Hey China, you're killing our kids and our pets, but it's our fault.

[TerryH]

We all knew it, but reading this article really puts it in perspective. We are owned by slave labor countries, specifically China. Mattel has no nads, only a bottom line.

It's not an easy thing to do, but our family is boycotting "made in china" when we shop. Sometimes an item still slips through, but we try.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070922/ap_on_bi_ge/china_tainted_products_19;_ylt=AlFM1dw9khHbcLmcCKa sf2wE1vAI

[Red Baron]

Just this morning, I threw some chinese toys in the trash that were given to my kids this week in school as a result of an at school birthday party. The Chinese business practices are a huge threat to our survival as a country on numerous levels. Fick'em and fead them the fish heads they love so much!

[dad911]

Originally Posted by Red Baron

Just this morning, I threw some chinese toys in the trash that were given to my kids this week in school as a result of an at school birthday party. The Chinese business practices are a huge threat to our survival as a country on numerous levels. Fick'em and fead them the fish heads they love so much!

Or perhaps without chinese products, Wallmart, K-Mart, ToysR Us, Mattell, and hundred of retailers & distributors, would be forced to close. Leading to the lay-offs of millions of american employees such as cashiers, shelve-stockers, truck drivers, dock workers, etc.........

[motion]

Originally Posted by Red Baron

Fick'em and fead them the fish heads they love so much!

[frogger]

Some of these toy companies should consider relocating back to the US. Perhaps we should encourage our politicians to rework the corporate tax laws to make domestic production more tax advantageous than to export production. I don't know how realistic this is, but it's something I'd sure like to see.

[on-ramp]

It is your fault.

you want cheap crap? that's what you get.

you guys love capitalism so much, so don't complain. I'm all for capitalism but this goes beyond that...
Anything for the Almighty dollar , everything done to maximize the bottom line.
A few deaths here and there, no big deal, just part of the big game. Profits above morals/ethics/safety , God Bless America

when the elected politicians in Washington are in bed with big business, and fail to protect the general consumer, there exists a huge problem of conflict of interest.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

That's right people. Look in the mirror and wake up. The reason China does this is because your average vapid American retard demands it. Until people start placing quality and accountability at the same level of importance (or above) simply low price, that's what you're going to get.

But I suspect this too will pass into the distant memory of peoples' short attention spans. Give 'em a few more weeks of "American Idol" and NFL football and it'll all be forgotten.

China has been using slave labor and sweatshop production for how long now? It's no secret. People don't give a schit. They want those cheap goods. This will be no different.

[jcommin]

It is our fault. We keep demanding low cost products to support our lifestyles. It's no wonder Wal-Mart gave up on made on American made products years ago for their low price philosophy. If all of us paid American made prices on commodities, our lifestyle would be totally different. Unfortunately we need the Wal-Marts of the world to support our lifestyles. We also need low price immigrant labor, but that's for another post.

Remember the Firestone tire problem on the Ford Explorers??? Recall how each blamed each other??? I work in the automotive industry. GM starting beating up its suppliers for the lowest cost many years ago. The demanded a 3% per year price reduction for a 3 year period to get their business. They had volume back then and suppliers grudging swallowed. Everyone else followed suit; Ford, Chrysler and yes even Toyota (they are a liitle more gracious). You eat the inflation, salary and benefit increases and in many cases, the increase in material price. So how do you compete??? You optimize your manufacturing process, look for cheaper materials, cut back labor, benefits, etc. The final solution; move it off shore. What else happened: the volume of the American Big 3 plumented. You can't make the profit if the volume you expected is less. Do you wonder why many of the automotive suppliers went bankrupt??

Firestone was in the same position. They marginalized their design. Ford never accepted responsibility. Wal-Mart brings in several competing vendors that are vying for the Wal-Mart business. Wal-Mart puts the product on the table and has a closed door auction for them. The lowest priced bidder wins.

Wal-Mart set the bench market for the stragety. Don't think for o second that Mattel and others don't do the same. Labor is cheap in China. Everyone, globally, pays the same for raw materials. In some areas (India and China) you can't get the raw materials and they must import them, costing more. If the product price has the labor, materials, frieght, distribution and all other associated costs, where do you think they can squeeze costs? It's the materials.

Your damn right it's Mattell but looking deeper; it's us.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

The story I heard on NPR yesterday was that a senior Mattel executive had issued a public statement saying the problems were solely internal and apologized for any tarnishing of China's image as a result.

Do you honestly think that's what's really going on here? More like China's gestapo kicking his door in and demanding he issue the statement or he and his family would "disappear".

That's what you're dealing with over there - it's a totalitarian regime. I'm not saying Mattel is not culpable here, but it's also China in general who deliberately turns a blind eye to this stuff and encourages it, then tries to hide behind "I didn't know" or "we don't endorse this" or "we had nothing to do with it" when things like this are exposed.

Mattel AND the Chinese government stooges should both rot in hell.

[scottmandue]

I have been avoiding Chinese product for about a decade because of their lack of human rights and horrible treatment of the environment... most of my friends think I'm nuts for doing so.

But yeah, the occasional Chinese product slips through no matter how careful you try to be.

