To the Editor: If we wouldn't buy Chinese products . . .
Written by Gary Brents   
Wednesday, 30 January 2013 10:47
All during the election both parties were bashing the Chinese badly and pointing to a lot of our problems being their fault. It seems to me if the American people weren't buying their products they wouldn't be shipping them to us.
Now that the election is over many U.S. businesses and politicians are visiting China to discuss their buying some of our properties and starting up business over here. On one hand that seems like a good idea by putting people back to work but when you realize the profits from those companies go back to China and they use those profits to buy more U.S. property.
I have trouble making sense of this. Years ago I loved visiting Yellowstone National Park to see the scenery and wild animals. I wonder in later years if my great-grandchildren would visit Yellowstone but not to see what I saw but to view and eat at the world's largest Chinese buffet and restaurant?
Gary Brents
Weston
 

Comments  

 
# 2013-01-30 11:01
Speechless........unsure how to respond to this ridiculously ignorant letter.
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# 2013-01-31 13:10
Quoting chuck2013:
Speechless........unsure how to respond to this ridiculously ignorant letter.

Well smarty pants, why don't YOU write a letter then, and inspire us all.
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# 2013-02-07 12:08
Gary has a point. If we all quit buying things from China and Japan and buy American, we would starve their sending power. But people look at price and not the extra price Americans charge.
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# 2013-02-07 12:11
I think Gary is right. Go to any given store and see how many products are made in China or Japan, not many from the U,S,
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# 2013-01-31 22:11
Nunes from CA.has to agree with "Chuck2013" Mr. Brent's comment is "ridiculously ignorant" My guess is Mr. Brent's has never taken a class regarding basic economics or international relations. Mr. Brent do yourself a favor and educate yourself before you open your mouth, or put pen to paper. And come on.. "smarty pants" really? Someone of your intellect should be able to come up with a much better response than "smarty pants" LOL
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# 2013-02-05 06:44
Quoting chuck2013:
Speechless........unsure how to respond to this ridiculously ignorant letter.

Chuck, let me help you understand Gary's thesis, maybe then it will be easier for you to respond. It's simple; "...if the American people weren't buying their (Chinese) products, they wouldn't be shipping them to us". It's your choice! It is everyone's choice, what to buy and where to buy it. My own spin on Gary's writing is that some products just don’t warrant an exorbitant U.S., (Union) wages to manufacture! Unions have driven U.S. Company’s over-seas to find willing workers who can make their products at an affordable rate, so there is STILL room left over to make a profit. There you have it! Would you now like to chime in?
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# 2013-02-05 08:33
Perhaps rather than saying unions have driven jobs overseas by demanding higher wages, you need to ask whether demanding that wages be as low as they are in the developing world is good for this country. It is already the case that a minimum-wage job in the U.S. cannot obtain housing of almost any sort for a small family.
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# 2013-02-05 13:31
Quoting Christopher Williams:
...a minimum-wage job in the U.S. cannot obtain housing of almost any sort for a small family.

A good example for seeking higher education. Far as housing, there are MORE that enough government services (and MONEY) available for anyone CHOOSING to raise a family on minimum wage.
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# 2013-02-07 23:17
No one chooses that. Millions are forced to do so through the economic disparity of capitalism.
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# 2013-02-07 12:18
Chris how do you see that? Are you comparing small wages in other countries where they can live cheaper vs. one can't with lower wages in the U.S. ?
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# 2013-02-07 18:45
When jobs have been lost to overseas locations, it is almost always because the cost of labor is cheaper there. International corporations are working globally, where a dollar is a dollar, and make the calculation that it takes fewer dollars to employ more people in places like India or China. I think many of the people behind the effort to drive down salaries and slash benefits and eliminate unions in the United States think that the only way to get those jobs back is to make the salary scale equally low here. I don't think they care very much about the cost of living. And they will be (and are) the first to complain about people getting food stamps because they can't afford to feed their family on their minimum wage salaries here.
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# 2013-02-07 19:21
Plenty of leftover profit room when you employ slave labor! Some of these idiots won't be happy until their own fellow Americans join the Chinese as slave labor...and the only ones with money are the corporations. They are beingplayed for fools and are too blinded by hatred of unions to realize it....
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# 2013-02-16 15:19
Stupid !!! Unions do not drive manufacturing to China. Greed does. China has poor working standards, poor health standards and for sure unsafe work conditions. As well as low standards for many food products.
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# 2013-01-30 11:50
Tell this to all the BG residents that flock to their beloved Walmart to shop and buy Chinese slave labor made products..
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# 2013-01-31 13:17
Quoting pk:
Tell this to all the BG residents that flock to their beloved Walmart to shop and buy Chinese slave labor made products..

