matter are planning on implementing this on June 4, and continue it until July 4.
That is only one month of trading losses, but it will hit the Chinese for 1/12th of the total, or 8%, of their American exports. Then they will at least have to ask themselves if the benefits of their arrogance and lawlessness were worth it.
Remember, June 4 to July 4.
EVEN BETTER. . . START NOW.
Show them we are Americans and NOBODY can take us for granted.
If we can't live without cheap Chinese goods for one month out of our lives, WE DESERVE WHAT WE GET!"
Some variation of this on purchasing gasoline would have the same effect.
Do we take our lives in our own hands, or do we just whine about Bush?
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Harry Simenon
Unity Member
Post Number:
1885
Registered: 10-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2008 - 12:18 pm: | |
What happened to that American capitalistic free market spirit Bill? |
Laurel Johnson
Unity Member
Post Number:
4519
Registered: 01-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2008 - 03:11 pm: | |
That's just the point, Harry. China is not giving as good as they get. A capitalistic free market does not work when one of the parties dumps shoddy or poisonous goods on the market.
Good idea Bill -- IF we can figure out exactly what the Chinese goods are. Some things say Made in China. But the medicines we take have no such warning. Then there are the things that say "distributed by" some US company but are actually made in other countries. I never knowingly buy food or goods grown or made outside the USA, IF they are clearly marked.
Laurel Johnson
http://laureljohnsonblogs.blogspot.com
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Bill Nelson
Unity Member
Post Number:
2944
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2008 - 04:35 pm: | |
A free market would be balanced (not necessarily dollar for dollar).
We, the American public, are being suckered because of political butt-kissing.
The story goes like...we have to help China create their middle class and create jobs over there so they can later buy our goods when they have the spendable income. Yeah, right.
It used to be Hecho en Mexico! That really worked out, didn't it?!
That's fine in theory, but we're being flooded by inferior crap in the meantime while our jobs are being outsourced at the same time.
Again, the hand of big government in play and not enough participation by the
people.Of course if apathy be thy name, you get what you deserve!
Read the first post again. It will work. |
Todd Hunter
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
3826
Registered: 02-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2008 - 07:42 pm: | |
Eventually, the Chinese and Indian economies will grow past America's, and then they'll be outsourcing work back here (or perhaps to other blossoming economies) because the labor rates will be more competitive.
Who was the world economic leader around 1860?
Mindsight Moderator
Aston's Website
Aston's Blog |
Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
3265
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2008 - 08:00 pm: | |
England was the world economic leader at the 1860 time frame, but the USA was getting ready to put up a big challenge to that status even way back then. It really all started with the USA about 1865, when we were deep into the Civil War, but on the world stage, as far as economic factors, we were challenging the Brits.
Claudia
MINDSIGHT MODERATOR
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Harry Simenon
Unity Member
Post Number:
1886
Registered: 10-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 23, 2008 - 10:39 am: | |
The US is in serious debt with China. The dollar sinks so that this debt sinks with it. The Chinese are stuck with stacks of paper that decline in worth. Essentially the Chinese are paying a part of US bills. That is why your government does not really mind the import of Chinese goods.
If you want to buy cheap stuff you will need to buy Chinese. If you want Western products you must be willing to pay more. But usually you get what you pay for. Chinese products are cheap as the Chinese can’t be bothered with quality, environment, or child labor.
Personally I avoid Chinese stuff. But I do go for the Japanese stuff as that is relatively cheap on the long term and often of a higher quality than Western products.
If I can choose between a European product and a Japanese of the same quality I will go for the European of-course.
But the costs of labor in China are rising rapidly. The bulk of production moved from Hong-Kong to Shanghai and from there into the mainland to find cheap labor.
Like Todd said: labor rates in China and India will be more competative.
