DDM HID Kit Surprise

[Guest24]

I ordered a HID kit for my 2002 Tundra yesterday and spoke with the tech about bulb temp and exactly which kit I needed. Got my order confirmation today and ship notice. Here's the shipping notice.

Your item was accepted at 3:09 pm on July 29, 2011 in CHINA PEOPLES REP.

I guess the PRC is the 51st state now. The notice came from USPS!

[turboflyer]

Yep went to bicycle shop to get our grandson a BMX bike. Told the guy did not want it made in china. He said well I can sell you a local hand made bike or some socks, a few other clothing items and a food bar. Love it.

[rs1tc]

Think that's bad? I went to open a bottle of apple juice the other day and it said conc. of China on it. Really, how did WE let this happen?

[Phil Y]

Try to find anything except chips and pop at Wally World that's NOT made in the PRC!!

[wiggledbits]

Our gooberment at work for us and the people thinking they are saving money.

[twodear]

I am pricing up some single post lifts for my shed - allow one sidecar outfit to be stored above the other.

Prices from local vendors are spread between $1700 to $3400. Digging further I found that they are all manufactured in China (Shanghai) or Korea and FOB prices are about $1000. Even the ones advertised in the USA are predomantly coming from Asia.

I can get a really good price if I order in lots of six! Anyone interested in a group buy?

[Rick Lee]

I've picked up a few orders from DDM in person in San Diego. They really do put the kits together there. Perhaps the components are made in China, but the several HID kits I've bought from them have outperformed and outlasted more expensive kits I've bought elsewhere. Their storefront customer service SUCKS though.

[jduke]

Originally Posted by wiggledbits

Our gooberment at work for us and the people thinking they are saving money.

Not government, big business. And we still give them tax breaks for taking jobs overseas.

[wiggledbits]

Originally Posted by jduke

Not government, big business. And we still give them tax breaks for taking jobs overseas.

I thought the government made tax laws... trade laws... immigration laws... and decide which to enforce and which to turn the other way if they decide they don't like a law but can't change the will of the people.

I'm just sayin'.

[jduke]

Did the US government make the light kit in China??

[wiggledbits]

Originally Posted by jduke

Did the US government make the light kit in China??

Not directly. They just provide the tax incentives for doing so and the disincentives (federal, state and local) for allowing it to be done in the US.

[jduke]

So true. It seems a part of our citizenship thinks it's great if a corporation increases it share price by either shipping jobs overseas or layoffs.

[anotheroldrider]

I don't like seeing our jobs go to China, either, BUT - and this is an important BUT - unless you can find enough people who are willing to pay made-in-USA prices, I don't see much chance they'll be making them in the US again. Pretending otherwise is less than useful.

[jduke]

Put tariffs on all imported goods to bring them in line with what it would cost to be made in the USA. But we would have to make sure the worker is paid enough to afford the products. Gosh, that sounds like what we did in the 50's and 60's until corporations bought Congress and let them ship jobs overseas and forced the American to compete with Communist Chinese slave labor rates....

[Rick Lee]

Geeze, are you still on this anti-China thing? They are a WTO member. We slap tariffs on them, we are violating the GATT and face sanctions and would lose any dispute immediately. And since we need to beg them to buy our bonds, this is a particularly bad idea. And what exactly are "Communist China slave labor rates?" We're the ones acting like communists by having the gov't. set the price of labor in the form of min. wage laws. China lets the market dictate such things, you know, like real capitalists do.

[jduke]

I'm not anti-Chinese, I'm pro American. Bring manufacturing back to America. Let someone try and enforce WTO.

[Rick Lee]

Its not pro-American to want to do things (i.e. ignore treaties) that will have disastrous effects for us. What do you think is going to happen to interest rates here at home when (not if) China eventually decides to stop buying our bonds? Why rush that doomsday? I'm not going to pay $200 for an HID kit ever again. When I smoked, I even ordered cartons of cigarettes from China or bought them here on Indian reservations so as to avoid the taxes. Make things here more expensive and consumers will always, always, aways either buy less or buy somewhere else.

[jduke]

Taxes you pay are for the freedoms you enjoy. I may differ with a conservative about the AMOUNT of taxes we pay, but at the end of the day, I'll stand proudly with any American against any enemy, foreign or domestic. I don't consider the Communist Chinese to be a fair trading partner or a friendly government.

[Guest24]

Duke's been listening to Matt Damon.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by jduke

Taxes you pay are for the freedoms you enjoy. I may differ with a conservative about the AMOUNT of taxes we pay, but at the end of the day, I'll stand proudly with any American against any enemy, foreign or domestic. I don't consider the Communist Chinese to be a fair trading partner or a friendly government.

The Chicoms are the best friends we have. They fund our insane overspending. What is unfriendly about that? And we'd be in a depression overnight if they decided to stop. If you're rich enough that taxes don't matter to you, then good for you. I still have to bargain shop and taxes don't create more of anything or make anything cheaper. I will avoid them every chance I get. I'd argue taxes help take away the freedoms we once enjoyed. They certainly don't pay for the few I still have. And they only pay for 60% of what our gov't. spends anyway. So, best case scenario, they only pay for 60% of my freedom.