U.S. Furniture Makers to Seek Protection From China Imports

Wall Street Journal ^ | 7/15/03 | Dan Morse

[Texas_Dawg]

A group of American makers of wood bedroom furniture is preparing to seek protection from the U.S. government to stem a surge of imports from China that the companies say has ravaged their industry.

John Bassett, president and chief executive of Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co., Galax, Va., and a spokesman for the group of 14 furniture makers, said the American Furniture Manufacturers Committee for Legal Trade intends to file an antidumping petition this fall with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission.

[MEG33]

What happened to many unions was infiltration by communists.We were fortunate it wasn't taken over by them.Unions were important to prevent abuse.Some were better than others.

[harpseal]

I am not the one who claimed to be a Christian but you really should talk to your pastor about how it is Christian to support the policies of the People's Republic of China. While we are laughing lets laugh about forced abortion, slave labor, infanticide, no freedomn of thought or religion, and forced organ donation from teh living. These are Christian postions?

[Texas_Dawg]

When guys like you get up here and drone on about how wealthy you are, for some reason, I get visuals of someone posting from their parents basement...

Haha. Nice. Same here.

I'm wasting time at my office in NYC while I sit here watching the market bounce around today.

[Protagoras]

What you are advocating is not pro American

Protectionism is not pro American, it is anti freedom. Free markets made America great, by whatever degree they are denigrated, so is the country.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

"This obvious intent to mislead is yet ANOTHER reason why I have no respect for "free traitors"."

Well put.
Their intent to mislead is proof that their own arguments are falling apart.
They don't know what else to say because their "free traitor" brainwashing manual does not come with logical analysis or even an accurate history lesson.

[Texas_Dawg]

What happened to many unions was infiltration by communists.

This is like the Mensheviks who claim that they would have been nice, friendly Communists (you know, "for the little man" and what not). It was just that mean Stalin who gave Communism the bad name.

Unions were evil, discriminatory, and spewing their hate-filled rhetoric from the get go.

[GraniteStateConservative]

My point was that if free trade is so great on an unlevel playing field, why not outsource and farm other things, too, like the military. I'm in favor of fair trade. How anyone can argue it's possible and good public policy to compete with slave labor practices in Asia while we allow for even moderate labor standards, working conditions, environmental regulations, health insurance coverage etc., I'll never know. You can trim all the laws you want and we still couldn't compete with the Asian Turd World practices-- and we'd have no protections against anything.

Busineses do owe the country something. They benefit from our freedoms. Do you see Bill Gates living in China or India? Hell no. These people are opportunists and we let them be. There is no free ride.

[wingnuts'nbolts]

Glad to have found someone who relates to the subject of furniture. The industry I hate to love.

[Texas_Dawg]

I love America. I just hate all my fellow Americans.

Oh, you don't have to tell me. This should be Pat Buchanan's campaign slogan next time around. Y'all will have a great convention in '04.

[harpseal]

If their products are as lousy as people are claiming they are (I have no knowledge of the Chinese furniture industry), and their industries are being supported by government intervention and protectionism (thereby causing people in their society to pay more for other things than they are worth), they won't be able to invest in their industrial base for long. Eventually, that kind of system has to collapse.

Were China a free society you would be correct but because opposition ot government policies is not allowed they are able to sustain this for a prolonged period. Is every such endeavor a success for them? No. However teh investment in plant and equipment is such that after foreign competition moost especially the uSA has been driven out of business they will be able to provide goods and service within their nation as needed. however, the primary goal is to exdpand through military means and that in the end will ead to a confrontation with the USA. Now when that confrontation comes it will be a question of their population, technology and industrial base versus the USA's population, technology and industrial base so ever erosion they make in the underlying US induatrial base tehy view as a military victory.

[m18436572]

"...but the shipbuilding industry got off its collective duff and paid bribes, er campaign contributions, to the right people in Washington and got that stopped."

Damn that's sad.

