Wake up Americans. Every time you buy Chinese goods 'cause you just looooovvvvvvvve them low prices, and you just love them low mortgage rates, you're doing a deal with the devil.Ah, who cares if China kills their daughters. Who cares if they arrest their dissidents. Who cares if they manipulate their currency, and ours. Who cares if they caused our housing bubble. Who cares if they enslave their workers. Who cares if they mind-control their people.
Who cares about anything these days?
Shame on all of us.
You can do something about your own behavior, and who you choose to spend your money with, or you can keep on keeping on. Your choice. Me - I don't shop at the unchecked Wal-Mart monopoly (did you know 80% of their vendors are Chinese), and I don't knowingly buy anything Chinese-made.
Slave brick-makers liberated in China
BEIJING: A thousand children may have been sold into slave labour in central China, enduring maiming and brutality in primitive brick kilns, state media said.
Owners maintained discipline at the illegal prison-like kilns with fierce dogs and thugs who beat the children at will, state television said. One had accidentally killed a child with a shovel and buried the body at night.
An army of 35,000 police in northern and central China had so far rescued 217 people, including 29 children.
But state television said many more might be trapped, making bricks for little or no pay in brutal conditions in Shanxi and Henan provinces. As many as 120 suspects had been detained.
"Now our conservative estimate is that at least 1000 minors from Henan have been trapped and cheated into back-breaking work in these Shanxi brick kilns," a reporter from Henan said on the current affairs program Oriental Horizon.
47 comments:
I only go to Wal-Mart for ammo and that's made in the USA :-)
I know exactly how you feel. That's why I try as much as I can to buy European or from the America's. Or at least from those countries in the America's that are democratic and have a free trade policy.
The idea is not nationalism, but to be play ball with those that play ball with us.
Keith you sure sound dumb when you talk like that. In the 1930s the US tried isolationism. Great results huh?
I don't knowingly buy anything Chinese-made.
BULLSHIT. You cannot buy anything not made in China these days. Try buying simple things like cookware, a grabge can, a garden hose, etc. Doesn't matter if you go to Walmart or Sears or JC Penny or Kmart or Home Depot or Linenes N Things....everything is made in China.
All Walmart does is sell Chinese crap lower than Sears sells their Chinese crap. You hate Walmart for the same reason all socialists hate Wamart: they are successful. They make money. They dare make a profit and as we all know profit is a 4 letter world for socialists.
Here's a radical thought - especially for over-consuming Americans who spend every weekend running around to stores buying things.
Don't buy things.
Got it?
Ask yourself, every time you are about to buy something new, if you need to buy it. And if you do need it, instead of buying it new, go buy it used on ebay.
You'll be amazed - you can actually live without buying new things. And especially new things from China.
Really.
And with all that money you save buying new things, here's another radical thought.
Go do things.
Live life.
Experience life.
"Keith you sure sound dumb when you talk like that. In the 1930s the US tried isolationism. Great results huh? "
No one said "isolationism", you dumb ass. We are talking about getting screwed by the games china is playing.
Second, like most neo-cons, you don't know the facts about the Great Depression and what caused it.
Only people afraid of China are weak, insecure and of course racist. If Walmart bought everything from Germany none of you would be complaining. Much like if instead of undocumented citizens being primarily from Mexico they were from Sweden you wouldn't be complaining either.
"Shame on all of us."
Folks it's the elites against the rest of us. If you care one bit about America, give to Ron Paul because America is going to Hell in a handbasket before our very eyes.
keith said...
Here's a radical thought - especially for over-consuming Americans who spend every weekend running around to stores buying things.
Don't buy things.
Got it?
Ask yourself, every time you are about to buy something new, if you need to buy it. And if you do need it, instead of buying it new, go buy it used on ebay.
You'll be amazed - you can actually live without buying new things. And especially new things from China.
Really.
And with all that money you save buying new things, here's another radical thought.
Go do things.
Live life.
Experience life.
Amen! They don't say the best things in life are free for nothing. Life is all about the journey and not the destination.
Forget about materialism because it's painfully obvious where that philosophy is leading us.
>> Here's a radical thought - especially for over-consuming Americans who spend every weekend running around to stores buying things.
