Posted on 09/15/2009 10:11:29 PM PDT by kingattax
Down at the Chinese outlet store in Albany known as Wal-Mart, Chinese tires have so successfully undercut U.S.-made tires that the Cooper Tire factory in that south Georgia town had to shut down.
Twenty-one hundred Georgians lost their jobs.
The tale of Cooper Tire and what it portends is told in last week's Washington Post by Peter Whoriskey.
How could tires made on the other side of the world, then shipped to Albany, be sold for less than tires made in Albany?
Here's how.
At Cooper Tire, the wages were $18 to $21 per hour. In China, they are a fraction of that. The Albany factory is subject to U.S. health-and-safety, wage-and-hour and civil rights laws from which Chinese plants are exempt. Environmental standards had to be met at Cooper Tire or the plant would have been closed. Chinese factories are notorious polluters.
China won the competition because the 14th Amendment's "equal protection of the laws" does not apply to the People's Republic. While free trade laws grant China free and equal access to the U.S. market, China can pay workers wages and force them to work hours that would violate U.S. law, and China can operate plants whose health, safety and environmental standards would have their U.S. competitors shut down as public nuisances.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
What is the name of these Chinese tires?
GITI Tire Pte Ltd., China’s largest tire producer.
I've bought Yokohama tires in the past and they were fine, but then the current reputation of Japanese manufactured items is very good.
Here’s a recall notice from a couple of years ago; several Chinese brand names are mentioned in the article.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,286736,00.html
FTR, you won’t see me putting any Chinese tires on MY car!
thanks. Will steer =o) away from GITI
Buchanan’s an idiot, as are all protectionists. How can they justify using the power of the state to prevent me from buying from somebody who is willing to sell—or to try to affect the price via tariffs—just because that other person is in another country.
It’s bad economics. It’s been debunked since Ricardo in the 1800s.
It’s one thing to buy a spatula made in China-but tires are a whole different animal.
There was a set on my daughters car whe nwe bought it, they were the only tires in recent memory remarkable in their wretchedness. They wore in a wierd flat spotting pattern that made for a noisey, rough highway ride. Never again.
Pat’s right this time. We must protect American Jobs the same way the Chinese ans Japanese protect theirs. We can have a level playing field so we must use the age old weapon of tariffs. It you think it will not work look at Harley-Davidson and how that company was saved. Its time to bring back American manufacturing and punish those who close US factories to rebuild factories in other lands to take advantage of cheap labor. Take out the profit and watch those companies stay in the US of A.
Dey Turka Jerrrrrrrrbs!
“Welcome to 21st century America, where globalism has replaced patriotism as the civil religion of our corporate elites. As Thomas Jefferson reminded us, “Merchants have no country.”
What has this meant to the republic that was once the most self-sufficient and independent in all of history?”
Man life must suck to be you.
Have you tried calling a Wahhhbulance?
Let no one ever accuse you of patriotism.
That is racist!!
So it’s unpatriotic to favor policy that works *for* the American consumer, but happens to work *against* politically-well-connect, inefficient special interest industries?
What you are saying is economic gobbledygook. You could do an entire class on what’s wrong with what’s being said in this thread.
It’s irrelevant what the nature of American businesses are. One generation says farmers are important, and factories are hurting the poor farmer/seamstress/laborer/etc., the next generation favors manufacturing, then high-tech industries, etc.
It’s all irrelevant. What matters is this: are people free to engage in voluntary, mutually beneficial trade? Are they free to hire and fire freely? Are they free to charge whatever they want, and are consumers free to say no?
How many factories are there in Beverly Hills? Are they hurting from lack of tire factories? When the country was 95% farmers, did the country’s economy collapse due to automation, as people like yourselves once predicted?
What do you think happens when American dollars are spent on Chinese tires? It’s re-spent on American goods, services, or invested in American businesses.
Consult any economics text on trade between nations, clear away those misconceptions.
How can Americans compete with Chinese peasants who make 10 cents a day and risk having their brains blown out if they complain about it?
Would you suggest that we adopt policies such as those in China in order to compete in a global economy?
Globalism has never been about free trade, it is about how manufacturers can take the differential between labor cost and pocket the difference into their own pockets. The average blue dog Dem figured that out decades ago, now the GOP conservatives are starting to figure it out. Glenn Beck is right, the old political coalitions are breaking down and a new one is forming, it is Main Street against Wall Street, the government/media elites and the politicians who cater to special interest groups and not the citizens who voted them into office. What is not shown is the GOP townhall meetings where mainly RINOs are gettng their butts kicked in by the rank and file voters. Change is coming and I can feel it.
Freepers constantly use the word capitalism (a word invented by Marx) and not the term free market (invented by Adam Smith). Both words have similar meaning but different consequences. A capitalist will open a porn shop in a nice neighborhood, while a free marketeer opens a 7-11. Both are making money, but one considers the needs of the community while the other does not give a damn. Main Street versus Wall Street. That is the new economic battleground in the 21st Century. Unfortunately it took a severe recession to wake us up, but we are awake and will not take this anymore.
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