To honor Uncle Sam, patriotic Americans buy Chinese

[jamotto]

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - Need a plastic White House? How about an "I love Washington" sweatshirt or a Stars and Stripes for the car? Well, thanks to communist China, you won't break the bank.

As Washington simmers over trade and currency spats with Beijing -- policymakers need not stray far to test America's addiction to the fruits of China's great economic leap forward.

Little more than a flick of a patriotic frisbee from the White House is a cornucopia of tourist kitsch, at knockdown prices courtesy of low-wage workers halfway across the globe.

Tourists can choose a "President of the United States" baseball cap, with a pirated official seal across the front -- good value at 12 dollars.

Or plump for a pewter-style handheld statue of Abe Lincoln or a model of the US Capitol for eight dollars.

Even more ironic is the seven buck scene of one of the quintessential moments of American mythology, the raising of the US flag by marines at the World War II battle of Iwo Jima.

In one of the most patriotic nations on earth, each of these pieces bears a "Made in China" sticker on its base.

And given that according to latest statistics, Washington hosted 16.4 million domestic visitors in 2003 compared with only 0.8 million foreigners -- most of them are being snapped up by Americans.

Only a few garments have a "Made in the USA" label, and some of those were woven in the Dominican Republic with American material.

Hardly anyone is priced out of the market: a dishevelled homeless man patrols the streets in an " FBI" shirt, made in Vietnam, and a matching woolly hat.

Happy with the flow of affordable goods, many Americans are relaxed over their point of origin.

Marilyn Beatty, from Northern Virginia, says her out-of-town visitors love the tourist stalls dotted around downtown Washington.

"I use them a lot, a real lot, I just like that it's cheap," she shrugged, when asked whether she is concerned that most stalls hold goods from China, Vietnam, Taiwan or the Dominican Republic.

"A lot of the stuff in Wal-Mart and Target comes from China," she said, referring to cut price megastores, which hawk everything from baby clothes to baseball bats and books to barbecues.

Judging by crammed store aisles at weekends, half of America is in on this Faustian pact.

Customers have saved billions of dollars and pumped up consumption over the last decade, fuelling growth, creating retail jobs and empowering a commerce lobby, which shepherded trade pacts with Vietnam and China through Congress.

That's little compensation though for a production line worker in Detroit or a textiles laborer in South Carolina whose jobs migrated offshore.

US textile firms, which have already declined to 600,000 employees, could stand to lose another half million jobs following the removal of a worldwide textile quota system this year, union officials say.

US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez Tuesday introduced new safeguards on four new categories of Chinese textile exports permitted under World Trade Organisation rules.

But right outside the windows of his Commerce Department, tourists leafed through piles of Chinese, and Asian-made shirts, on a stall that also features "Made in China" Saddam Hussein playing cards.

And days after Washington rebuked China for a "highly distortionary" currency system, tourists could celebrate with a 100-dollar-bill mug, fired in Chinese kilns priced four dollars.

On Pennsylvania Avenue, just down from the White House, China is beating America with its own flag, if not its own game, at a store called Political Americana.

A pile of fabric Stars and Stripes in bags emblazoned with a sticker "Made in China" is by the door.

"It is ironic that at a time when the domestic industry is being destroyed in the United States, people are buying these flags made in China," Mark Levinson, chief Economist of the Union of Needletrade and Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) told AFP.

Controversy also erupted when it emerged that some yellow ribbon car magnets honoring US troops in Iraq were also made in China.

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[Cruis.In]

is that sad?

[Darkling]

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Originally posted by Cruis.In:

is that sad?

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The US is by far the RICHEST country in the world, with the lowest unemployment, the Biggest Homes, the best and SAFEST cars, the lowest polution of any industrialized nation, the most open spaces, the most disposable income, I could go on and on.

It is BECAUSE of the fact that we have free and open trade that has allowed us to become so rich and powerfull, so do I think it's sad... NO.

Oh and by the way, for those of you who say that Japan's Unemployment is lower, read this, clearly if US methods were used their unemployment rates would be about the same as ours, possibly even higher.

[Guest Remo Williams]

That is mostly correct except for the following.

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the best and SAFEST cars, the lowest polution of any industrialized nation

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All though we do make some excellent cars there are some foreign cars with better performance and safety ratings.

As far as polution we stand a head above the rest mainly do to the age of the factories and equipement that were still using.

[Darkling]

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Originally posted by Remo Williams:

That is mostly correct except for the following.

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the best and SAFEST cars, the lowest polution of any industrialized nation

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All though we do make some excellent cars there are some foreign cars with better performance and safety ratings.

As far as polution we stand a head above the rest mainly do to the age of the factories and equipement that were still using.

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Who sells safer cars than in the US? What other country in the world requires all the crash tests, Air bags, safety restraints and so on that the US requires?

As for the age of our factories, the older factories produce MORE pollution, not less, it's because of our environmental requlation that keeps us clean, look at the USSR, their aging factories are an environmental nightmare.

[Guest Remo Williams]

I'm not going to look up the facts for you I have other things to do right now other than be a teacher. TheyÔÇÖre out there for you to enlighten yourself just do a search.

I learned of the actual pollutions stats while studying for my Bachelors. Unless the numbers have changed drastically in the last ten years were still the worldÔÇÖs user polluter extraordinaire. Although I hated studying sociology since I have no interest in the area, it did provide a wealth of useless information IMO.

[Darkling]

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Originally posted by Remo Williams:

I'm not going to look up the facts for you I have other things to do right now other than be a teacher. TheyÔÇÖre out there for you to enlighten yourself just do a search.

