Chinese Junk ( Attention, Mao-Mart Customers! )

National Review ^ | May 28, 2009 | John Derbyshire

[WVKayaker]

If you can’t find it made in USA new, go to ebay and buy it made in USA 50 years ago, it’s still better than new from China...

...There are sites that will tell you where to find American products. - This message brought to you courtesy of AFL-CIO and ASFCME!

Did you know that WalMart has more "Made in USA" products than any other retailer in the United States. Fact!

Did you know that EVERY store in America sells stuff from China, or uses it! Also a fact. Look around you.

Hate to rain on your party. It ain't WalMart, nor China, that is the problem. I have bought German pumps that were crap. I have gotten sick from Mexican greens.

I, too, blame unions for their greed, more than anything! Combine that with the industrial help TO OUR ENEMIES of the Marshall Plan, and we shot ourselves in the foot.

[1010RD]

We seem to have become incredibly foolish, and lazy.

A century of government schooling will do that to a people, not to mention driving God out of the lives of children and replacing him with Utopianism.

Squandering history’s most incredible manufacturing base - for short term gain.

Again, this is a domestic problem that happens at the local and state level and is abetted at the national level. Manufacturing was a golden goose and the statists tapped it hard to fund their political ambitions. It cost us dearly, but I do not blame the owners for trying to make a living or a profit. Look at the Rustbelt. It was not inevitable, just because other countries with lower wage rates were opening up to trade. By law we allowed unions a dominant position and monopoly power. Add in a tax, regulatory and judicial regime that is anti-wealth and anti-producer and why would you take the risk of staying?

At first they moved west and south and many stayed, but eventually you break the back and get what we have today.

I won't pick a party, but I will pick a person who would roll us back to government's proper size and role in America.

I don't know your definition of America First, but as an American I want all my liberties back and I don't want to lose anymore. That to me is America First.

[raybbr]

I would rather buy cheap Chinese junk than expensive union made junk..

Outside of defense contractors, the auto industry, some printing and some various other manufacturers there is very little unionization left in manufacturing. It's down to about 12 percent now. Your screed is pointless.

[rhombus]

Reverend... you missed my point but thanks for the ping.

[bert]

Sounds like Koreans

Koreans are as bad when not within the great conglomerates that follow Japanese rules

[WVKayaker]

Outside of defense contractors, the auto industry, some printing and some various other manufacturers there is very little unionization left in manufacturing.

Outside of defense contractors, the auto industry, some printing and some various other manufacturers there is very little manufacturing left to unionize. Hence, AFSCME, SEUI, etal.

[raybbr]

Outside of defense contractors, the auto industry, some printing and some various other manufacturers there is very little manufacturing left to unionize. Hence, AFSCME, SEUI, etal.

I agree. That's why I don't understand why some FReepers still insist on blaming unions in manufacturing for all of the problems that have caused the free flow of manufacturing overseas.

[raybbr]

Also, now that I think of it the financial crisis we are in is more directly attributable to public sector unions than just about anyone else. All the states in trouble are pointing to unfunded pension liabilities as the prime reason they will be broke in five years and are having problems now. Yet, the old “I hate unions” screed never seems to include them. Police and firefighter unions are just as bad as those that used to exist in manufacturing.

[WVKayaker]

...some FReepers still insist on blaming unions in manufacturing for all of the problems that have caused the free flow of manufacturing overseas.

If I were making cars,and I needed to make a profit, I would need to control my costs. With the unions strikes and srongarming, they raised wages/benefits/pensions to the detriment of their products. The company was forced to seek low cost parts. Hence, the beginning of the end.

When Frigidaire, Maytag, etal went to Mexico, and Taiwan was making electronics to compete with... Sony! We excelled at computers and technology, but gave away the store!

Zero will make it better, though. There will not be ANY manufacturing left in his utopia...

[WVKayaker]

...more directly attributable to public sector unions...

But wait! It get's better:

Union Facts

...The American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is the voluntary federation of America's unions, representing 11 million members, including 2.5 million members in Working America, its new community affiliate.

click for info

[kellynla]

Are you in Mao-Mart management or just related to the Waltons? LMAO

I shop where they pay their employees enough so they don't have to go on Food Stamps to be able to afford to get groceries where they work, thank you...and yes I have personal knowledge that when people are hired at Mao-Mart they also show them how to sign up for Food Stamps. “FACT”

“This message brought to you courtesy of AFL-CIO and ASFCME!”

FYI, genius, I have owned my own business for 30 years and am not a member of a union. “FACT”

And as others have correctly pointed out, China is the largest labor union in the world. “FACT”

Class Dismissed!

[WVKayaker]

Yes, your lack of class is dismissed!

[raybbr]

I’ve never seen a car (even made by the UAW) that had this level of crash test performance.

I am really curious. What did the UAW have to do with any car design?

[GingisK]

I guess we were wrong.

We were wrong on so many levels. WalMart and ilk had stuff manufactured in China in order to increase the profit margin, not to give lower prices at the register.

Still, this was done by Americans to Americans. All of those CEOs made conscious decisions to screw the American people.

[GingisK]

Was Wallyworld your only customer?

I guess you haven't noticed that there are many alternative retail outlets these days.

For some peculiar reason, a French company bought ours out and laid everybody off. We had designed a wonderful product that our clever management killed, but the French now market in Europe. We think our management just wanted to bail out.

[GingisK]

Many things that are made in China don’t HAVE an American-made alternative.

That is simply because the tax situation and the WalMart-like pricing pressures made it impractical to manufacture in this country. Basically, we engineered the stuff and then gave it all away. The profits go to the middle man in great big globs. You know, the ones who neither designed or manufactured the stuff. You are paying a higher price for junk. The difference between the manufacturing cost and the sales cost goes to the middle man.

Let me give you a real world example. Sears power hand tools used to be manufactured by the Singer Company. (Until the price pressure drove them under.) Singer made a 1 HP router for $7.28, which was too much according to Sears. Sears sold the router to the public for $78.00. (This is back in 1980)

Retailers killed our Nation far more than any taxation. The taxes merely killed off whatever tiny margin was left to the manufacturers.

[GingisK]

Our manufacturing base left this country because of tax and enviromental laws and lawsuits...

That depends entirely upon your retail outlet. Chances are good that your margin was already too low because of retailer pricing pressure. Most of the time, taxation and other government interventions were merely the straw that broke the camel's back.

[GingisK]

Did you know that WalMart has more "Made in USA" products than any other retailer in the United States.

Both of them?

WalMart almost single-handedly drove American manufacturers out of business. Fact.

[GingisK]

I agree. That's why I don't understand why some FReepers still insist on blaming unions in manufacturing

You misread WVKayaker's posts. He does blame the unions.

If you did your research, you would realize that WalMart and the other mass retailers are almost the sole cause of the demise of domestic manufacturing.

[WVKayaker]

I guess ignorance is bliss...

WalMart was late to the party, but caught on quickly. Look at the actual history of trade with modern China. It is companies that wanted to sell products to Americans through a smart retailer.

You can't blame WalMart, FRiend, for plain old bizness sense!

My brother is a RadioShack Franchisee. Look at their shelves sometimes! He is USAF retired!