Posted on 08/21/2007 5:31:03 AM PDT by shortstop
I'm not saying Chinese products are crap.
I'm saying they are dangerous crap.
I'm saying that you can only have trade with people who have integrity, and people who poison kids and animals don't have integrity.
And, unless I'm misunderstanding all this, we had thousands of American pets killed by Chinese crap products. We've had almost 20 million American toys recalled because they were made by Chinese crap manufacturers.
We've had poison Chinese crap toothpaste – with a lethal anti-freeze ingredient included – sold to Americans and other people around the world. Just yesterday, consumer advocates in New Zealand warned that formaldehyde levels in crap clothes made in China was as much as 900 times the safe level. Over the weekend, it was reported that two New Zealand children were burned up when their flame-retardant Chinese crap pajamas burst into flame.
On Friday, the Bloomberg News Service said that Chinese counterfeiters had flooded some 700 American pharmacies with fake Johnson & Johnson diabetic test strips. These strips, essential to help diabetics regulate their blood sugar, were worthless paper. There is no estimate of how many Americans were endangered, harmed or killed by the counterfeits from a Chinese crap manufacturer.
It is an amazing string of coincidences. Time after time Chinese crap companies make adulterated products that dishonestly save them money and immorally endanger American lives. That's all just a run of bad luck, or it's evidence of just what they think of us and just how different our cultures are.
We value human life, they don't.
And it seems that the Chinese are intent on killing the goose that laid the golden egg – literally.
As our nation flushes its prosperity and independence down the toilet by abandoning manufacturing to slave-labor wages in China, the Chinese don't even have the good graces to give us quality products. They don't even have the humanity and decency to meet the terms of the contracts they sign and the safety standards they agree to.
And so we've gotten this string of recalls and warnings.
Americans will have to shell out more taxes to hire more inspectors and impose more regulations because the Chinese can't be trusted. In the name of neighborliness and political correctness we've got to pretend all is well with the Chinese and then search everything they send us with a fine-tooth comb in hopes of finding their latest attempt to defraud and deceive.
Well screw that.
This isn't a matter to be settled at the border, this is something to handle at the cash register.
In the words of the ancient Romans -- “caveat emptor.” That means, “Don't buy anything from China.”
And that's what Americans ought to do.
Individuals and families ought to put some value on their safety and their patriotism. “Country of origin” ought to start meaning something. Buy American when you can, from our friends when you must, from our enemies never.
And China is our enemy.
By any understanding of the word, the posture of the Chinese government and industrial establishment is antagonistic to the people, prosperity, government and industry of the United States. This long run of recalls is an insight into the Chinese world view and their fundamental disregard for our country and people. What might in smaller proportion be explained by sloppiness or incompetence can only be accounted for by willful disregard and deception. They're not idiots, they're crooks – crooks who are willing to endanger countless innocent people around the globe to put more filthy lucre in their pockets.
The Chinese government is, of course, seeing the world's recoil from its tainted products as some sort of trade-war stunt, or some racist revulsion to their national identity. They claim they are the victims in all this. They claim that other governments are trying to damage their profit streams.
Well, it wasn't some foreign government that put a poisonous chemical in rice flower in order to cheat the tests for protein content. It wasn't some foreign government that put poisonous anti-freeze in toothpaste in order to avoid paying for a wholesome and costlier ingredient. It wasn't some foreign government that systematically used poisonous lead paint on toys destined for millions of children across the world. It wasn't some foreign government that made counterfeit test strips and snuck them into the supply stream.
It was China.
And we can do something about that.
We can turn over the products we buy and find out where they're from. We can make the resolution to do all we can to avoid Chinese products.
Granted, Chinese hegemony of world commerce leaves their country as the only source for some useful products. In some situations, you are forced to buy the Chinese product or go without.
But there are still some situations in which non-Chinese products are available. Whenever possible, buy them. Whenever possible, avoid buying things made in China. Whenever possible, avoid putting money in the pocket of a country whose trade practices have been ruinous to your own homeland.
Buy American when you can, buy from our friends when you must, buy from our enemies never.
And right now, China is our enemy.
And so are its products.
Neither you nor your country can afford your continued support of made-in-China crap.
Was a boycott, the antithesis free trade.
Trading with Japan turned them into a...pro-American western country...
The Marshall plan was welfare for former Axis nations. People tend to be grateful to you when you rebuild thier country from scratch.
Trading with West Germany eventually helped make the western front against USSR strong...
