[Sixstrings]

You’ve probably heard about how free trade has hurt American workers. Maybe you don’t really believe it. Maybe you think that the benefits of free trade – cheaper goods, more choices – outweigh the costs. Maybe you don’t really feel like your job or livelihood is subject to overseas competition. But free trade does affect you. To tell the truth, free trade is probably killing you.
--snip--
Of course, my friend wanted to know what the candy company did with its smelly boxes. According to Russ, they unpacked them all, separated them all, then spread them all over the candy factory to air out, while candy piled up in standard cardboard boxes. When the shaped boxes only smelled so bad that you had to hold them close to your nose to notice, then they paid the workers overtime to fill all the shaped boxes, still smelling slightly of solvent or glue or whatever, and finish the production run and ship them to the large national retail chain, notorious for the pressure it puts on vendors and suppliers to sell to the chain cheaper, cheaper, and ever cheaper.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/12/24/818799/-How-the-status-quo-can-kill:-the-example-of-free-trade

And that's the story of the last major custom-shaped cardboard box company in the United States.

You know, this story of Walmart and "cheaper, cheaper, and ever cheaper" is like one of Aesop's fables. The moral lesson here is so obvious, and yet we're all so blind to it.

Anyway, Merry Christmas eve everyone.

[timmac]

Stories are happening like this every where in America, Ross Perot was right about the Free Trade System, its going to destroy America, more and more and more manufacturing is going to disappear to 0.50 cent per hour labors over seas and nothing can be done to stop it except for a complete change of our system starting at the White House, I would say what really needs to be done but some here will report me to the mods for my Freedom of Speech..

Enough bailouts were put forth to get us thru 2010, wait till 2011 and we will wake up to 50+% unemployed and our nation broke, than you will hear of people in America wanting to work for as little as $1.00 per hour just so they can eat..

[Novus]

When all is said and done "Free Trade" and the willful destruction of America's industrial base will go down as one of the great follies made by any people on Earth. What is going to happen in a few years when the dollar turns into toilet paper and the Chinese refuse to sell us any of their cheep plastic crap anymore? I tell you now we will be just like Africa. We laugh at the Zimbabweans for shutting down all the farms and scraping the irrigation equipment and then printing billion dollar notes to import food. We shouldn't laugh because we are no better and are repeating the same folly. In fact our folly is greater for we had farther to fall then they.

[SILENTTODD]

All "Free Trade" does is it allows a cabal of Marketers and Multinational Corporations to bypass the American Worker, and still have access to the American Market. I have witnessed the “Free Trade” propaganda being pushed for at least the last 40 years of my life.

There has been a concerted effort by Wall Street elites all during this time to eliminate all Tariffs so that they can pocket the difference between what use to be the labor costs of American Workers, and the higher profits they can get from the American Market. They are in effect pocketing the Tariff (what at one time financed the Federal Government) and eliminating the American Worker. You can thank your utterly corrupt two party system for this in America.

[the48thronin]

What none of the blame lies with the people who see "made in china" clearly printed on the label and yet buy it instead of putting it back on the shelf as not worth buying which would FORCE the vender to offer an alternate that was NOTmade in china or go out of business...

interesting the government is at fault... so the government should fix it...... interesting

Help me government I am helpless without you....... interesting

[Novus]

People really haven't had a whole lot of choice in the matter. It is buy the China stuff or bust. If you want American made you have to go to the Flee Market and buy it used. That is why I say we going to be like Africa pretty soon. We live in a disposable society where we don't know what we have until its gone and when it is gone it is gone for good. After having a couple a Chinese toasters break on me in under a year I went back to my parents house and took their 1971 Black & Decker toaster oven that they weren't using much anymore. Still works after almost 40 years and it will last another 40 years easy. They don't make them like that anymore and they never will again.

[IslandCrow]

People really haven't had a whole lot of choice in the matter. It is buy the China stuff or bust.

People really do have a lot more choice then you think:

Regarding the candies try: http://www.who-wants-candy.com/ or any of pages shown by an internet search on "homemade candies".

