A don't buy Chinese made products movement..

[Spike]

Doesn't sound like a bad idea.  I'm all for protecting myself and my family. We had all better wake up soon or lose what we have.


Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.


Are we Americans as dumb as we appear --- or --- is it that we just do not think?

While the Chinese, knowingly and intentionally,export inferior and even toxic products and dangerous toys and goods to be sold in American markets, the media wrings its hands and criticizes the Bush Administration for perceived errors.

Yet 70%of Americans believe that the trading privileges afforded to the Chinese should be suspended.

Well,duh..why do you need the government to suspend trading privileges?

SIMPLY DO IT YOURSELF, AMERICA!!

Simply look on the bottom of every product you buy, and if it says 'Made in China' or 'PRC' (and that now includes Hong Kong), simply choose another product, or none at all.You will be amazed at how dependent you are on Chinese products, and you will be equally amazed at what you can do without. Who needs plastic eggs to celebrate Easter?

If you must have eggs, use real ones and benefit some American farmer. Easter is just an example, the point is.. do not wait for the government to act.

Just go ahead and assume control on your own.

THINK ABOUT THIS:  If 200 million Americans refuse to buy just $20 each of Chinese goods, that's a billion dollar trade imbalance resolved in our favor...fast!!

The downside? Some American businesses will feel a temporary pinch from having foreign stockpiles of inventory. Wahhhhhhhhhhhh

The solution ?

Let's give them fair warning and send our own message. Most of the people who have been reading about this matter are planning on implementing this on June 4, and continue it until July4.

That is only one month of trading losses, but it will hit the Chinese for 1/12th of the total, or 8%, of their American exports. Then they will at least have to ask themselves if the benefits of their arrogance and lawlessness were worth it.

Remember, June 4 to July 4.

EVEN BETTER. . . START NOW.

Send this to everybody you know.

Show them we are Americans and NOBODY can take us for granted.

If we can't live without cheap Chinese goods for one month out of our lives, WE DESERVE WHAT WE GET!

Pass it on, America   

[TK73]

I wanna see somebody keep the masses out of Wal Mart then... Kaint be dun.

[Old Moparz]

I wanna see somebody keep the masses out of Wal Mart then... Kaint be dun.

That's probably true, & besides, if you wanted to buy American only, it might leave you with only about 6 products to pick from & you'd never be able to get a TV or a stereo ever again. 

[gtx6970]

It all comes down the current American menatllity ;
How cheap can you do it and how fast can you get it done.

As opposed to our fore fathers mentallity.
How good is it and how  longs it gonna last , I don't want to have to do it again

[MoParMetal]

i will try it, but im addicted to hot wheels and johnny lightnings.

this may be a little hard. 

[RECHRGD]

It's about 10 or 15 years too late for this.  This country has been sold out from underneath us now for a long time.  I don't see anyway that things will ever turn back around.  Bob

[69bronzeT5]

i will try it, but im addicted to hot wheels and johnny lightnings.

this may be a little hard. 

Same

Although, I havent bought chinese music stuff. My amp is from Korea along with a few of my guitars. Another guitar is from India and another is from Mexico

[mally69]

It's about 10 or 15 years too late for this.  This country has been sold out from underneath us now for a long time.  I don't see anyway that things will ever turn back around.  Bob

I agree, there is no going back.

[472 R/T SE]

http://www.howtobuyamerican.com/index.php

It all comes down the current American menatllity ;
How cheap can you do it and how fast can you get it done.

As opposed to our fore fathers mentallity.
How good is it and how  longs it gonna last , I don't want to have to do it again

  Years ago when it was time to sell a car, we'd snail mail our ad to Hemmings or Auto Trader likes and hope they'd get it in their next issue.  Then wait sometimes months' for any action.  Now we have ebay, a car can be advertised and sold and you can have your money in less than an hours' time.

For those wanting to get technical, I'm talking about advertising with a Buy it Now and the buyers who purchase it without looking at it or someone inspecting.

I want it now seems to be a recurring theme when it comes to Americans.  A spoiled, lazy society we live in.  When I was in management, it was tough to get kids to show up for work let alone give an honest day of work. 

[JimShine]

Americans labor is also more expensive. Not just the hourly rate, but in fees the employer is responsible for covering. While there is still quite a few USA made items still around, I can assure you if you broke it down there is still quite a bit of imported labor in that item somewhere. Especially electronic devices.

