[Vision2020] FW: Made in China

Thu Oct 23 13:25:40 PDT 2008

Perhaps the most important issue for Jane and Joe six pack (oh, I mean,
plumber) is jobs outsourced to cheap foreign labor that do not have labor
rights (child labor, lack of safety, exploitation of the uneducated or of
women, no over time pay, no reasonable minimum wage, etc.), and to nations
with few or no environmental regulations that might get in the way of
business profits.  Consider that many of the "Made in China" goods we buy in
the US are produced with cheap dirty coal electric power sourced from
Chinese workers with very low safety standards in the coal mines, that
directly harms the health of the Chinese via poor air quality from coal
fired plants, that emit huge amounts of CO2, accelerating climate change for
the whole planet.  A new coal fired plant opens in China every week, and
sometimes the pollution from China drifts across the Pacific to increase air
pollution in California:

Article on China's pollution hitting California:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/business/worldbusiness/11chinacoal.html?ex=1307678400en=e9ac1f6255a24fd8ei=5088partner=rssnytemc=rss
--------------------------
Free market globalization advocates will insist eventually open global
markets will raise all boats and benefit US workers who can sell US made
goods to the emerging middle class in China, India et.al.  But in the
meantime, even if this is true (which is doubtful, given the shift in wealth
to an elite global class controlling governmental policy, China's continuing
one party dictatorship, the possibility that a widespread middle class
similar to the US will not ever happen in China and India, and the
continuing huge US trade deficit with China), workers in the US are not
competing on a level playing field given the lack of consistency in basic
protections for labor and the environment across global markets.  Either
other nations adopt our standards for labor and environmental protection or
we weaken ours, or, we produce goods with a higher efficiency.  The optimism
the US would shift from a manufacturing to a service economy without a
lowering of our standard of living is now being shown questionable.  Other
nations manufacturing gurus are also trying to be as efficient as possible,
and offering services cheaply on the global digital information net (call
centers in India for US corporations).  We need global standards for labor
and environmental protection, or the US worker is liable to see their
standard of living decline.

And even with a level playing field for international labor and
environmental standards, the hard cold facts are that there is not enough
cheap energy (if fossil fuel powered, and alternative energy sources may not
be as cheap, convenient or abundant) and resources on the planet for just
all the citizens of China and India, let alone the other 3 or 4 billion
planetary citizens increasing in number every year, to live with the energy
and resource consumption rates of the average US citizen.  As other nations
want a bigger slice of the energy/resource pie, well, the writings on the
wall... The recent spike in oil prices, a major hit to the US consumers
disposable income, was in part driven by increasing global consumption of
oil from China and India, which in the long term is likely to happen again
and with more severe impacts from even higher prices for fuel.  If the
optimists promising cheap abundant alternative energy are correct, these
technologies can't be rolled out fast enough for both economic and
environmental reasons:

Consider the hard cold facts about energy and resources regarding China's
industrialization:

http://www.earthpolicy.org/Books/PB2/index.htm
-----------------------
The "giant sucking sound" that Ross Perot warned of during his presidential
bid in 1996 (amazing that a third party candidate got over 19 million
votes!) regarding the impacts of NAFTA, is really sucking big time now, if
viewed from a global perspective; and including that fact that the US is now
hugely indebted to China, Japan et. al., to finance our government and
economy, with some of the 700 billion US Federal "bail out" bill money for
the financial system going to foreign banks:

http://usliberals.about.com/od/theeconomyjobs/i/FreeTradeAgmts_2.htm

Comments below from URL above:

But industrialist H. Ross Perot famously predicted a "giant sucking sound"
of U.S. jobs heading to Mexico if NAFTA was approved.

*Mr. Perot was correct.* Reports the Economic Policy
Institute<http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm?id=1545>:

"Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed in 1993,
the rise in the U.S. trade deficit with Canada and Mexico through 2002 has
caused the displacement of production that supported 879,280 U.S. jobs. Most
of those lost jobs were high-wage positions in manufacturing industries.

"The loss of these jobs is just the most visible tip of NAFTA's impact on
the U.S. economy. In fact, NAFTA has also contributed to rising income
inequality, suppressed real wages for production workers, weakened workers'
collective bargaining powers and ability to organize unions, and reduced
fringe benefits."
-------------------------

If you want US made shoes and other stuff, try this website below.  Some
shoes are manufactured in the US, but most shoes sold in the US are not:

http://www.usstuff.com/shoes.htm
-------------------------
The glory days of the 1950s and 60s when US manufacturing offered stable
high paying jobs in abundance with good pensions already looks like an
impossible dream in today's globalized "free trade" world.

Ted Moffett

On 10/22/08, Ellen Roskovich <gussie443 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> *I was cleaning out some old files when I ran across this.  Back in July
> 2007 only one person picked up on this and replied to me. . . but today
> maybe it's a more timely topic.  So, I'm putting it out there again. . . 15
> months later.  Any thoughts?*
> **
> *Ellen A. Roskovich*
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> From: gussie443 at hotmail.com
> To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:38:59 -0700
> Subject: [Vision2020] Made in China
>
>
>  *Do we, this country, actually produce products anymore?  I mean, can you
> go shopping and buy something that has a tag in it that says "made in the
> USA"?*
> **
> *I'm not talking about walking the aisles of Wal-Mart where we've come to
> expect  everything to say "made in China" on the shelves.*
> **
> *Cute summer sandals at Macy's. . . $89.00 (wow! they weren't THAT cute)
> and the sales person says "they're from Europe". . . . Well, folks, let me
> tell you that an umlaut in the brand name does not make your sandals
> European because when I flipped them over. . . MADE IN CHINA.  Now, I might
> be a tightwad, but I consider $89.00  a pretty hefty price. . . and the
> product better be made in some other factory, with higher paid slave
> labor, than the Wally World's $7.98 special. . . .*
> **
> *Even familiar brands that I grew up with. . . . my Mother's Day card my
> daughter sent me. . . a Hallmark Card," because she cared enough to send the
> very best". . . isn't that what they always said?  Well, now they also say
> "MADE IN CHINA".  What happened? Did American presses break down?  Did we
> run out of ink?  What does this mean for the future. . . . DO WE CARE?*
> **
> *Is it really in our best interest that we can no longer produce the shoes
> we put on our feet or a greeting card in a friends hand? *
> **
> *I was going through a closet the other day, sorting out stuff for
> Goodwill.  I ran across one of the kid's games. . . Chinese Checkers. . .
> and I was about to put it in the Goodwill pile when I noticed the box said
> "made in the U.S.A." and I decided on the spot. . . .  that was a "keeper".
> *
>
> *Ellen A. Roskovich*
>
> ------------------------------
> Don't get caught with egg on your face. Play Chicktionary! <http://g.msn.com/8HMBENUS/2731??PS=47575>
> ------------------------------
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