Of course if you can't do it your self (like me making tools) then the choice is limited-

[Ludi]

What none of the blame lies with the people who see "made in china" clearly printed on the label and yet buy it instead of putting it back on the shelf as not worth buying which would FORCE the vender to offer an alternate that was NOTmade in china or go out of business...
interesting the government is at fault... so the government should fix it...... interesting
Help me government I am helpless without you....... interesting

I find it very interesting also. Why should the change start at the White House, and not at our houses?

[mos6507]

Manufacturing is not a level playing field. It's impossible for a US manufacturer to even come close to offering a product at a price the middle class can afford while paying its workers a living wage. Part of this has to do with the labor advantages in the 3rd world. Part of it also has to do with effectively lower wages since the 70s which has been masked by low priced products. If the US had proceeded the way it should have been since US oil production peaked in 1970, goods (being american made) would be very expensive today and the middle class would have been decimated. We "cheated" this through globalization. What we have now is kind of a hollywood illusion of the prosperity we used to enjoy during the postwar years. Despite that, there has been a steady downward creep. Like in the past you could get by on a one salary household. Now you need both parents working. But we don't bat an eyelash at that because of the women's lib movement. And now with the US automakers being wounded welfare cases, there really isn't much US manufacturing left anywhere.

I really don't know how you remedy this situation without first passing through a period of insolvency in which the major virtual monopolies that dominate US industry are pushed off the stage. There is no way made in america can compete outside of the high end boutique market.

[timmac]

What none of the blame lies with the people who see "made in china" clearly printed on the label and yet buy it instead of putting it back on the shelf as not worth buying which would FORCE the vender to offer an alternate that was NOTmade in china or go out of business...
interesting the government is at fault... so the government should fix it...... interesting
Help me government I am helpless without you....... interesting

I find it very interesting also. Why should the change start at the White House, and not at our houses?

Yes change does need to start there, [home], however try and go shopping at Wall-Mart, Target, K-Mart, Sears and so on and see how much is made here, probley less than 15%, Home Depot and Lowes are about 35% American made and thats shrinking yearly.

To change at home only means you will go without, change needs to start at the top as well because so few will change at home to make a dent in imports, I say lets start with a 10% import tax to pay off our national debt, even though I am against most tax this one I think is far more important than the carbon tax.

[frankthetank]

Just work for the government...

[OutOfGas]

Free trade has destroyed the US manufacturing base and has not benefited the
average worker.

I am tired of buying Chinese junk. I recently purchased 4 Chinese made shut-off valves at Menards and all four were defective.

GE fluorescent bulbs made in China are also garbage. They do not last per published specifications.

It appears that the American worker is hosed !

[americandream]

What none of the blame lies with the people who see "made in china" clearly printed on the label and yet buy it instead of putting it back on the shelf as not worth buying which would FORCE the vender to offer an alternate that was NOTmade in china or go out of business...
interesting the government is at fault... so the government should fix it...... interesting
Help me government I am helpless without you....... interesting

I find it very interesting also. Why should the change start at the White House, and not at our houses?

Problem with the "support your local small trader" logic is that no sooner are the buggers big enough to get the greeds, conglomerate style, they're off to China setting up shop over there. Frankly, I'm pretty damned pissed of that all that stands between our national treasures such as technology and skill, and outsourcing, is the size of the company and the fact that these treasures are privately owned and subject to the whims of the owners of these businesses.

[jdmartin]

Thing about it is it needs to work from the top and bottom.

I refuse to buy any Chinese crap, unless I absolutely positively have to have it and can't get American, European or Japanese made. I'll even look used if I can. On the other hand, it's getting damned impossible to buy American made items.

Example: my cordless drill I've had for years, the batteries are toast. I work on places on my property that it's impractical/impossible to use a corded drill, so I needed a new one. For years, Porter Cable has been my tool of choice - quality stuff that can be repaired and made locally (Jackson, TN). Guess what? Since being bought out, all their stuff has gone to China to be made. OK, I'll look at Milwaukee. Guess what? Same story. Bosch? Same story. Same damn story on every single drill I picked up and looked at in 3 different stores. The *only* cordless drill not made in China was DeWalt, which was made in Mexico. So I've now got a DeWalt drill, despite my best efforts at buying American.

