This Blog was Written in the U.S.
There’s a question that has been bothering me for a while now: Why are we still importing products from China considering how many product recalls there has been regarding Chinese made goods? We’re not talking about recalls such as the one that Kellogg announced recently because the packaging caused the cereal to have a strange taste and smell. We’re talking about recalls on products and foods because they can harm, maim, and kill. Here’s a list of recalled goods from China that were conducted in the last year:
- Shrek glasses sold at McDonald’s because of cadmium, which is a carcinogen and can cause ??kidney, liver, and bone damage
- drywall installed in homes in Florida which emit hydrogen sulfide which can cause respiratory problems as well as cause metal corrosion
- honey because it contained chloramphenicol, an antibiotic, which causes cancer in humans, that was given to the bees because they were dying from that nasty bee virus.
- kids jewelry, zippers, toys, etc. because they contained lead and/or cadmium.
I’m sure if I did a google search, I could come up with even more products. This list doesn’t even include the products from the past five years, such as dog food and crib recalls. Here are just a few issues that our importing of goods from the Chinese causes for both our county and theirs.
Cheap Goods and Services
One of the reasons why there are so many recalls of Chinese products in our country is that the Chinese don’t have the same manufacturing standards that we do in this country. They can use pollutants in manufacturing that contributes to global warming, and they use food and drug additives that go unchecked unless it causes several deaths like in the case of the tainted baby formula. The result of these cheap goods in this country are baby cribs with plastic parts that break and trap infants, killing them. However, what do we as consumers expect. It’s the old adage: You get what you pay for. American’s want to keep costs down and so do American manufacturers, which is why these manufactures have moved their facilities to China instead of keeping their factories in the U.S. where workers demand a living wage and benefits.
Outsourcing of Blue-collar Work
U.S. workers are too expensive for our American based manufacturers. Unlike the Chinese worker, the American worker expects a living wage, health insurance, and other benefits such as 401Ks and pensions. All of these “demands” eat into manufacturers’ profit margins, which they then pass on to us, the consumers, by hiking up the costs on the products we purchase. The result is that an entire “class” of people are losing their path to a good, decent livelihood. Fifty years ago, a man could graduate from high school (or not) and get a job at a factory, and if he was ambitious, could work his way up the ranks from laborer to forman to supervisor, etc. providing a good life for his family and allowing him to send his kids off to college. For a variety of reasons, this path to success is no longer widely available in this country, but primarily because manufacturer shareholders want larger dividends. The first casualty of the larger dividend is the worker, whether it is a whittling away of his/her benefits to an eventual outsourcing of his/her job to a cheaper worker.
Just to be fair, a portion of this problem does belong on the shoulders of the American worker and labor unions and the idea that everyone in the United States should have a college education and that manual labor is somehow below us. But that’s another blog.
Support of Human Rights Abuses
Not only does our purchasing of products from China undermine our own workers, but it also helps support a government that is rife with human rights abuses. China is a communist country. When I was a kid, an American would sooner sell his own mother than support communism. The communists were our enemy. Aside from any patriotic issues that our supporting China evokes, the Chinese worker doesn’t even get the basic rights that workers here in the United States could freely sue their employers for violating, such as having an unsafe working environment, being allowed to organize, being forced to work excessive overtime, and exploitation of child labor. These abuses don’t even cover the social and political abuses that Chinese deal with every day.
What’s to be done?
Hell if I know! Boycott? Sure, but there’s a few problems with this idea. First, we’d have to get practically the entire country to boycott for our action to make even the smallest effect. Second, what would we purchase since the majority of our goods are made in China. And even if it doesn’t have a “Made in China” label, parts of goods or additives in foods that are assembled in the U.S. could be made in China but the manufacturer doesn’t have to list that on the packaging as long as the final product was assembled here. Third, we’d have to boycott U.S. companies as well since they are the ones who choose not to invest in their own country by outsourcing.
Complain to lawmakers to give manufacturers tax breaks to reinvest in the U.S. worker. Phbbt–that’s the sound of me spitting my water all over my partially Chinese manufactured Apple MacBook Pro–because what a ludicrous idea that is. First, these are the same lawmakers that helped undercut the U.S. worker by opening trade with China. Second, these manufacturers put lobbying money into these lawmakers pockets. Call me cynical, but I’m just stating things as I see it. Finally, I can’t imagine the evisceration the Right would give the Left if they even suggested spending more money by cutting taxes.
Obviously, I don’t know the answer, nor do I have one to offer. Maybe someone else can tell me the answer. However, if I’ve helped raise awareness or show the complexity of this issue to someone who didn’t know, then I’ve done my job.
June 30, 2010 10:13 pm 2 Comments
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By JoVE, July 1, 2010 @ 1:50 pm
I heard something on the radio (CBC) the other day about increasing numbers of strikes in Chinese factories. Chinese workers do want a living wage (they currently work 6 days a week, 10 hours a day for not a living wage), better working conditions, etc. And they are starting to demand it. The political situation has shifted enough that strikes are not being repressed by gov’t/police/etc and are often even leading to higher wages and so on.
The story went on to talk about what that means for the Chinese economy, which currently depends heavily on cheap exports. And the people being interviewed talked about it shifting to domestic markets as prices rise and their export markets dry up.
I don’t think the problem is China. The problem is (American) companies and consumers who are willing to compromise quality, the environment, and worker’s safety.
As consumers we can insist on quality, even insist on buying for companies that treat their employees well. Yes, we’ll pay more. And that will mean buying fewer, more expensive, things.
By glenna, July 1, 2010 @ 2:36 pm
I totally agree. Only part of the problem has to do with the Chinese government. The majority of the problem is with the American companies.