Ditto.
Strangling the Weimar Republic...
The Wiemar Republic strangled itself in response to the French occupation of the Ruhr. There was no boycott of German goods.
How about the British slapping punitive restrictions on their colonies?
Facts not in evidence. I never suggested punitive sanctions, only a retreat from unrestricted free trade.
And speaking of red herrings....why does there have to be an example in history anyway?
Because I do not trust something as critical as international trade policy to experiment and whim. Our current China trade policy is an experiment that has cost us dearly. It is time to pull the plug.
bump
Exactly. So when we 'pull the plug' on China and boycott their goods, then what happens? Is that what you want?
“Noh Bai Dung!!”
You had me at “Hello”.
A worm at the bottom of a bottle of Coke is a dead giveaway...
A worm at the bottom of a bottle of Coke is a dead giveaway...
I am one of those foolish people, although the idea has already been countered in this thread. With the opening of trade and the economic progress China has made, tens of million (if not hundreds of millions) are living significantly better lives there. China's controlling Communist Party (CCP) calls it "Chinese Socialism", but that isn't fooling anyone with half a brain in China. They know it is Capitalism that has changed the face of the nation, where their grandparents had to live hand-to-mouth, and where they now can afford to travel abroad to study at the best universities in the world. There is no going back for the CCP.
For the CCP members, the only thing that matters is staying in positions of privilege. Few, if any, give a rat's ass about Communism itself. With daily minor riots throughout China, they know that they have to keep the major eastern population centers happy, and that is by keeping the new Golden Goose going. However, new-found wealth will only keep the current system afloat for so long. Sooner or later, the progress will top out, and the people will grow restless if they do not start expanding social freedoms as well. The day WILL come. Tiannenmen Square has not been forgotten by either side. The CCP knows all too well that they cannot resist an organized resistance with too many people. Just 5% of the population (60 million) would be more than enough to overpower their entire military (2 million). Once the economic reforms have stabilized, the citizenry will expect the social reforms to begin, as well. I have heard this from more than a few Chinese nationals, both here and in China. They accept the slow pace for now, because the economic reforms keep so many people happy, and because the brutality and stupidity of the Cultural Revolution made all Chinese feel a bit skittish about fast-paced national changes. However, the opening of the first (economic reform) door is almost certain to lead to the opening of the next (social reform) door. The CCP is simply not interested in Communism or in taking on a significant percentage of the population. They only want to stay in positions of power. If cedeing more social reforms will keep them on top for another 3 decades, they will happily bleed those freedoms, slowly but surely, to keep themselves in power.
China's real challenges in trying to surpass America's greatness doesn't even lie within the CCP or within America. It lies within their poor quality control, the exceedingly well-entrenched corruption at the local political levels, and in their fatalism borne of generations of upheaval and instability. If they can unify behind a charismatic leader or group who promotes workmanship and ethics (and Harmony and Unity are HUGE Chinese ideals, rather like Mom, the automobile, and happy childhoods in America), then they just might have a chance to knock us off as King of the Mountain in a few decades.
I'm still learning, but I think it's, "bu mai Zhongguo polan!"
.
.
and "polan" is "poor quality goods", not "dung". I learned most of the dirty words first, but I won't post them here. =^)
Dum an yu!!
Buy American made cooking products.
http://shopping.msn.com/results/shp/?bCatId=5655,av=2-4554777
http://www.radakitchenstore.com
American made coffee makers
http://www.usstuff.com/cofmkrdr.htm
American made kitchenware.
http://www.radakitchenstore.com/default.asp
Yea, I purchase my Coke from the local Sam’s Club. It costs almost twice as much as the non-sugar (corn syrup).
It makes a good mixer for Rum and or whisky!
I know. I raise organically grown garlic just south of Green Bay Wisconsin. I just put up about 3000 heads for this year. I sell it to restaurants for $8.00/lb
I raise organic garlic here in northern wisconsin. Just harvested three thousand heads.
Lead paint sticks better and lasts longer.
Don't eat paint. Teach kids not to eat paint.
You eat much paint lately?
And beware of those supporting the Chinese Communist.
We are surrounded by traitors that seek profit and low wage labor regardless of consequences.
Do you sell it? Surely you can’t eat that much garlic! :)
So you think we are a hostage to our "free trade" policy because if we quit, it starts a hot war? What a wonderful endorsement of the policy!
I say scrap it now, then, while we can still win.
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