Boycott China and the Olympics!

Yes, the overall quality of Chinese goods has improved because now American companies DESIGN much of what the American public consumes from China.

Indeed American companies bear MUCH OF THE BLAME for letting inferior goods into the US. Their lack of oversight and quality control of products they order from China is just another way THEY MAKE MORE MONEY!

That's one reason they source products from China in the first place, because they don't have to pay supervisors $15-20 an hour to oversee production, or managers enormous salaries to ensure only quality materials are being used.

Everyone outsources from more shady, cheap suppliers who nobody oversees. Thus everyone saves money, and consumers either lose their lives or take much larger risks.

As far as the safety of goods goes, America still has a long way to go itself. We still produce the least efficient transport vehicles on the planet, but America doesn't care.

The safety of America's products has gone DOWNHILL fast during the Bush's Regime's tenure. We now pollute our own air and water far worse than we did just 20 years ago. Blame Bushit and Corporate America for that.

So on the one hand it might not be fair to blame the Chinese for all this, but on the other hand we must start somewhere, and China being the largest supplier to the world right now is the most important place to start.

Any improvement in the working and living conditions of Chinese people will benefit all people in the world. And if China can one day match US quality (it won't take much improvement), then there will be that much more pressure on US businesses to match China or fail.

If we can't stop Corporations from running the world, we can put OUT OF BUSINESS those that are dangerous, polluting, rip-offs, poorly managed, etc.

One thing capitalism does have going for it, is it sorta follows Darwin's "Survival of the Fittest". If a company fucks up it should be shut down.

With communications & technology the way it is now, it should be possible to organize a successful International Boycott overnight!

What we must not allow is laws BANNING BOYCOTTS!

I've seen such a law before, and if they make it into some international law, then it would be IMPOSSIBLE for consumers to shut down malicious corporations using boycotts. It's similar to slander laws.

Corporations would be able to have people arrested for denigrating their products or business. In which case it would be impossible to organize any kind of consumer action against them.

That's why it might be more effective to do blanket boycotts, like one on China. Since you're not targeting a particular business, even a particular industry, the only entity that can take offense is the government.

There too are laws against that. I believe the US has a law whereby if a person or entity says something that hurts the US in a business sense they can be prosecuted for Industrial terrorism or some such nonsense. I think that law only applies to foreigners attacking the US. It may have come into effect since 9/11. Just another one of those laws nobody knows about that can be used anytime our gov't chooses to "get" someone it doesn't like...

 

In case you're unaware, Mattel has accepted ALL responsibility for their products and even APOLOGIZED to the Chinese Gov't for blaming China.

Mattel has its back against the wall, and rightly so.

They recalled millions of toys, losing millions of dollars.

They allowed dangerous products into the US, and distributed them, therefore they are responsible for that much.

They are apologizing to the Chinese because the Chinese have probably threatened to BAN them from China if they didn't.

They will be responsible for any deaths that come about from dangerous toys they've sold from now into the future.

Mattel's goodwill (something that is important to the value of the company) has taken a big hit.

I would call for a Boycott of Mattel products, but they have at least acted in good faith since all this became public.

I might add that it was Mattel themselves, I think who announced the problem (if they didn't in fact discover it themselves) and initiated the product recall. They didn't wait for some watch dog agency to tell them to do it.

So you can't fault Mattel. They claim their specs called for unleaded paint, but the paint supplied to the toy makers had lead. And of course there were subcontractors, who may or may not have been given the appropriate specs.

That's where it becomes China's problem. The unregulated parts of their industries are where the danger comes from. They are getting better.

The problem is that every year we import more and more items from China, so there is lag time before substandard items get noticed.

Fortunately it appears China is very concerned about its reputation and cracking down on the companies that produce substandard goods.

But there are so many things that go beyond individual items or companies. The whole regulatory system in China is corrupt up to its eyeballs. Endemic pollution gets into many products, especially food items.

So China has big systematic problems that aren't going away, and may get worse if they don't take immediate strong action. And don't dismiss China's ability to mobilize and take whatever action is necessary. They have a great history since the People's revolution of dealing with one problem at a time on a national level.

If China decides to crack down heavily on business, say as much as they do on dissent, BIG heads could roll. They have no qualms with capital punishment as a deterrent to others.

That is NOT what a boycott would hope to achieve.

But: "If it's a bloodbath they need, let's get it on..." paraphrasing Ronald Reagan.