Keith,
I live here in Columbus, OH. Wal-Mart, Lowes, Home Depot, the major shopping mall (Easton) - all PACKED on weekends. Traffic is almost unbelievably heavy, despite gas prices. The RE market is stagnant - not much selling, and sellers still not budging much on prices - ie. we're nowhere near the "drama pricing" stage, assuming we ever get there.
If you, or anyone, has any idea of how to single-handedly bring down a housing market (and economy with it), please let me know.
honestly keith i don't care. i love walmart, i love the cheap prices, i couldn't care less what happens in china. yeah i know i'm a mean nasty sob, oh well so be it
China is the most evil country on earth, and that's saying a lot, because there's much competition for that title.
I am 100% with Keith and Spectre of Deflation.
Americans should read Thoreau's Walden again (little explanation for some of the trolls on this blog: it's an object called b o o k, which is a lot of pages between two covers, usually to be found in stores where there are many of them): "Simplify, simplify, simplify - no man should count more possession than his fingers"
But some here on the blog probably would treat Thoreau a socialist too.
How come Americans express their freedom and values only in excess consumerism? If one tries to live a simple and honest life, at once one is labeled "socialist". All little McCarthies out there: Spend more than you have, or you are un-american. And when you go down the drain, ask for a bail-out from the otherwise evil government. Solidarity is good, when the stupid Socialists pay for you.
How many Chinese bricks are for sale at Wal- Mart? These were probably for local consumption.
But it makes for good socialist propaganda - hey - China is COMMUNIST! Just the way Hillary and Obama and the dems want to run America...
Marky Mark
I have to chuckle at your proclamation that you don't "knowingly" by anything made in China.
Just about everything is made in China.
You buy clothes? China or other 3rd world country.
You buy sunglasses? No? You don't own a pair? Good 'cause they're Made in China.
Any electronic item? Your laptop? Even if not made in China, that power cord sure is. Your cell phone? MP3 player? Made in China.
A pen to write with? Made in China. Eating utensils? made in China
You cannot escape purchasing essential items made in China.
It took 35,000 police to find and free 217?!? Talk about ineffective.
And the illegals who work in the fields here are different? They live in shacks provided by The Man, and if they don't toe the line, they get their ass whipped. Did you know that W-M lets employees buy stuff against their paycheck? The poor bastards don't even get a discount.
"I owe my soul to the company store..."
Good luck not buying anything made in China. Pick up the first 20 things you own today. At least 15 of them were made in China.
Your options are buy Chinese goods or don't buy anything.
HEY, those bricks aren't gonna make themselves!
A shovel to the head in China is considered birth-control.....or foreplay!
I'll grant you that it's not easy to not buy things from China.
But when is doing what is easy doing what is right?
Make the effort folks. It starts with you. And taking the easy way out is what's gotten America, and the world, into this mess.
And above all, stop buying things. That's the easiest way to make sure you're not buying Chinese.
Hey, I thought no one had slaves anymore!
It was just ol' whitey in the good old USA!
Now get those reparations!
Don't bother, Keith, because only 17% of the American population has a bachelor's degree, while the high drop out rate is above 60% theses days. The message won't get through.
Local Walmart has a sale on 'Hand made brick' in the gardening dept!
Should they be called 'blood bricks'????????
I am sure you believe there should be rules on how to cut the empires just above the knees, just like there are laws on how to conduct beautiful and purifying massacres to build the empires.
>> It took 35,000 police to find and free 217?!? Talk about ineffective.
Well, those 35,000 guys had to drive there - and you know how Asians drive, right? :)
I went to Petco, and could only find two items not made in China. Everything else, outrageously expensive, probably cost pennies for the company to purchase. It was infuriating. Even cat brushes were made in China. What a rip. And why do I suspect a lot of this crap is potentially toxic???
Business people in general appear to have no conscience, no national loyalty, no concern for human rights or animal rights or anything other than profit. Have people always been this way, or are we seeing the utter corruption of the entire planet?
"
honestly keith i don't care. i love walmart, i love the cheap prices, i couldn't care less what happens in china. yeah i know i'm a mean nasty sob, oh well so be it "
Neither do I, but buying wallmart hurts America.
