Actually, you are buying 'made in China' crap from CostCo, Home hardware, Romy etc. (all of which import far more 'made in China' stuff than Walnmart does) from American owned companies that operate in China. We don't send our scrap metal to China, Chinese steel mills come here and buy it, because we don't have enough steel mills left to use it all, thanks to unions who keep steel mills from upgrading and automating to keep competitive to the more modern still mills in China and everywhere else. Hey but don't worry, Bush up'ed the duty on Chinese and other imported steel to 'protect' what's left of our floundering steel industry just like you want, which results in more expensive steel for everything we build out of it, cars, appliances etc. which are built with imported steel anyways because our floundering steel mills can't supply the market, and still can't compete. But you don't mind paying more so union's can donate huge amounts of money to the democrats, and auto plants can suck billions more from your unborn grandchildren future paychecks...
I plead guilty to targeting wallmart. I have not crossed their threshold in several years, and I am not a cost co member, and I buy American when I can. I would have mentioned every other chain store in what is left of the USA, but I tend to keep my posts short. The idea sending my dollars to the baby killing Communists in China just to save a couple of bucks while hiding behind the excuse that I am hurting the unions is beyond even my conscience. Privately owned company’s that operate in China are required to sell stock to the communist party. The party gets a share of the profits that are generated, and are using that money to support their military goals. Every worker in China is a Union Member, but the party keeps the pay low and so they make more money to continue to build their military, and keep the party leaders rich. As for the scrap, “Sent” may be an inaccurate description, but in view of their aims at becoming a world power I believe I used it as hyperbole to point out how complicit we are with these goals.
You can lay a lot of that at the feet of Environmentalists, too. The most environmentally friendly steel mill ever built in the US was only used as a movie set before being dismantled and shipped to China. The regs had changed yet again as it was completed, and it never got into full scale production. It was sold to recoup losses.