Those Chinese "Slaves" are HAPPY to have the work. Besides they make quality products, and do it WITHOUT corrupt Union interference.
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# 2013-01-31 15:22
Which is why you want to import Chinese labor practices into the United States?

It would get rid of those nasty unions, and grinding poverty is only a minor annoyance, but so worth it!
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# 2013-02-01 16:01
Take a ride around University Admin parking lots and see how many foreign cars are owned by the Upper Class Education crowd. Many of the whinners on this topic certainly don't have a large percentage of products in their homes or driveways but it sounds good. When Lord Williams govenment starts their sweeps without a search warrant to find you guns they should take inventory of all the goods this country purchases from foreign companies. Whirlpool is finally a breakthrough with having tariffs on dumping and have a very successful workforce without Union and their thugs. The Japanese have made our auto industry better due to better operating practices than a focus like schools on entitlements and making companies not competitive. This is the same with education where we are getting our butts kicked by dedication to teaching not money
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# 2013-02-01 18:25
Mr. Caron..you are without a doubt the most obnoxious..judgemental..and sadly delusional man posting here! You are the epitome of the misinformed, Fox news follower. Your hatred for unions..public employees..Liberals..womens rights..gun control and anyone with more intelligence and common sense than yourself is staggering in it's scope! For someone that proffeses to have all the answers..(fed to you by Rush and Hannity i presume?) you seriously need to spell check your run-on nonsensical posts! Your Fascist ideas of what our country should be is enough to give any sane person nightmares. Happily..just like the Republican party itself..your kind is a dieing breed.
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# 2013-02-16 15:23
Spot on !!
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# 2013-02-01 19:06
You are more dedicated to money than learning?
Just...wow.

You make funny statements about the upper class, but we can find your massive Perrysburg house on the internet. HOw many lots IS that 4?
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# 2013-02-08 10:38
Disgusted I appreciate you taking the time to investigate my house. This is a perfect example of the problem with you, Lord Williams, and all the other entitlement suckers on our taxdollars. I have gotten many calls from people stand to lose the home they spent their life paying due to the never endding, constantly increasing taxes to make sure the upper your class has cradle to grave income and benefits. Once you force the older people out of their homes - the homes are then taxed at the new selling price providing the entitlement blood suckers more income an never endding cycle. Very proud moments for the biggest PAC voting block in any community along with all those who are on the feedbag as suppliers to the education system.
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# 2013-02-08 11:51
Please defend your comment that I am an "entitlement sucker" on your tax dollars?

Do you consider salaries earned by people who work in the public sector to be entitlements and not honest work?
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# 2013-02-08 19:59
Why do you care what he thinks?

He is an irrelevant troll. No one agrees with him anyway.

He cries about people being bloodsuckers, or whatever, but he is the very worst kind. He does nothing but take-take-take, and never contributes to his community in any way. I think he hates PEOPLE.

He says he sleeps good at night, but he is too angry for that & we all know it.
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# 2013-02-01 23:19
This is a really incoherent and paranoid post, Phil.
1. Nobody wants to take anybody's guns, and nobody is going to do so without search warrants. I don't read comic books like WND, so I have no idea where you are getting this garbage.
2. How much money do you think professors make that you call them the "Upper Class Education crowd"? Did you know that many of them make less than K-12 teachers?
3. I am a proud owner of a Honda. Made in the U.S.A. The distinction between foreign and domenstic automobiles is not as great as it was when you were a kid.
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# 2013-02-01 23:23
3. There are very fine labor unions in Japan, Germany, and all our competitors in the developed world. In most businesses, union reps are not at all thuglike.
4. As to your last comment on education: yet you oppose paying teachers the way teachers are paid in Japan. Or Germany. Teachers are NOT overpaid in the U.S. Or Finland. Or Korea. Or any place that outperforms us. You wouldn't know educational quality if it ran over your pet gerbil.