I learned of the actual pollutions stats while studying for my Bachelors. Unless the numbers have changed drastically in the last ten years were still the worldÔÇÖs user polluter extraordinaire. Although I hated studying sociology since I have no interest in the area, it did provide a wealth of useless information IMO.

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While we are one of the worlds biggest polluters, (being that we consume something like 70% of all the worlds products) we do have the highest air quality when compared to all the other industrialized countries. Keep in mind that there are a lot of things still very legal in other parts of the world that are not allowed in the U.S. ... Things like Leaded Gas & Paint, DDT (an insecticide), CFC's and a plethora of other items that I'm not going to go into for now, the point is, you get up everyday and you don't have to worry about the world around you poisoning you to death like in some other countries.

[Guest Remo Williams]

I have no idea what the air quality is like in other parts of the world so I can't debate that.

Since the air is actively moving around the globe with the jet stream who can actually tell whose pollution is poisoning these areas if they are indeed poisoned. IÔÇÖm sure thereÔÇÖs someway to monitor the flow of pollution around the globe IÔÇÖm just not aware of it.

Since I really have no interest in this area I'll leave it to the rest of you to discuss.

As far as China and the trade balance there must be some changes or the whole of western civilization is going to suffer from it in the long run not just the US.

[Darkling]

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Originally posted by nomad:

1) Carbon dioxide emissions from the consumption of petroleum, natural gas, coal, and the flaring of natural gas = USA first worldwide position.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy Annual, 2002, and International Energy Outlook, 2001.

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While this is true, there has been an exponential growth in the oceans of Algae to counteract this, so it's not necessarily something that we have to worry about. Remember Plants NEED Carbon Dioxide.

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Originally posted by nomad:

2) Estimated number of years of life while healthy, as defined by the OECD. Estimates for 2001. After Japan, Australia, Canada & 16 EU countries among the first 21 positions, the USA is classified at 22.

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Don't really know enough about this area to comment

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Originally posted by nomad:

3) Litteracy rate. USA position 68, just in front of Kyrgyzstan... Source: CIA World Factbook, March 2005

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And College graduation rates are #1, so I guess we go both ways on this one.

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Originally posted by nomad:

4) Business efficiency. USA position 38. Source: International Institute for Management Development (IMD).

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This can be very decieving, there are many enterprenuers in the USA that run businesses that don't really make "Sense". Like 3000AD, is it very "Efficient" to run a company that works on basically 1 product for decades, of course not!, but why does Mr. Smart do it, because it's what he loves to do and he makes a decent living at it. Does it have to be terribly efficient, not necessarily.

I'm another example, I have a company that I've run at a loss for the past 2 years, that I finance primarily with another company that I own. Why do I do it? Because I believe that within 3 years I can make it profitable. Now if I lived in the EU where there are SOOO many rules and regulations on hiring employees, would I have attempted this.. Hell NO!!! But here in the US, if this business doesn't work out, I can always file for Bankruptcy and move on to my next venture. Not terribly efficient, but at the same time it's an engine for massive Job Growth

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Originally posted by nomad:

5) Unemployment. USA position 141 of 192 surveyed nations. Conclusion: 51 nations exhibit better figures. Source: CIA World Factbook, March 2005

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Again, you have to dig deeper in this. Some examples:

-- In the US, if you are layed off for whatever reason, you are counted as unemployed.. not so in many other countries.

-- In the US if you have a Job Offer, say IBM offered you a Job that you will start 30-60 days after you graduate, you are counted as unemployed until you actually start working .. many other countries count you as employed.

-- In the US if you answer a survey that you've stopped looking for a job becuase you couldn't find one, they don't take you off the unemployed list for at least 45 days, whereas in other countries they take you off the unemployed list immediately.

When you add all these factors together it gives the US a higher overall level of unemployment than many other countries, but that's not all.

Consider the fact that for years Russia has always claimed that they had Full employment, there was no such thing as unemployment there becuase if you didn't have a job, they would just stick you in somewhere to sweep up, that didn't change the fact that you had to wait in a 4 hour line every week to buy a loaf of bread.

Consider the fact that Mexico has had only about 5% unemployment for the past few years, but it doesn't change the fact that over there you get a job paying you a dollar or 2 a day, and you're considered employed (even though that doesn't even cover the cost of basic living, like rent, food and the like)

I noticed that MANY countries that supposedly have better unemployment number than the US, (such as South Africa & Thailand) Actually have a huge contigent of their populace living in squalor.... but hey AT LEAST THEY HAVE A JOB RIGHT!!!

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Originally posted by nomad:

China:

Regulations have to be explicitely designed to cope with the issues caused by China. Free trade is an euphemism if production costs don't give you any chance to compete. The only ones who benefit are retailers who don't give a damn where they buy their stuff as long they can resell it with a benefit, even if this implies the closure of half your industry. By the way, I will never laugh enough thinking at all these missiles aimed at Taiwan financed with US money...

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As for the issues caused by China here's what I have to say about this. We are all citizens of this planet. I think that if by me buying a Chinese Item a Chinese guy gets a job, so what. It keeps our levels of inflation at such low levels that it allows us to have a much better life than the average Chinese guy. If someday we make it possible for all those people in China, Thailand, Mexico and all those other countries to live half as good as we do, than hooray for us. I understand that this means that people will lose their jobs over it, but hey, shit happens right, who knows maybe one of them will start an inefficient business and get a bunch of their old buddies that they used to work with employed. It's what I did after my employer closed her doors.