[Shakey]

It's about 10 or 15 years too late for this.  This country has been sold out from underneath us now for a long time.  I don't see anyway that things will ever turn back around.  Bob

Exactly!

It all started back in the mid to late '70's when the Japanese were mass producing cheap throwaway cars that got good fuel mileage while the Big 3 were pumping out low quality expesive cars that got terrible fuel mileage.  All this while the UAW was demanding increased wages.   

A recipe for disaster.

[Silver R/T]

It's about 10 or 15 years too late for this.  This country has been sold out from underneath us now for a long time.  I don't see anyway that things will ever turn back around.  Bob

exactly, it won't work just like it won't work if you don't buy gas for a week or whatever propaganda.

[myk]

So...does this mean I'm not allowd to buy the new voltage regulator I need for the Charger?

[Big Lebowski]

It's about 10 or 15 years too late for this.  This country has been sold out from underneath us now for a long time.  I don't see anyway that things will ever turn back around.  Bob

   Right on Bob. That's what I was going to say. The same commies that squish people with battle tanks, are the same commies that bought this country years ago. Forced abortion, no girls, at least they don't beat their woman because their Burka's dont cover the ankles.

[Brock Samson]

  I specifically look for made in America labels, I'd rather pay more to have a quality product,..
like guitar parts or my bike, i bought them over items made in japan or china because the metal is superior among other things,..
for example: the German steel on my Schaller made Floyd Rose guitar bridge is superior to the Japanese metal on the actual Floyd Rose bridge...
Example I bought a chinese lamp for real cheap and the thing was so poorly made it literally fell apart after a few days...
I'm checking the label on everything these days from food packaging to electronics.
Voting with my wallet you might say.

[defiance]

Personally, I support globalization in full.  The common thought is that cheap Chinese junk will stay cheap chinese junk, and that they can always be cheap because that's the way they are now.  Fortunately for everyone involed, that's not true.  The quality of life in the world as a whole has improved dramatically in the world as a whole, and that trend is likely to continue.  As Americans, we've been lucky enough to be at the front of that movement.  Others, such as China, have not.
Everyone wants to talk about work conditions in china, and how that's the way they compete.  Before you make that comparison and accept it as final, however, think back to conditions in American factories before unions came into power.  Were they better?  No, I don't think so.  The same unreasonable conditions, minimal wages, and lack of respect for the workers was in place then.
While I don't agree with everything about unions, what they did for the American work force back then was nothing short of wonderful.  Suddenly work pays a decent wage and workers are respected as a valuable part of the team.  Unfortunately, we as American workers have pushed that value too far, leading to an overvaluation of entry level labor wages, and as such, difficulty in competing internationally.
One way or another, that needs to be corrected, just as China's undervaluation of workers needs correcting.  And both, if you think about it, are natural results of the expansion of globalization. 

In the end, I doubt we'll even see a short-term decline in quality of life as a result.  As quality of life improves throughout the world, that growth will simply slow for us as globalization normalizes the rest of the world to the same standards.  In the end, overvaluation will lead to inability to compete, where undervaluation will lead to civil unrest; neither is sustainable, and so a global market really is not only inevitable, but not as bad a thing as many make it out to be.

[Goodz]

I understand where youre coming from with this, and in theory it sounds great, but the reality is that almost everything is made over there now.  My girlfriends sister refused to buy or receive any toys made in china for her kids for Christmas.  Well, we looked in like every store possible and managed to find ONE GAME, released in like 1973 and remade recently.  She said, "If you cant find a toy NOT made in China, then just buy them clothes."  If we dont close trades with them, then they will never make better products and we will be forced to either subject our kids to defective toys OR rob them of their childhood fun.  Doesnt seem fair.  We elect these people to look out for our best interests, and all they do is look out for their own.

[Brock Samson]

basicly all clothes are made in china.. 

[Goodz]

basicly all clothes are made in china.. 

Was waiting for someone to point that out.  See how screwed we are?! 

