In Japan, everything is Made in Japan. From the simpliest things like toothbrushes and office supplies, to the big electronics like TVs and DVD players. They clearly cannot accept substandard products. For some reason, Americans do.

I have no issues buying from any country the only issue with china is thier regluations and QC are for shit...it has nothing to do with anything else...these types of things don't happen in other inexpensive labor areas because non nationals can own factories therefore can impliment thier own QC regulations...this cannot happen in china because unless you are a Chinese Citizen you cannot own land in China plus all factories outside the FTZs are government owned...I have dealt with a lot of Chinese imports and have yet to see really decent and more importantly consistant product from any of my chinese suppliers

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Annoying people is easier than fishing with dynamite

If you are in favor of quality products and American made products, then write your politicians to stop supporting these "free trade" agreements that allow the large corporations to export our jobs to places where children work 18-hour days for $1.00 and avoid paying any taxes when they send the products back to the US to sell.

Instead, as John Edwards and a few other politicians have suggested, the "free trade" agreements need to have certain provisions requiring countries to have labor laws and regulations in order for these agreements to apply. So then you know your child's toy is not being made by an 8-year-old slave in Burma. And yes, it may not cost 59 cents then either. Instead, it will be made in the United States and cost $1.99.

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my experience on X5world when I spend too much
time posting in political threads in the lounge...

See i have no problem at all with free trade agreements I simply have a problem with how China runs it...look at tiawanese and Malaysian goods they have cheap labor AND quality control

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Annoying people is easier than fishing with dynamite

hmm, I'm going to take a look around my desk.
I'm typing this on an Apple Computer, designed in usa, assembled in China. I've got a small bottle of "germ-x" hand sanitizer next to it. Made in St. Louis, MO. I've got a Kleenex box, made and printed in the USA. I have a Texas Instruments calculator, made in China, american company. I've got an iHome stereo, made in China. Let's add in my iPod Case, made in China
Hmm, lets see how well these problems are made, in relation to county of build. My Apple (China) has had some reliabilty issues. My hand sanitizer (USA) is working perfectly. My Kleenex box (USA) is well, a box, but one of the sides is popping out. My Texas Instruments(China) calculator is perfect. I've dropped it a million times, always survives. My iHome's (China) LCD backlight burned out after 7 months of ownership. Otherwise, it's fine. My $30 iPod case, China, is pretty flimsy and scratched.
So, in all, I don't see much a difference of quality in the products on my desk depending on where they are made.

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T

Taiwan does have labor laws. I'm not sure about Malaysia. Are you only concerned with the quality of the goods, and you have no concern for the people who are producing them at all?

I do have a problem with goods that are produced by slave labor, or child labor, and people who are exploited. Things in many of these third world countries are very similar to how things were in the United States 100 years ago. In some of these countries you have child laborers working 18-hour days for 5 cents. And if they get hurt on the job, there is no workmans comp or any sort of liability. The injured employee will simply lose their job if they cannot work, and they will not be entitled to any kind of assistance or help from the government.

So with that kind of cheap labor (no minimum wage, no restrictions on child labor, no safety standards, no fire safety standards, etc.), of course companies are going to produce their goods in these countries. The result is fewer jobs for Americans as these factories move overseas.

In Burma, they have legal slavery like we had prior to the civil war. Most goods that do come from Burma are made by slave labor. Do you have a problem buying goods produced by slave labor? I certainly do have a problem with that, and I think such goods have no place in the American market.

The solution is to have at least some soft of standards in whom we do "free trade" with. We can debate exactly what those standards should be. But to have no standards is simply condoning things like slavery and the exploitation of children.

Having certain standards written into our free trade agreements will force countries like China to conform. Don't complain about China's behavior. Complain about those in Washington who have the power to influence China's behavior, but instead do nothing.

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my experience on X5world when I spend too much
time posting in political threads in the lounge...

I'm with you but what about the greedy corporations that flock to countries like China to make bigger bucks? I agree that on a political level there needs to be more done to protect American consumers and influence China to be more responsible. It's all so convoluted. American consumers want cheap and plentiful goods and corporations what to reduce production costs and increase profits so that all leads to manufacturing in China, Mexico, etc. It isn't solely up to government to hold China accountable. It's every level of the economy that needs to be on the same page.

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It's simple. Our government needs to apply a set of standards to the "free trade" agreements. If a country does not have at least this minimum set of standards, then the agreement does not apply to them, i.e. no "free" trade with them -- goods from that country would be taxed.

The result is that corporations will not be willing to move their factories there if they cannot import the goods back into the US market without having to pay a tarrif. And the end result is that these countries will conform to our standards in order to maintain foreign investment.

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my experience on X5world when I spend too much
time posting in political threads in the lounge...