Sure, Boycott China, If You Want to Walk Around Naked

North Star Writers Group ^ | April 15, 2008 | Lucia de Vernai

[Slapshot68]

I really think there’s a market for a new chain of stores called, “Made in America” which obviously would sell all American made products.

[theDentist]

The author forgets that markets fill vaccuums. If China were to stopp sending their goods to the US, someone else would fill those orders... and rather swiftly. Then China would have all these goods and have lost their biggest trading partner. And who knows, maybe some American manufacturer may start opening factories again????

[bert]

The size of the market is so very small that it didn’t survive.

America has determined that inexpensive clothing manufactured by thirdworld seamstresses is preferable to that from high priced Ladies Garment Workers.

The market has spoken and declared you to be wrong.

[TLI]

Whew! Yea, that was tough...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=products+made+in+america

[Slapshot68]

Oh I didn’t know it was tried already. lol

[1rudeboy]

I boycott Chinese products and I don’t have to walk around naked. It’s actually interesting to look at clothing labels . . . the last sweater I bought was made in the Mariana Islands, so technically one could say I even bought U.S.

[AnAmericanMother]

I'm suspicious of an article that gets its leading premise dead wrong.

Hanes and FOTL are made in Honduras and El Salvador, respectively. Clothing at the discounters is primarily made in Indonesia, Egypt, and Pakistan. WalMart does carry some Chinese stuff, but it's shoddy junk. I buy my clothes at Target and get better quality for a (slightly) higher price. It's still cheaper than I can make anything but a detail-constructed business or party dress from scratch.

[Wolfie]

That would be a great scenario. Until China starts dumping their T-Bills.

Fighing Communism used to be a priority, until Corporate America found a way to make a buck on it. Now we’re in a little too deep to really take on the ChiComs.

[1rudeboy]

I got the same feeling. I read recently that fortune cookies are only made in the United States, and the rest of the world (including China and Japan) don’t really even know what they are.

[Nextrush]

I think the author exaggerates China’s clothing production.

Wal-Mart has clothing made in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Egypt among places other than China.

Boycott China. Full Speed Ahead.

P.S. The label on my underpants says “Dominican Republic.”

[AnAmericanMother]

The “Life” house brand from WalMart is made in the Dominican.

[TomGuy]

I really think there’s a market for a new chain of stores called, “Made in America” which obviously would sell all American made products.

The trouble with that is that nearly 2 decades of NAFTA have sent most manufacturing overseas.

There isn't enough manufacturing onshore to stock a chain with enough products or variety.

I saw a report just a few days ago that said most of the world supply of socks are produced in one factory in China.

Look at the labels.

Last year, I purchased 8 items. When I got home, I looked at the 'manufactured by' out of curiosity. Only 2 were 'made in America'. The other 6 were from China (3), Indonesia (1), Equador (1), Mexico (1).

China and these other nations can produce things cheaper, partly because they are not bound or ignore the global climate/green-type whines, etc. The US has legislated the death of manufacturing through mandatory regulations -- some good; many, too costly to meet.

I remember 20 years ago hearing that it was cheaper to send raw materials to Japan, have steel refined, and have it shipped back to the US than it was to have it refined within the US.

[AnAmericanMother]

Oh, yeah, fortune cookies are like chop suey - a purely domestic production.

Most Americans would not eat the food they actually serve in China. My in-laws took a long tour of rural China about 10 years ago -- they learned the hard way to stash granola bars and biscuits from the hotel in their pockets. They said the food was unrecognizable (and inedible).

[Red Badger]

Remember when “Made in the USA” was Wal-Mart’s theme?.............

[MoreGovLess]

Good analysis

[Wolfie]

Sure do, when Sam Walton was alive. Once the heirs (who apparently don’t know what its like to work to make a buck) got a hold of it, it went straight the ChiComs.

[AppyPappy]

Lucia never heard of thrift stores

[captjanaway]

Glad to see Bose was on the list - still the best stereo, in my opinion!

And Corelle? How many of us had that ugly set of white Corelle dishes with the green flowers as trim? I haven’t bought Corelle in years, but I had one of those ugly sets in the early 80s in my first apartment and you couldn’t kill the stuff no matter how hard you tried!

[1rudeboy]

There isn't enough manufacturing onshore to stock a chain with enough products or variety.

Well, that's a good excuse to stop shopping for American products. /sarc