I posted this link some time ago:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fi-chinainvest5-2008may05,0,2206623.story?page=1
And I do expect that the quality of Chinese products will rise as soon as Westerners are willing to pay for it. |
Bill Nelson
Unity Member
Post Number:
2945
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 23, 2008 - 06:20 pm: | |
According to USINFO.STATE.ORG
Study Documents Negative Impact of U.S. Trade Deficit with China
Job losses hit all states, high-tech industry, U.S.-China commission says
A new study has found that the United States' growing trade deficit with China has had an increasingly negative impact on the U.S. economy, causing job losses that reach into the most technologically advanced industries in the manufacturing sector and affect every state, according to a January 11 press release by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC).
Robert Scott, director of international programs at the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute (EPI), prepared the study, "U.S.-China Trade, 1989-2003," for the commission. EPI is a nonprofit, nongovernmental research organization that focuses on the economic conditions of lower and middle-income American workers.
"In the rapidly changing big and broad economic relationship with China, it is crucial to have a full, comprehensive understanding of the facts and scope of the relationship," USCC chairman C. Richard D'Amato said. "With such data, we can begin to assess the impacts China is having on our economic health and our national security."
Using a methodology that determines the number of jobs needed to produce exports and imports, the EPI study found that 1.5 million jobs were lost to lower-wage Chinese competition in the 14-year period between 1989 and 2003. During that time, the U.S. trade deficit with China rose twenty-fold, from $6.2 billion to $124 billion. It is expected to increase another 20 percent in 2004, to $150 billion.
The study noted that the pace of job loss has more than doubled since China entered the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, and that China's exports to the United States of sophisticated electronics and communications equipment requiring skilled labor are growing much more quickly than its exports of low-value, labor-intensive products.
"The assumptions we built our trade relationship with China on have proven to be a house of cards," Scott said. "Everyone knew we would lose jobs in labor-intensive industries like textiles and apparel, but we thought we could hold our own in the capital-intensive, high-tech arena. The numbers we're seeing now put the lie to that hope -- as China expands its share even in core industries such as autos and aerospace."
Scott's research found that the 1.5 million lost job opportunities over the course of 14 years were distributed throughout all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, with employment losses of roughly 1.5 to 2.5 percent in the hardest-hit states.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission was created in October 2000 to monitor, investigate, and submit to Congress an annual report on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the United States and the People's Republic of China, and to provide recommendations, where appropriate, to Congress for legislative and administrative action."
I repeat, want to have an impact. See first posting...do it!!! |
Laurel Johnson
Unity Member
Post Number:
4520
Registered: 01-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 24, 2008 - 02:39 pm: | |
I have already been doing what you recommended in post number one, Bill. And I'm still waiting for someone to tell me HOW to identify Chinese products that do not have "Made in China" on them. Just because they have an American distributor on them, does not mean they weren't made in China.
Laurel Johnson
http://laureljohnsonblogs.blogspot.com
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Bill Nelson
Unity Member
Post Number:
2947
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 24, 2008 - 10:05 pm: | |
If they are not identified, I have no idea.
I guess, just do the best we can, but at least be aware and not buy the products.
We will see results IF people join in. |
Fred Dungan
Unity Member
Post Number:
2065
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - 11:21 pm: | |
If a product says it was made in Hong Kong or Macao it was made in China.
High tech products such as computers and cellphones that say manufactured in Singapore or made in Malaysia on them are not Chinese and have a reputation for quality. Stainless steel kitchen utensils and bowls that are made in India are much better than those made in Korea. And your next hybrid vehicle will most likely come from Bangalore where the manufacturer pays close attention to fuel economy because gasoline is a luxury in emerging nations.
To answer Laurel's question: Read the instructions that come with the product. If the sentence stucture is atrocious and you cannot understand them, then the booklet was probably printed in China. Also, examine the packaging. Chinese cardboard falls apart. American cardboard is so strong and durable that they use it to build houses in Central America.
http://www.fdungan.com/draft.htm
http://www.fdungan.com/speedo.htm |
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