Insurers dropping Chinese drywall policies (ChiNazi Commerce Terrorism!)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – James and Maria Ivory's dreams of a relaxing retirement on Florida's Gulf Coast were put on hold when they discovered their new home had been built with Chinese drywall that emits sulfuric fumes and corrodes pipes. It got worse when they asked their insurer for help — and not only was their claim denied, but they've been told their entire policy won't be renewed.

Thousands of homeowners nationwide who bought new houses constructed from the defective building materials are finding their hopes dashed, their lives in limbo. And experts warn that cases like the Ivorys', in which insurers drop policies or send notices of non-renewal based on the presence of the Chinese drywall, will become rampant as insurance companies process the hundreds of claims currently in the pipeline.

At least three insurers have already canceled or refused to renew policies after homeowners sought their help replacing the bad wallboard. Because mortgage companies require homeowners to insure their properties, they are then at risk of foreclosure, yet no law prevents the cancellations.

"This is like the small wave that's out on the horizon that's going to continue to grow and grow until it becomes a tsunami," said Florida attorney David Durkee, who represents hundreds of homeowners who are suing builders, suppliers and manufacturers over the drywall. "This is going to become critical mass very shortly."

During the height of U.S. housing boom, with building materials in short supply, American construction companies imported millions of pounds of Chinese-made drywall because it was abundant and cheap. An Associated Press analysis of shipping records found that more than 500 million pounds of Chinese gypsum board was imported between 2004 and 2008 — enough to have built tens of thousands of homes. They are heavily concentrated in Southeast, especially Florida.

You are exactly right. China will do whatever you ask , but don’t treat them with disrespect and cover your bases. there are plenty of services that will confirm your product before it goes on the container. The fault lies solely with the American company who brought it in and did not specify exactly what he wanted.

I started buying plywood from china because the lumberman’s unions make prices too high to compete. The plant i went to was clean and orderly and the people wore western clothes, and they were members of at least 5 separate American industry organizations. They came to a trade show in America recently. Their product is perfect. and every container is fully inspected before it leaves the port. Capitalism is a free market and that is a world market.

And the kicker is they take trees from northwest america, ship them to china, cut them, lay them up and ship them back cheaper than American companies will make it.

China is not to blame, neither is mexico or canada or any other country that manufacturers products for the US. The unions are to blame 100% they are the reason why prices have inflated over the decades beyond the normal course of a free market. Unions are a false drivers of economic growth. The only reason we have a minimum wage is because ordinary people had to be able to compete with Union wages and buying power.

I’ve suspected for a while now that China, in order to cut costs and maximize profit margins, just takes its industrial waste and mixes it into the manufacturing processes of other products, hoping to get rid of and hide it inside other products. The drywall is one example. I remember the chinese paint problem and the chinese pet food problem. Its also a way to transfer waste materials out of country and into other countries.

I’ve had many problems with Chinese products. Once I bought a telephone at Wal-Mart. It was made in China of course. The dang cord between the base and handheld unit was only 18 inches long. I became convinced that some Chinese guy with a calculator had figured out, “...if we just shorten the cord by so much we can increase our profit by 0.14 percent.”

The zipper on a pair of Chinese pants I bought broke the first time I wore them.

Chinese rabbit ears I bought for a TV couldn’t even pick up a picture.

Shame on me? for protecting my employees jobs? If we cant produce product at a cheaper price then we cant compete any longer because non certified people working out of their garages are killing us. I pay my employees benefits and good wages and there is no union. I haven’t taken any personal wages in 3.5 years. Every dollar goes back into improving the company and expanding our customer base. Yet we are at the mercy of the banking industry, and i am sorry you feel that my 65 employees deserve to be laid off, rather than trying to do everything to cut costs, and not support unionized business.

If the unions would drop out and start going to a REAL capitalist society, unburdened with false modifiers like union wages, we would have no problems.

So should i buy material from canada and mexico? China is no different than those NAFTA countries. Mexico has no labor laws or pollution standards either. I compete directly with canadian companies who are financed by the government and have little or no overhead. They kick our asses on price.

Should i tell my employees, sorry guys you are out of a job, because other countries are competing in America, but i have to buy only American goods that keeps the prices high? There goes $4million in taxable income for the government a year, and a loss of about $15mil a year in corporate revenue being taken out of the system. Yes lets buy American while the rest of the world doesn’t play by the same rules.

Very smart protectionist policies just like Obama. Everyone i know in the construction industry blames the contractor for not watching over the product he was buying. then it would never have been bad product.

And to top it off, if you really knew how many products within your home are made in China you would have to move out and build your own house. Plumbing is another one that comes from china. Plastic and metal piping. Nails, and screws, electrical conduit, doors, closet organizers, furniture, lighting, sinks, tubs, showers, roofing material. the list goes on and on. 90% of Walmart’s non food products are from China. So don’t act like buying goods in China is not common, and yes there are flawed products, but it is the fault of the person purchasing those products for not specifying what they want.

Do you know how many ‘American’ manufacturers have their products made over seas and then assembled in the states so they can say. ‘Made in America’? Wake up and get with the program, most of the non consumable products you use everyday are made in another country because unions have made it to expensive.

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