 

Here is a letter that disappeared from the Internet today. I retrieved it from Google's cache. It supports a boycott of China. Perhaps it was removed because there's a new story on the website:
http://mizzima.com/mizzimanews/

That says that China is now TELLING the junta to stop the crackdown. Sure, after thousands have been massacred, NOW the Chinese say something. This is after they REFUSED to do so BEFORE the massacres! So it means the Chinese were in TOTAL AGREEMENT to allow the massacres. And now they are "saving face" with this outright BS!

Well better late than NEVER! So does this mean the protests can now continue? Without the Dead Monks, the Dead Students, the Dead Demonstrators?

China versus Burmese monks: Pull the plug on Olympics in Beijing
By May Ng

September 27, 2007 - In another sign of reemergence of authoritarianism, China and Russia once again rejected the call by members of the emergency United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions on the military junta in Burma for violently attacking peaceful protesters, on Wednesday.

The violent and deadly response by the Myanmar Army against the peaceful monks and the people, should come as no surprise, since the Amnesty International, ILO, the UN, Human Rights Watch, Earth Right International, Refugee Legal Aids organization, International Committee of the Red Cross, all have testified that the Myanmar junta committed brutal crimes against the people of Burma while the world was not watching, with military and economic support from China, Russia and India.

China, the most vital supporter of the Myanmar regime, makes it plain that it will not take responsibility for what is happening in Burma, preferring to respond that the atrocities in Burma are none of China's business as long as they take place within Myanmar's sovereignty, and together with Russia at the UNSC, refuse to take meaningful action against the brutal regime.

China claims that it does not share United States interest, especially when it comes to human rights values. And even if the US is not a reason China points out that it is merely competing with India for Burma's vast natural resources. The two giant neighbours also like to point out that Burma is handling its own problems with a typical hierarchical paternalistic Asian value and the western countries, which do not understand Asian culture, should keep their hands off Myanmar's affairs.

This week's events in Burma sadly confirm the empty core of China and India's Asian value, as the Buddhist monks descend from their sacred ground to the affairs of the ordinary mortals to confront the evils of military dictatorship by upholding the real Asian value at the peril of their lives.

The European Union is also preparing to take action and has warned the junta not to use force. Japan which did not support the people during the 1988 uprising is giving the military a serious warning this time, not to resort to violence against the monks. The ASEAN is also warning Myanmar to refrain from the use of force.

In 1988, after killing over 3000 people the military just changed the top leaders and the name of their organization, and began a more brutal reign. The most important lesson political activists and monks are taking to heart is that no matter how many die this time, it is more important to end the military dictatorship.

Armed with the righteousness of their cause and the belief that if they do not sacrifice now the future will bring much greater devastation, the monks and nonviolent protesters are determined to proceed with the peaceful protest, at all cost. They have reached the watershed and they are seizing it.

They have hundreds of thousands of people and monks, coming out to protest and they have decided to risk everything, to cross the finish line. They know what awaits them if they refuse to push on, for they have seen it all since 1988, and they know it is no longer an option.

Finally the monster that China has breathed life into is on a last emergency life support from Beijing.

If China refuses to pull the plug on Myanmar's reign of terror, it is time the world pulls the plug on China's 2008 Olympics.

How long can the world wait before the splendid monks and the people of Burma are free?

 

LOL!

 

Do you remember a long time ago, Walmart's "Made in America" campaign?

That was back when they were really doing their big expansion across America. They got complaints about all the shoddy goods they were selling that were made in 3rd world countries.

So they started this big ad campaign telling everyone that they would now focus on goods made in America. I remember going into their stores back then and they had all these American flags on things made in America.

Unfortunately for Walmart & the American public, even things with American labels on them were found to be made overseas.

Walmart was forced to abandon the whole campaign because it was finally made public that very few of the items they sold were actually made in the USA.

So they LIED, trying to hide the fact that they were buying mostly from overseas. Perhaps their marketing division had no idea when they dreamt up that campaign.

But now that reality might finally come back to haunt Walmart if this Boycott China campaign gains more traction.

But that is what is necessary to bring back jobs to this country, and to make America prosperous again.

We must boycott all stores that sell primarily goods made overseas, esp. China. When these companies are faced with the choice of selling foreign items or going out of business, they may get the message.

Now I'm not saying all foreign goods are bad or shouldn't be purchased by Americans, but we are buying WAY TOO MUCH, at the expense of our own economic future.

Plus China has a lot of reasons for a boycott.