First, let me tell you that I love your website. I am in complete agreement with most of the points you make and your website though a bit emotional, does provide good info. But this post doesn't make any sense to me. You want to stop buying products from China because they abuse their workers? That statement is wrong on so many levels, I don't even know where to begin. Let me try to list them rather than writing a thesis. 1. Workers being abused is their own problem. We have no rights or business in telling them how to run their country. Who are we to judge them morally? Have you looked at the news lately? Civil rights era? Racism? Slaves? etc... 2. If they can produce goods at a fraction of cost, it's dumb not to buy from them. 3. If China's economy goes under, so will US's. The minute China stop buying dollars and our mortgage backed security, we are screwed!!!! 4. Even if we stopped buying the China goods today, the impact will be minimal. Chinese are finding new markets everyday. And on and on.....
Anon 12:23 said ...
"Much like if instead of undocumented citizens being primarily from Mexico they were from Sweden you wouldn't be complaining either."
As if twenty million illiterate Swedes even exist. Your comment is idiotic. I guess Mexico exporting its poverty and misery so we can have it ss a good thing in your view?
Germany does not use child slave labor; neither does Sweden. Mexicans working here (many of them children) actually do constitute slave labor, which this country is supposed to oppose.
Why is everyone so worried about China? All you have to do is look at Japan. China did not learn a damn thing from what happened to the Japanese and they are facing a similiar fate. Japan tried manipulation of all kinds, currency, trade, you name it. They bought American land, lent America money. Japan has been trying to dig itself out of a recession for more that ten years now and THEY still haven't learned. The only country being screwed here is China. I don't think Asians understand western culture and how we take of advantage of them. They may think they are juicing us, but watch what will happen. They will be left broke and in worst shape than ever before, while the good old United States keeps chugging along adding another country under it's control via economic and military assistance.
Long live the Empire!
Just sit down for a second and contemplate this:
We are being economically demolished by a country with FOUR times as many people as the U.S., making virtually every consumable produce we use...
All the while doing it living at 1/4 (or less) of our living standard. Many times working under forced labor conditions.
Four times at 1/4, think of it!
In effect, in order to match this equation, each and every productive wage-earner will need to experience EIGHT TIMES reduction in living standard to reach equalibrium.
The Chinese have embarked on a program of economic ATTRITION against us using these highly advantageous asymmetric numbers.
If you read Chinese publically announced economic and military doctine, you will find they make no secret of this. They have time and numbers on their side, plus the patience and experience that of a country 1000's of years in existence. Both which the U.S. has neither.
Americans are completely stupid to these facts and totally asleep to the ramifications of what is happening.
Simply go to Google and type in; 'China' and 'Asymmetry' and educate yourself!
Keith says:
"Don't buy things.
Got it?
And above all, stop buying things. That's the easiest way to make sure you're not buying Chinese."
Grow your own food too because most of it comes from somewhere else.
You don't need those nasty home furnishings, sit and sleep on the floor, no pillows, blankets or sheets.
You must stop watching those TV's. Just throw them away because they came from China and you don't want to sell them being from another country.
Don't buy a newspaper, the pulp comes from Brazil.
And while you are at it, stop using your computer too, it was made in Taiwan or Japan.
If you rent, you are renting a home or apartment made from foreign products. You better start sleeping outside, but you can't use a tent or sleeping bag or a stove, they are all made in Mexico.
That car you get to work in, 95% of it is foreign.
Don’t eat, don’t live in a building, and don’t drive, no electronics, stop listening to music, most of it is alien.
Just walk to the woods and sit on the ground, that way you can be sure you are not buying anything or using anything from another country. Eat dirt and worms, they are domestic.
Anonymous said...
Anon 12:23 said ...
"Much like if instead of undocumented citizens being primarily from Mexico they were from Sweden you wouldn't be complaining either."
As if twenty million illiterate Swedes even exist. Your comment is idiotic. I guess Mexico exporting its poverty and misery so we can have it ss a good thing in your view?
Germany does not use child slave labor; neither does Sweden. Mexicans working here (many of them children) actually do constitute slave labor, which this country is supposed to oppose.
June 18, 2007 5:48 PM
Boy you are not very bright if you missed the point of the original post.
Anonymous said ...
"Boy you are not very bright if you missed the point of the original post.