[Mule]

And now they are about to open a seafood restaurant chain here. The Lead Lobster. Didn't even see it coming, did ya?

[sammyg2]

Cool. I was worried that we didn't alreadty have enough people over-reacting to a sensationalistic media swarm that was out of control. Looks like I was wrong, evertything is OK and we have plenty of over-reactionaries now.

[Chuck Moreland]

Actually, it sounds like Mattel was largely responsible for the toy problems. This from the WSJ:

quote:
By the numbers, however, the vast majority of the recalled toys didn't have a lead problem. The biggest recall, affecting 18 million toys, involved tiny magnets that can fall off toys and be deadly if swallowed. The recall of those toys, Mattel is now stressing, had nothing to do with a failure of Chinese manufacturing but rather stemmed from Mattel's own flawed designs for everything from Barbie accessories to Batman action figures.

On Friday, Thomas A. Debrowski, Mattel's executive vice president for world-wide operations, met with Mr. Li, the Chinese product-safety chief, in Beijing. Mr. Debrowski listened to criticism of Mattel's actions, then delivered a prepared apology.

"Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and apologizes personally to you, the Chinese people, and all of our customers who received the toys," Mr. Debrowski said. In the most prominent comments by the company so far detailing its own missteps, he added: "[I]t's important for everyone to understand that the vast majority of those products that we recalled were the result of a design flaw in Mattel's design, not through a manufacturing flaw in Chinese manufacturers."

end quote

While I suspect Mattel's public apology was done largely out of fear of losing China based manufacturing capability (which would devastate Mattel), it does sound like Mattel is far more at fault for the recalls than the early company statements and headlines indicated.

The initial headlines made it sound like lead paint was the primary problem. In fact it now seems magnets are the biggest problem, and that may have been a design error / not manufacturing.

[island_dude]

The Chinese government is not our friend by a long shot. They have been building up thier military at a rate that is really scary. There have been a number of cyber attacks launched against our defense networks in a manor that indicates that they are playing for keeps. The ASAT launch this year and a number of there missile tests don't increase my warm fuzzy feeling about their government. We created the is problem by allowing so much of our economy to support theirs. Some day, I expect they will be a serious threat to us (in many ways they already are). I guess its good news for our military industrial complex. Its really been tough since the Soviet empire crashed -- This GWOT thing is just an appetizer we need a good old fashion cold war to stoke this fires again.

[Red Baron]

Originally Posted by dad911

Or perhaps without chinese products, Wallmart, K-Mart, ToysR Us, Mattell, and hundred of retailers & distributors, would be forced to close. Leading to the lay-offs of millions of american employees such as cashiers, shelve-stockers, truck drivers, dock workers, etc.........

Well let's not have ethics get in the way of profits. And how did businesses ever survive without the Chinese manufacturing?

How about the sea food industry where we do the labor here?

[Red Baron]

Originally Posted by motion

[Neilk]

Ok, fine I might be led to believe that Mattel was at fault for some of the product defects, mainly design faults, but why is there any amount of lead in children's toys?

I'd bet anything that the Chinese government put a lot of pressure on Mattel to apologize. Between poisoned dog food, Mattel recalls and Brilliance's abysmal crash test performance, China's reputation has taken a beating in the past year.

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by TerryH

It's not an easy thing to do, but our family is boycotting "made in china" when we shop. Sometimes an item still slips through, but we try.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070922/ap_on_bi_ge/china_tainted_products_19;_ylt=AlFM1dw9khHbcLmcCKa sf2wE1vAI

Good luck with this! A family in our neighbourhood is boycotting Chinese made goods since the beginning of the year - and are finding it virtually impossible to buy many consumer goods without buying Chinese. Many things are just not made in North America any more.

[TerryH]

Here's what the Chinese did for us. Too bad it cost us our beloved dog to get it. Iams (P&G) thinks covering our vet bills for the last week of his life exonerates them. I'm not a vindictive person, but this check means nothing in terms of compensation for losing our dog. Even the value of the dog isn't figured into the amount. I guess he was all used up at 10 yrs of age.

Our laws provide that a pet is like a toaster in terms of ownership. Nothing more than an object. I sincerely hope that some good can come out of the pet food disaster and pets can become more like family members/companions in the courts eyes.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by Dottore

Good luck with this! A family in our neighborhood is boycotting Chinese made goods since the beginning of the year - and are finding it virtually impossible to buy many consumer goods without buying Chinese. Many things are just not made in North America any more.

Not as hard as you think... sure it is imposable to totally cut out Chinese product, for instance who knows where the ingredients for pet food come from,? However as I am getting older I have become a compulsive label reader... mostly for my own health in regards to food, but if I pull a shirt off the rack and it says made in China I put it back. A little thing I know but if everyone did it it would make a difference... and yes I end up with a lot of product from Mexico, the Philippines, India, etc.

FWIW I bought a name brand preamp off the Internet and sure enoughs when I opened the box a made in China sticker was looking back at me.

WTF happened to America? During WWII our parents gave up all kinds of luxuries... now we need cheap crappy product from China and cheap illegal labor to support our lifestyles... when did we become a bunch of spoiled weak pu$$ies that are willing to hand over our country because we don't want to be inconvenienced.

Sorry for the rant.