And it's the same damn story on everything. I use an old fashioned 1950's DE razor for shaving and old-fashioned shaving soap. Wallyworld is the only place that carries the blades and soap anymore locally. Which was OK because the blades and soap were both made in the USA. Couple months back I noticed the soap had been replaced with a new brand (wow, made in China) and so had the blades (wow, made in China). I went to another, hardly used Wallyworld and saw the US made stuff was still on the shelf. So I bought all of it. Currently I've got enough razors for about a year, and probably the same with soap. After that, I'll have to buy it all online.

So yes, you're right in saying the people have to demand the goods in order to get them. But even those of use that demand the goods are finding it impossible to get them. Eventually all US manufacturers, and European ones, will succumb to "Low prices, always" because you can't compete with workers making 50 cents an hour.

I always buy the American goods, if I find them. But I can't wait a week or two for online goods for everything, and that's what it's coming to.

[neocone]

So what happens when 90% are unemployed and the only chinese goods moved from stored are *stolen* there?

I sure do hope the chinooks will send us those trinkets even if none will be sold because there will be no buyers... they are obligated to or else we nuke them

[americandream]

There won't be significant unemployment. The lying thieving conservatives in our various Western countries, (who incidentally deregulated global capital) will ensure that we are gainfully self-employed, being the patriots we are.

[quote="neocone"]So what happens when 90% are unemployed and the only chinese goods moved from stored are *stolen* there?

I sure do hope the chinooks will send us those trinkets even if none will be sold because there will be no buyers... they are obligated to or else we nuke them [/quote

[FairMaiden]

In my experience, I have not seen any "lower" prices at Walmart. I don't shop there at ALL. But during a shopping trip with a friend, I entered the store. Hmm...the leapfrog thing I wanted to buy my sonw as $10 more than I'd seen it in another store (I went back but the other store was sold out)...the turtles I bought at another store were 50 cents more (not big but certainly not the lowest price!!). I took a quick look at the maternity section bc I was bored and I couldn't find a pair of pants for under $30. I ended up buying some nice dress pants for $20 at another store.

Is this just Canada? I don't get it? Why does everyone think this place is such a deal??

I worked for a non-profit and we were not allowed to purchase any items from China or Taiwan unless absolutely every other option had been exhausted. Yes, it was exhausting but eventually I adjusted and found lots of great suppliers for things - even another charity with mentally challenged workers to make things I needed.

[MarkJ]

Is this just Canada? I don't get it? Why does everyone think this place is such a deal??

Overall, our numerous regional WalMart stores aren't cheap, they're just convenient, conveniently located and/or the only major SuperCenters in many regions.

To save money on groceries and/or household products we shop at WalMart, Hannaford, PriceChopper, Save-A-Lot, Aldis, Grand Union, Rite Aid, Walgreens, CVS, convenience stores, mom and pops and our commercial suppliers. No single store or supplier has low overall prices, nor a good selection of the products we buy.

Last week, dozens of the items I purchased at a WalMart SuperCenter were cheaper elsewhere, but I didn't feel like driving to Target, Home Depot, Lowes, Ace Hardware, Tractor Supply, Staples, Best Buy or Big Lots to check on prices, variety and availability.

Many of our WalMart stores have less selection than in the past. Some of the aisles are now wide enough to drive a tractor trailer hauling a singlewide mobile home through the store.

[jdmartin]

Many of our WalMart stores have less selection than in the past. Some of the aisles are now wide enough to drive a tractor trailer hauling a singlewide mobile home through the store.

I've noticed this as well and have posted about it on other threads, as well as provided pics. The 'main' aisle in our biggest city Walmart (we have several) is easily as wide as you say - a few years back you could barely pick your way through this aisle for all the loss leaders in the way.

Back to Walmart pricing, no it's not your imagination that a lot of the stuff is the same price/more. Wallyworld gets you by pricing a few things at losses, which no one else can really meet. Then, while you're in the store, you pull a MarkJ and don't feel like driving to 4 other stores, so you just pay the higher prices on the other stuff. Wallyworld is evil but they're damn genius when it comes to human psychology.