"June 18, 2007 7:15 PM"
I didn't take it as sarcasm, but then, again, the writing is very murky. To be effective, sarcasm has to be unambiguous. I doubt many reading your comment would know what you're saying. The first sentence is a disaster. Did you mean to say, "But, of course, people afraid of China are weak, insecure, and racist..." which would have clearly been sarcastic, especially if you'd used quotes around the pejoratives? By opening with "only," you've created garble capable of being read at least two ways.
Sorry I missed your attempted humor, but I read it the way you wrote it.
got an oil filter wrench at WM the other week, they had one made in china, one made in USA. different types, but i decided on the USA one which was $8 as opposed to china $4 one. the thing was just two metal bars with a nut holding them together. killed my hands, no grip on it for the filter...needless to say i returned it. got something at autozone i have no idea where it is made.
but i tried to buy USA.
i agree with the others though, it's impossible to buy anything from those chains not from china. the petco comment was so true. all those dog toys, marked up 3000%, $7 for a 3" piece of rope? it's funny to imagine those strip malls called something like 'kingstowne center' with walmart, toys-r-us, bestbuy, petsmart etc. it should be called 'china central'
You know what Keith you're right. Add India to that list, and the middle east, they treat people much worse than China, who Really needs oil and cheep goods from those who mistreat other humans. Lets add Mexico and all third world contries who's citizens do not have the same standard of living and same human rights laws as the US, we should not allow them to have income. Actually many US firms have bad policys too so lets boycott them. I cannot think of any producer who I would agree with on every subject so I'm never going to purchase another product from anyone.
The next time we need to wipe our butt lets chop down a tree for the paper. When we are hungry lets fetch berries (when in season), or have a medical issue just rub some dirt on it so we don't support anyone who has a different lifestyle.
Don't blame Walmart for providing a means for a higher standard of living for less money.
To do this shows a lack of intellect and if you do you better be living in a cave without ever have buying a product.
Please try reading Economics 101.
home depot used to sell mostly made in america stuff when they first opened, but it is a long time ago now...most of the stuff there is made in china and most of the chinese tools are just plain junk.......i wouldn't have one of those pieces of crap.....
walmart is a good place to buy guns and ammo...
clinton gave china most favored nation status and then gave them our nuclear secrets so they could get up to speed fast in the military department...but it is all a plan anyway.
When searching for the truth don't just ask where the money had been laundered, but also where the money had been created.
It is easier to find blame in a problem that can be easily seen, but when you dig deep enough you will find the root caused.
China is a problem but not the root cause of the problem. Because the money is flowing in and out of China just like the money is flowing in and out of the United States, but currently it is not created there.
Look to the creation of the money.
Stop that and you stop the most of problems.
Here's a radical thought - especially for over-consuming Americans who spend every weekend running around to stores buying things.
Don't buy things.
Got it?
Indeed - Use Less Stuff!
None of this silly recycling, or choosing "green" products, or "made in America" labels, or whatever - just don't get junk your not really going to use! Duh.
So naturally, i went to the bookstore, bought a copy and had the author autograph it!
Most (like 60%) of the crap that comes from China is actually from AMERICAN COMPANIES that outsourced their production. Increasing shareholder value, you understand?
Of course it's more effective to blame the Chinese than our "own" corporations.
Keith, you glasses are definitely tained. RTFA: kids are rescued!
would you rather have China start fixing their problems or just stuff their heads in asses like Bush Co.?
"Only people afraid of China are weak, insecure and of course racist. If Walmart bought everything from Germany none of you would be complaining. Much like if instead of undocumented citizens being primarily from Mexico they were from Sweden you wouldn't be complaining either. "
You are one dumb f*ck liberal!
Yes, it is almost impossible to completely avoid buying items made in China and other countries who have these hideous conditions (hell there are even workplaces in the US with these conditions), but I make a serious effort to avoid buying too many of these products that were manufactured on a large scale and too far from where I live. I think buying more locally is the key.
I don't shop at most of the big stores and can honestly say I've never spent a dime in W$$$$$t. There isn't even a W$$$$$t anywhere close to where I live. It would take way too long to get out there, and anyway most of the stuff they have is cheesy. I could get better quality items at a dollar store. Sorry W$$$$$t fans. I buy a lot of antique furniture, and so it is old as hell and has usually been made in the USA or Europe. I also buy furniture from local craftsmen. I do buy A LOT of clothing, my closet looks like a store, but I try to stick with brands made in the US or that have decent working conditions for their employees. I buy a lot of food from local farmers and farmer's markets.