Why do you think schools "focus on entitlements"? It doesn't make any sense, and I don't even know what it means. I do think students are entitled to be taught how to tell the difference between good sources of information and garbage ones, something that you apparently never learned.
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# 2013-02-02 12:00
You have no clue Phil...
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# 2013-01-31 16:40
Nice. Doesn't matter how wretched a person's life is as long as it saves you a couple of cents at Wal Mart. You are what is wrong with this country. Begrudge fair wages and working conditions in YOUR OWN country out of hatred for unions..all the while taking advantage of slave labor from foreign countries? Pathetic excuse for a human being....
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# 2013-01-31 16:44
You despise "corrupt union interference" but have nothing against "corrupt governmental interference" in other countries?
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# 2013-01-31 18:08
Do you know that the smog in Beijing is so severe that it has been recommended that people do not venture outdoors AT ALL? Do you get it? It's not safe to GO OUTSIDE due to the pollution from the factories where the "happy" people work. (See story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/31/world/asia/beijing-takes-emergency-steps-to-fight-smog.html?_r=0) If *that's* what you call "happy", then you and I are on different planets. The Chinese are suffering! Even if they aren't technically slaves, they are working in dangerous environments. As in, deadly environments. Does this sound "happy" to you? Would you like to thrust your hands into toxic chemicals every day so that people in a far away land could buy plastic laundry baskets for $0.99? Really. I mean REALLY.
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# 2013-02-16 15:26
Good comments !
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# 2013-02-01 13:17
Kind of funny watching Wall ST. protestors last year using their IPODS made for slave labor in China. The power of Angry Birds in the new world order.
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# 2013-02-01 16:32
Agreed...there are hypocrites on the Left and the Right both...some totally oblivious to what they are doing..others could care less.
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# 2013-02-02 11:58
Chinese quality?I see you have not worked in manufacturing.Remember,you get what you pay for joker..
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# 2013-02-07 12:26
That's only because they haven't come up to par, probably behind us by 40 years. The Union talk is another conversation. There are millions of people who would defend Unions. They may have driven companies to send things to 3rd world countries but they have also made work environments much better. I think people have to go after the CEO'S. They make billions why all the p-ions make the company.
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# 2013-02-16 15:27
You are so right on this !
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# 2013-02-16 15:22
Chinese make quality products? What a joke, you been hiding under a rock? Look at all the unsafe food that is coming to us, they have NO standards at all. Unions are not the problem, Greed of American based companies are.
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# 2013-01-30 13:17
For the first time ever I have to agree with Mr. Brents. You cannot have it both ways. Either you want the Chinese or you don't.
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# 2013-01-30 15:57
Nice racism.
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# 2013-01-31 14:00
Quoting Brian:
Nice racism.

WHAT? Where did you find racism in Gary's letter? That term is used WAY too losely these days.
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# 2013-01-31 15:20
I was not using it loosely. If you really can't recognize how disgusting this letter is, you are part of the problem.

Read the last sentence. Read it again.
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# 2013-01-31 15:24
Also,

"I Love Walmart" is a clear sign of psychological disorder. Talk about contributing to the problem.
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# 2013-01-30 17:51
And don't forget they are Commies. Buy American products and jobs will come back to U. S. of A. That's a fact Jack !
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# 2013-01-31 08:29
not weighing in on the LTE just the "commies" comment: I think it is safe to say that as horrible as Mao was, he is likely turning over in his grave about what the current Chinese government calls "communism." It now is really free capitalism in an un-free controlled society. When I have conversations with my Chinese students about it, they are just as confused as we are.
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# 2013-01-31 10:12
I have been told by someone who had taught english for a year in China, that if you wanted a good job or profession , you must first join the Communist Party.
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# 2013-01-31 15:23
Actually, it is difficult to join the CP. They have set themselves up as an elite class and it is being exacerbated by capitalism.
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# 2013-02-03 08:53
True. It happened in the old Soviet Union, and all the European satellites during the Cold War, which is why when communism collapsed, it collapsed hard: it was barely being followed according to the blueprints. China is currently showing how hard it is to maintain total control over a vast society while promoting economic free enterprise--something that the ideals of capitalism do have going for them even if the political realities of "late capitalism" are often just as corrupt.
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# 2013-01-31 15:24
That is true: my point is that what happens in China today does not correspond to economic model suggested by Marx (well, it never did that) or Mao.

What does the "Communist Party" even mean, if their economic system is so heavily market driven?
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# 2013-02-16 15:28
Yes they will !!
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# 2013-01-31 14:51
I make a conscious effort to buy products that state "Made in U.S.A." on them. I truly do and my only thought on this is that maybe we all should. I know that isn't always possible but I check to see if it's an option every time I buy anything.
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# 2013-01-31 15:26
downthePike, yes I do the same thing.Many jobs are moving back to the states.BTW Gary, good LTE.
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# 2013-02-02 10:40
All your "Made in USA" products are global products now. You are being fooled by labels.
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# 2013-02-03 08:57
The world is a complex and ever-changing, interconnected place. It has been so for far longer than many admit. Discomfort with complexity, abhorrence of change and difference, internationalis m and liberalism, distrust of them all as anti-American and liberal, confusion between clarity and simplicity, are the fatal flaws of the conservative movement.
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# 2013-02-03 09:51
Biggest problem I see is Americans want high wages and cheap products. Can't have both if the products are made in the USA.
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# 2013-02-04 09:38
Biggest problem i see is companies don't want to pay employees enough of a wage to afford the products they are producing...while the top execs and stockholders clean up at their expense....or ship jobs overseas to maximize profits.
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# 2013-02-05 08:35
And then these companies wonder why the economy keeps almost stalling out.
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