[harpseal]

Protectionism is not pro American, it is anti freedom. Free markets made America great, by whatever degree they are denigrated, so is the country.

Your comments do not reflect the History of the USA at all. Free Markets within the USA have always helped make America strong but we have only been trying this new trade policy since the mid 1990's. Thank you Bill Clinton for your comments on your policies.

[Incorrigible]

If you're going to buy furniture from Socialist countries, maybe you can buy it from here:

[Jeff Head]

Like I said earlier, what these people are essentially doing is seeing China and other Communist countries shooting themselves in the foot and saying, "Hey! That's not fair! We have to shoot ourselves in the feet too!"

Okay, TD, I really tried, but your continued mis-characterization of the people whom you oppose on this issue manifests itself pretty plainly as just hit and run tactics that do not address the real issues raised to you...which makes those tactics pretty void IMHO.

The people I see confronting and debating with you have not one iota of comparison to the communist nations who are using our own outsourcing as the new source for their own failed socialistic/marxistic prior economic efforts, and that is exactly what they are doing.

China learned from the fall of the Soviet Union. It has found a new source for funding to help it try and rise to the point where it can be self-sufficient economically. The marxist/maoist economic philosophies failed and were leading them down the same road that Russia went. With the help from leftisist, those who are more committed to their own international gains than US national interests, and other ideologs in the west, they changed gears and are using our capitol and funding to get themselves there...but the same 8% are still in charge in China...it's the same people...and they are using the other 92% to make it "worht it" to us.

In the end, it will lead to the same place as if they had been successful (an impossibility) with their marxistic economic efforts. That place will be abject confrontation with us, their abject idological enemies. Their ideology on top is still totalitarian and marxist, but their economics have turned fascist and they are using our so called free market economy to fuel it.

We'd best wake up and take appropriate action. The best thing we could do is exactly what Reagan did to bring down the Soviets. Call them what they are, an evil empire, challenege them to compete in a truly fair market place where we state above board that we are going to use our own resources to place ourselves in an unassailable position (like Regan did on instigating Star Wars), dry up their funding unless their basic idology changes (itherwise agreements between us can never be "fair" because their definition of fair is the elimination of us) by making all of the outsorurcing to them dependent on those reforms...and then watch them wither on the vine and ultiamtely have their own people rise up and put them under.

Anyhow, that's my view of what's going on. Right now they are being very smart in using our own strengths against ourselves and we need to turn it around.

I've had my say on this thread, EOT.

[Protagoras]

Nice try at changing the debate. The topic is free markets, not the evils of government. Leaving people alone to make their own arrangments in trade doesn't show support for the policies of an evil government. It shows a respect for all people who engage in non coersive mutually beneficial exchanges.

I am not the one who claimed to be a Christian

So you aren't a Christian? Then any argument about morals and Christianity is lost on you.

What you advocate is akin to the Ku Klux Klan pretending to be Christian.

[harpseal]

Regarding unions being racist organizations. You are correct in a majority of cases but incorrect in others. I cite most especially the railway workers unions as a counter example. The rascism reflected in teh unions early days was more a mirror of the society of that time than a force for racism. please learn some history before you try to discuss it.

[Protagoras]

Thank you Hillary for your comments.

[Jim Cane]

Oh, you don't have to tell me.

No one can tell you anything.

[MEG33]

It has changed so much since I last knew it well.I do know about the practices you described.

[harpseal]

Like I said tell me when we have a free market. we are dealing with US givernment subsidies to offshore investments. I was responding to so called Christian comment what my religion is is my business. You are the one who brought up Chritianity and how that should affect our trade policies I merely pointed out what was being supported by the regime you are so desperate to keep from having to face tariffs for their exports to the USA.

Please tell me how OPIC which provides taxpayer saubsidized insurance to offshore investments is Free Trade. Please tell me how subsidized exports are free trade. Quit spouting your mantra and adress issues.