However, I do have a foreign car (and I really need to give up the car for a bike). I do have Japanese and Chinese electronics, though they are few. I'm sure there are plenty of other things I own that are from outside the US, but as I said before, I try hard to keep it local. It can be expensive, and I know that not everyone has the finances or even the desire to buy from craftsmen and smaller businesses when the big stores have a lot of inexpensive stuff. Merchandise from China generally comes cheap, but buying one expensive item that will last a long time, benefit a local craftsman/business, and thus strengthen the community has got to be better than going to the big, cheap stores and buying a hundred ugly knick - nacks that all break down within five years and don't add anything to the scenery.
Agreed in general on everything except the currency issue... Americans have this weird idea that they have a right for the Chinese to operate their currency in a beneficial manner to the US. When a state issues currency, it can set its price whichever way it wants to, unless it specifically decides to float it on the open market.
A good idea would be to just cut back on the rampant consumerism. People don't NEED that much crap.
Personally as a European, I prefer keeping my purchases European as much as I can simply because I prefer the way we run our countries and I don't want it to be sacrificed on the altar of "competitiveness"... one needs to consider the totality of the effects of one's behaviour as a consumer, just as much as in this China case here.
It never ceases to give me a chuckle to see the state of "communism" the Chinese are in... seems like they are in need of a brand new workers' revolution ;-)
Keith, you are right, we should stop buy anything Made in China, so we should boycott Wal-Mart, Target, Nike, GE, HP etc. The owner of all these company want to make bloody profit, so we should also blame the owners, not only the big fat rich cat, many pension funds ( 401 k, IRA ), personal investment are also own these dirty company stocks making bloody money, we should also boycott that. Let's do it, Keith. Do you own any of the dirty funds, stocks?
It is not like exploiting an illegal workforce to turn a profit don't exist in the US.
US Justice Department - Operator Of Bay Area Pizza Parlors Charged With Harboring Illegal Alien Workers From Brazil
The Legal Newswire - United States Attorney Scott N. Schools announced that Glenio Silva, the operator of two Bay Area pizza restaurants, has been charged with hiring illegal alien workers from Brazil and arranging for many of them to live at the businesses. These charges are the result of an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency and the DMV Office of Investigations.
Glenio Silva, 38, of Fremont, California, is alleged to have staffed two restaurants with unauthorized workers from Brazil, paying them in cash to conceal their illegal employment and avoid paying payroll taxes. “Last week’s enforcement action is part of ICE’s continued effort to investigate employers who facilitate the hiring of undocumented workers,” said Charles DeMore, special agent in charge of the ICE office of investigations in San Francisco. “ICE will use every tool at its disposal to target businesses that exploit an illegal workforce to turn a profit.”
In addition to the charges against Silva, four of the Brazilian national workers illegally employed by the restaurants are being charged with federal identity theft. The workers allegedly assumed the names of U.S. citizens and used that information to obtain identification documents from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). George Valverde, Director of the California State Department of Motor Vehicles said, “The security of our customers’ identities and personal information is of paramount importance to the DMV. By working with our law enforcement partners, the Department helps apprehend and fully prosecute any persons who threaten that security.” Two of those workers using the names were arrested during the operation. The remaining two workers charged with identity theft are still being sought.
Mr. Silva was arrested late Friday, June 15, 2007 at one of the two restaurants he operates, Monterey Pizza in San Francisco. Criminal search and arrest warrants were also executed at a second establishment Silva runs in Hayward called the Pizza House. Mr. Silva made his initial appearance in federal court in San Francisco on Monday, June 18, 2007 and was released on a $75,000 unsecured bond. He and his wife were ordered to surrender their passports. Mr. Silva’s next scheduled appearance is at 9:30 a.m., on July 11, 2007, for a Preliminary Hearing before Chief Magistrate Judge James Larson.
The maximum statutory penalty for harboring illegal aliens, in violation of Title 8, United States Code, Section 1324(a)(1)(A)(iii) is five years and a fine of $250,000. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
A complaint contains only allegations against an individual and, as with all defendants, Mr. Silva must be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Denise Marie Barton is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Wilson Wong. The prosecution is the result of a four month investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency and officers from the DMV Office of Investigations.
http://lawfuel.com/
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