I have no problem with Chinese people themselves. They are beautiful, smart, diverse, wonderful people. What I do mind is how their government is "controling" our government! Just like the middle east and russia is basically "controlling" our oil supply, I feel like china is contolling our product supplies. We import tons, and most of our products from china: toys, electronics, appliences, toothpaste, THE AMERICAN FLAG, Everything! The problem works both ways. America has become so dependent on chinese imports and trade, that if we ever became rival enemies, our economy would be completely be destroyed in a day.
My Dad was working on a project for his job, and it included making packages for people who were in need. In them, there were supplies of toothpaste. What was found, was toothpaste from china that had an ingredient that was harmful to human health. This hurt the project very much, and my dad's company lost a lot of money from it. The chinese make everything for us, and if there's a problem with the product that doesn't meet U.S. standards, we lose money, and the economy decreases.
It seems as if China is in a similar situation that Japan was During the world wars. They created many products that we imported. The generation living at the time would comment on "oh this product broke cause it's made in Japan". Just like kids today talk about how everything breaks because it's "made in china". It's just a flaw in our economic cooperation, and a flaw in the communist economy in china. Communism doesn't give the Chinese people the insentive to create quality products...so they don't! That's how simple it is.
If American consumers paid more attention to what we are buying, the market for cheap and cheaply made Chinese products would decrease significantly. It's all about what we perceive as a necessity. Do my kids need plastic toys? No. There are plenty of companies in the U.S. that make green toys out of wood and cloth. They are pretty cool, too! Do we need plastic bags? No. The cloth ones are stronger anyway. Do we need cat toys, or dog dishes, or attitude tees or any of the millions of shiny plastic crap products out there? No! A little mindfulness when shopping can support U.S. businesses, reduce our dependence on China, improve the environment, and save us some money, too!
Where it gets a little more tricky is in durable goods. It's hard to know where each and every part of our television was made, for example. Buying from an American company is a start, but it is no guarantee that it was manufactured here.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Lets not confuse politics with economics.
China is by far our greatest competitor both militarily and economically, but the answer to our dependance is not to replace them with environmentalist products (which are more expensive usually) The answer is dealing with china head on. Their products are produced under horrible conditions under a socialist government. The only reason we began relations with china was to pressure communist russia into collapse. Now its time to step up. We need to tax chinise imports. This will reduce our dependancy and give the chinise government a run for its red money.
what I as a puny consumer can do is to stop buying their crap.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
That leave you with very little selection on most products. On many things it is practically impossible to find something NOT made in China.
And, as a consumer you have no idea if a particular product is crappy or not. When you look at the Barbie Doll or a tube of toothpaste it is practically impossible to tell if it has lead or other poisons in it.
I can't think of anything that we truly need that we can't get from somewhere safe. If Barbie dolls are unsafe and causing unethical economic practices, don't buy them. They're not needed. If most toothpastes are unsafe, spend an extra dollar on the safe stuff like Tom's of Maine. It's just an extra dollar every month if one can afford that. I understand some people can't afford it, but if you're paying for a barbie, maybe one should spend the money for the barbie on natural toothpaste instead.
If you can make the right choice, make it.
www.progressiveu.org/blog/americangirlinchina
It's not that hard to find things that were made in the US. They're just not as cheap as things made in other countries.
Find out everything you need to know about poop here:
http://progressiveu.org/000701-everything-you-need-know-about-poop
Lets not confuse politics with economics.
China is by far our greatest competitor both militarily and economically, but the answer to our dependance is not to replace them with environmentalist products (which are more expensive usually) The answer is dealing with china head on. Their products are produced under horrible conditions under a socialist government. The only reason we began relations with china was to pressure communist russia into collapse. Now its time to step up. We need to tax chinise imports. This will reduce our dependancy and give the chinise government a run for its red money.
Let me mention that a lot of these products are made under contract to American companies. The Apple I-pod, is manufactured by a company Foxconn. In the summer of 2006, the daily mail, an English publication, ran a story of the conditions under which these devices are manufactured.
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_arti...
Apple, conducted their own survey of the conditions. The study is a traditional statistical survey. A blind study of 100 worker's, the Foxconn manufacturing complex, houses 200,000 workers..
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/ipodreport/
Let's examine the minimum wage in which Apple claims is fair. The minimum wage of China was established in 2004. The first time in its history of an established wage.
http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/en/web/article.php?article_id=50226
The market under which is the new model of globalization seeks out cheaper labor markets. Claiming to expand economic diversity, and expand horizons for developing nations. I say it's a crock and the worker throughout the world is being exploited and manipulated.
http://www.bankresearch.org/economicpolicyblog/2006/05/minimum_wage_ch.h...
Do you think it is a matter of concern to the American companies when bad toothpaste is imported. Only if they are caught. The FDA is supposed to monitor these imports. Of course the common is excuse is we are overloaded with work. If it was such an issue we would not repeatedly hear of lead based paints in children's toys. It is my opinion that Apple wants to maintain their earth friendly progressive image, and is being dishonest in their studies.
It's no secret that a lot of crappy junk is made in China. I agree with ediblewoman: If you don't like it, don't buy it.
But there's more to be done. It's about awareness. If you can get enough people to care that the junk that we get other countries to make is damaging the lives of overseas workers and our children, then they'll be some impact and in turn some change. The size of the change depends on the amount of people that are aware and care.
www.progressiveu.org/blog/americangirlinchina
I agree. As for the workers' salaries, we also have to consider what a dollar will buy there. In some places, it's a lot. I know that some factories do not pay their employees enough, but some of the ones that do sound like they don't because of the exchange rate bieng in our favor. You should write more about this, since you're there to see if firsthand.
Find out everything you need to know about poop here:
http://progressiveu.org/000701-everything-you-need-know-about-poop