09.17.07
Blame China, Don’t Fix The Problem
Someone from Japan was searching on “China Product Problems” and came to this site. I guess they read my blog article about the problem being the fault of American corporations. I still stand by this. With their race to the bottom, corporations are selling American citizens into slavery.
It is bad enough that their actions destabilize governments in third world countries. The pharmaceutical industry, for example, with the way they distribute medicines, allows needless deaths in Africa and Asia. It isn’t that they are evil or that this is intentional. But their quest to squeeze every possible dollar out of their products outpaces the ability of impoverished countries to purchase adequate supplies. Most of those countries are also full of corruption, so the pure stuff goes only to the favored groups, while others get adulterated or fake medicines, if they get any at all.
This can also be seen in the oil industry, where actions meant to ensure a large and stable supply prop up questionable governments and cause civil wars such as the one that tore through Angola several years ago. In that case, Gulf had a contract to pump oil, which funded the government and attracted the ire of UNITA rebels. In that country, as in a number of others, it would have been better for the local residents if the Western multinational corporations had stayed home.
The continuing problems with lead contaminated toys can not just be blamed on a rogue overseas contractor. The U.S. companes did not go there for the fun of it, or because the contractor’s toys were better. They went there because they did not want to pay American workers a living wage. When a company makes it clear that they are willing to underpay the people who make the products that make them their income, they will surely be willing to cut corners elsewhere as well.
Once you indicate that you are willing to cut corners, there are always some unscrupulous companies and individuals who are willing to help you cut just a little more. Toothpaste too costly to produce? Thin it with a little antifreeze. No one will notice. They were right–we did not notice for many years. It is not even clear that we have really noticed yet.
I challenge you, as I’m challenging myself: for the month of October 2007, refuse to buy products made outside the country unless you can not find that kind of product domestically produced. I am not talking about saying, “The US-made products cost too much.” Neither do I mean a US branded product that may be made in another country. I mean that I want us to attempt to limit your purchases to products produced by laborers here in this country. I think we will be surprised at how hard it will be to find them.
Until Americans once again prefer to do business with smaller, locally-owned businesses [SLOBs] (with local employees and products that are locally produced or at least domestically produced), this will be more and more common all the time. If you care about the future of your nation and your community, then you should devote the lion’s share of your spending to SLOBs and OMBs (owner-managed businesses) in your community.
Scouring the world in search of cheaper labor means that you eventually export the expertise that made your company strong to begin with. It is a strategy without a future, the intentional long-term surrender of our economic independence. By exporting our skilled work, we leave nothing for our next generation, which is troubling if you have a young adult just joining the workforce and finding only low-wage retail and restaurant employment available.