[Troy]

It's interesting that you point that out defiance. I while back I read an article (but now I can't find it) about the history "cheap" labor and imported products. I think it started with Japan and then Taiwan but the basic gist of the article was that, as more money was brought in, the quality of life got better and wages went up. Products cost more and workers expected increasingly better working conditions and pay. Eventually, the "cheap" producers priced themselves out of the low-end market which left room for the next country to step in. The Japanese - electronics in particular - actually became leaders in the high-end market and had to outsource to the cheap countries to stay competitive. It's an evolving/expanding market and in 20 years Chinese products won't be competitive on the low-end but maybe Africa will be the hot new producer (if they can stop killing themselves long enough).

Jobs (and salaries) have always evolved based on the current technology. Many people on this site work in jobs that didn't exist in as little as 50 years ago. Thinking back to recent history, we've barely had airplanes and automobiles for 100 years (heck, rubber and plastic are less than 170 years old), transistors for 60 years, cell phones in the 80s were the size of lunch boxes and computers really weren't mainstream until the late 90s. Things change quickly and it's tough for a single society to be both on the bleeding edge AND still supporting trades that are hundreds of years old. As bigger/better/faster ways of completing existing tasks are developed, workers are freed up to take new positions.

Troy

[Spike]

You are not going to see the way of life in China improve to the likes of our own. China is still a communist country and the government makes all the rules. No unions, no strikes, no walk outs, no pay disputes. You take what they give you, period. The average Chinese worker makes peanuts in comparison to an American worker. They have no heath care cost, unemployment cost, along with many of the other cost that an American manufacturer must pay out per employee.
It's not that companies can't make money doing business here in the states, it's the fact that they can make their own wallets fatter by having the labor done overseas for next to nothing. Corporate Greed at it's finest.
It's never too late to act.

[defiance]

You are not going to see the way of life in China improve to the likes of our own. China is still a communist country and the government makes all the rules. No unions, no strikes, no walk outs, no pay disputes. You take what they give you, period. The average Chinese worker makes peanuts in comparison to an American worker. They have no heath care cost, unemployment cost, along with many of the other cost that an American manufacturer must pay out per employee.
It's not that companies can't make money doing business here in the states, it's the fact that they can make their own wallets fatter by having the labor done overseas for next to nothing. Corporate Greed at it's finest.
It's never too late to act.

That's part of my point: that's the *current* state of affairs, and your argument stands on the assumption that it will continue - but already, captialism has made a HUGE shift in the society of China, and those changes are beyond the power of the government to stifle if it tried - which, by most accounts, it isn't.  This gives more power to the individual worker, and the use of that power - whether it is in the form of a union or some other method - is inevitably going to lead to increased wages, benefits, conditions, etc, which comes along with increased labor costs. 

Admittedly, I'm no economist, but I was discussing this with a guy with an economics degree from harvard and a couple other pretty smart people, and his only contribution was that it was, and I quote, "Kinda like the fat friend thing."  A bit confused by this, I asked what he meant, and he clarified that "It's like when the really hot chicks hang out with the fat chicks."... the conversation degraded from there....  So yeah, not impressed with harvard economics degrees

[2Gunz]

I look at China as being in an industrial revolution, just like we where in the early 1900's.

And just like us at some point they will realize that they cant keep polluting the air,
and water.

And just like us at some point the workers will band together and fight for better lives.


Both of which will make the products more expensive.

And essentially level the playing field.

And since we have already been through this, we at some point will have the advantage.

Its just a matter of time.

[Mike DC]

   
If we made it cheaper to live our day-to-day existence here in the US, then business wouldn't NEED to pay every American worker so much more than Asians just to keep them alive & tolerably content with their situation. 

Cheap apartment + working car (for the non-mechanically-inclined) + health insurance = $20K a year. 
None of these costs need to be anywhere near as much as we have them set up now. 


But of course there's never any focus on that.  Any time we bring up the cost of doing business here, the corporate interests just get more tax breaks and the lower classes just get pressed harder on wages.

 

[Tigger]

Even better, let the value of the U.S. dollar continue to fall, that way all the companies that farm out labor outside the U.S. will actually cost more because the dollar is so weak. Companies will actually bring back those lost jobs because the cost would be cheaper here. By the way major companies are already crunching the numbers, and seeing an advantage to manufacture back here in the states, instead of overseas.

THe weak dollar is not good for buying oil, since the worth of the oil is based on the U.S. dollar, but its great at bringing jobs back in the states.