Y'now, I was going to start a thread on isolationism, which has become the four lettered word of the millenia, and this would be one of the sub-topics. I am so against the deluge of foriegn crap. You can blame designers and you can blame manufacturing, and you can even blame us for being cheap, but the real blame lies much farther up the food chain. Look to a (relative) handful of very rich people and the politicians (pretty much all of them) they own. They have done a heck of a job convincing otherwise intelligent people, many of whom participate in this forum, that "free trade" is a great thing. Then, to add insult to injury, we are labeled "isolationists" if we want anything done about something that is clearly a problem. This is not "free trade". It is an imbalance. Free trade is not competing against an opponant who's people live in cardboard boxes and make $5 a week and isolationism is not simply wanting to level the playing field. Right now they are, or have, lifted tariffs on truck imports. The Japanese have been making trucks here because, with the tariffs, it was not cost effective to do so in their home country. Now guess what will happen? That's right - Korean manufacturers are already starting their ad blitz to get you into their cheap trucks. The Japanese will soon feel that pressure and, with the tariffs lifted, will do what everyone else has done - move operations to where they can compete. Where does that leave the big 3 who are already hobbled.
Now, you are no doubt thinking I'm seeing only one side of this story. I recognize that there are benefits to cheap Chinese goods that benefit us all. It creates competition in the sense that manufacturers need to get very efficient to compete. American cars were absolute garbage when the little Hondas showed up at the docks. Say what you will, American cars are a much improved product vs their foriegn counterparts today. We also benefit because we have more money left over from buying that cheap Korean truck to buy more cheap Chinese tools, which benefits retailers, which benefits us. We as consumers can load more *****ty plastic toys and battery operated jeeps into our backyards than ever before and there's a TV in every kitchen. We no doubt have "luxuries" that our grandparents never dreamed of. But, unlike them, do we have anything that will last? What will you hand down to your kids? What do you own that is cost effective to repair vs replace? Also, we are becoming a retail society instead of a manufacturing society. Which paycheck would you rather earn - retail or manufacturing? Of course other factors exist such as a booming construction industry building malls to house these retailers of Chinese crap. Don't get me started on the influx of Mexican labor!
I applaud the efforts of businesses like trader Joe's who refuse to carry Chinese goods. Starting today I will shop there. As mentioned (by someone who I completely disagree with) in another thread, Chinese food represents a tiny percent of food imports. However, my point is, it still amounts to billions of dollars of imports as well as opens the door for more imports. Factor in that they are notoriously slack in quality control, and you have a situation where, not only does it mess with our economy long term, but it poisons us short term! Until we straighten this out, get used to paying too much for cheap ***** that will, yes - excellent point - fill up our landfills.
Rant far from over
