Recent recalls suggest a second look at imports

"China said on Wednesday 7/4/07 that nearly a fifth of the food and consumer products that it checked in a nationwide survey this year were found to be substandard or tainted, underscoring the risk faced by its own consumers even as the country's exports come under greater scrutiny overseas...Experts say aggressive and opportunistic entrepreneurs continue to take advantage of the country's chronically weak enforcement of regulations, choosing to blend fake ingredients into products; to sign contracts agreeing to sell one product only to later switch the raw materials for something cheaper..." - New York Times, July 5, 2007

For Years domestic manufacturers have sat back and taken it on the chin. "American skill and knowhow is unnecessarily expensive." American manufacturers have been chided, called quaint, "Making product in the US? How backward! Surely there are cheaper places to make your products."

Cheaper? Advantage China (and much of the rest of Asia).

Even our government chimed in with logic that goes something like this: The best way to uphold the American standard of living is to buy our products where our standards don't need to be followed. Everyone loves a shortcut, everyone loves a deal.

A quick read of the latest headlines says it is time to pay the piper. Those of us paying attention to these matters have seen this coming. The shortcuts aren't just cheaper labor (doing jobs Americans won't do...gee, where else are we hearing this?). The shortcuts are in materials and ingredients, worker safety, pollution, natural resources, employee benefits, quality design, customer responsiveness...

A company that wants to save money by going abroad isn't going to stop at the mere benefit of lower wages. Clearly they are buying a package deal of shortcuts and it is not making this world a better or safer place.

Product safety and quality, worker welfare and safety, environmental pretection? Advantage USA.

When America's advantages are bypassed, who is getting the benefit? With Chinese production costs being 70-80% less than those in America, are we seeing products priced that much cheaper? Of course not, but why? 1) Waste in production, errors, transportation, overproduction, 2) Profits in the pockets of traders and middlemen - arguably more waste, 3) Money to fund unending hype and promotion - definitely more waste, and 4) Corruption at the source - worse than waste.

But isn't capitalism and trade the American Way?

Well...yes. Uncontrolled capitalism and trade? No. Believe it or not pretectionism is all around us. We have laws to protect all sorts of things we hold important as a nation. From safe products to safe employees to a cleaner environment, we don't let just anything and everything happen. We long ago decided that the conditions portrayed in Upton Sinclair's 1906 book, The Jungle, were contrary to the American way. We have spent the past century making this country a better place.

So why, then, if all of these rules are right, do we feel the need to skirt them to so we can buy things at "affordable" prices? Could it be we expect too  much as consumers? Heaven forbid we deny The People. Imports are a convenient solution, cheap food and consumer goods are the new opiates of the masses.

Beyond the Headlines - Real Details

American companies work with certified Chinese factories

Factory certifications usually have two underlying goals: 1) no forced labor (children, claves, prisoners), and 2) follow local laws with regard to wages, safety, etc. This sounds great but local laws are generations behind our standards and very often the local authorities have a financial interest in the factories. Workers, for fear of their jobs, are frequently taught to lie to inspectors. Certificates look good but they purposely leave hugh loopholes for all parties to take advantage while having plausible denibility.

China is building gleaming, modern factories

New is great, but it is what is going on inside that counts. US = approx. 6,000 work related deaths per year. China = 15,000 government reported work related deaths per year. In mining, more Chinese miners die in any given day than in a typical year in the US. Hundreds of thousands maimed factory workers are dismissed and sent home, often back to the countryside where their injuries often prevent them from supporting themselves. They have to fight to get any compensation for their injuries.

No sweatshops there

Nicholas Kristof of the NY Times recently filed a series of video reports from China. In one remarkable story, he states that Americans often think Chinese factories as sweatshops, but the one he was visiting was not, because "the workers were not sweating." In fact, one employee he profiled was happy to be able to work 12 hours per day, 7 days a week, to support her family. She was paid the equivalent of $130 per month!

China's burgeoning middle class

How many times have we heard these exact words? It can't be coincidence. Is it from a Chinese propaganda script? Sure China is developing but don't be mislead. Their "middle class" is the growing number of highly educated and business people. Their factory workers, who would be middle class in the US, cannot even afford a car. Cost for a low-end car, $6000. Autoworker salary, $250 per month. You do the math.

China leads in CO 2 emissions...but the US pollutes more per capita

Now that China has passed the US in emissions, reporters insist on finding a way to declare that the US is still worse. China's problems are incomparable and getting worse by the month. Sooty skies, poisoned rivers, expanding deserts. It is a grim situation that is out of control. Sure they have a 5-year "green" plan, which the environmentalists fawn all over. However, their 5-year plans don't work any better than those of the old Soviet Union. If one wants to play with comparative statistics try this: Despite China's industrial march, the US gross domestic product is still leaps and bounds ahead of China, thus their pollution per output is disastrously higher than the US. We do more with fewer people and less pollution, how about that for a different perspective?

China has a right to go through the same stages of development as other now-developed countries did in the last century.

Baloney! We live in the current world. They have no more "right" to pollute and foul the earth than anyone else. The knowledge and technology to operate cleaner is fully available, where it wasn't 100 years ago. China is leapfrogging crank telephones, Model T's and 8 track cassettes. They certainly shouldn't get away with piping sewage into their rivers and soot into their (our) skies.

Modernazation takes time

China is always said to take the long view and they say changes take time. Funny, when they want to copy someone else's designs, their companies can do it in a matter of days, even hours. Apparently it depends on what your priorities are.

China is starting to respect its natural resources, its forests are regrowing

This is in large part because they are importing ever more natural resources from other countries. Specifically when it comes to lumber, Chinese industry is literally stealing forests from neighboring Burma and Russia through payoffs and corruption.

To be sure, the United States of America is far from perfect. We buy more than we need, often more than we can afford, and then we dispose if it all to easily. We do not always make the best international decisions. This, and more, does not disqualify us from taking a stand on principle and protecting our current health and future security. Globalism is going to continue and we'll need to trust, but also we'll need to verify. The companies going "global" are not doing it because they have your best interest in mind.

This information was gathered by the folks at Maple Landmark using sources such as AP, New York Times, UPI, Reuters, and Ethical Corporation. They are proud crafters of American-made wood products.

We at Traintopia Toy Shop are proud to have Maple Landmark and Whittle Shortline both wooden Train items that are compatible with Thomas the Tank Engine Wooden Traction Tracks and other items which are covered with a Lifetime warranty and support our nation. To see the products they carry please visit http://stores.ebay.com/Traintopia to see all my items.