F**K retailers and F**k cheap Chinese manufactoring.

[Roq]

Target is not much better

Yeah, I was made aware of this after I posted. They'll be on my "Do Not Shop At" list as well because that is the only thing that will have any impact at all upon them. Social conscience means nothing in Corporate America.

[Det_ard]

Around here the big villains are big box stores Meijer and K-Mart. They, and not Wal-Mart or Target, drove hundreds of small businesses in Michigan out of business using an approach similar to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is a johnny-come-lately in Michigan. By the time they got here Meijer and K-Mart had already driven the mom-n-pop stores out of business. Wal-Mart in Michigan has taken share from the other large corporate chains like Kroger, Farmer Jack etc.

[rb336]

The issue with wal-mart is more that they:
a) treat their employees like crap
b) literally forced manufacturers to move production to china
c) were/are the biggest purchasers of sweat-shop child labor-produced goods in the world

[rb336]

update:
Vornado makes some things in Kansas, some in China. my guess is the low-end sstuff is from china

[Detroitej72]

b) literally forced manufacturers to move production to china

Huffy Bicycle Company is the first that comes to mind here.

[Roq]

Huffy Bicycle Company is the first that comes to mind here.

and almost put Vlasic out of business. Fuck WalMart.

[Patrick]

Vlasic:

Therein lies the basic conundrum of doing business with the world's largest retailer. By selling a gallon of kosher dills for less than most grocers sell a quart, Wal-Mart may have provided a ser-vice for its customers. But what did it do for Vlasic? The pickle maker had spent decades convincing customers that they should pay a premium for its brand. Now Wal-Mart was practically giving them away. And the fevered buying spree that resulted distorted every aspect of Vlasic's operations, from farm field to factory to financial statement.

Indeed, as Vlasic discovered, the real story of Wal-Mart, the story that never gets told, is the story of the pressure the biggest retailer relentlessly applies to its suppliers in the name of bringing us "every day low prices." It's the story of what that pressure does to the companies Wal-Mart does business with, to U.S. manufacturing, and to the economy as a whole. That story can be found floating in a gallon jar of pickles at Wal-Mart.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html

[HistoryNotHisStory]

It is nobody fault but our own.

When the American people allowed our government to enter in trade agreements with China, it was over for the American worker.

Did you know that the Chinese can use prisoners to manufacturer products. Many prisons are just light industrial facilities with free labor. We cannot compete.

Now we are stuck. We cannot reverse our trade agreements with the Chinese unless both parties agree. We are truly stuck.


Also, foreign treaties outweighs the Constitution. Read it for yourself!

We the People in order to establish a more greedy union, destroyed our own prosperity.

[rb336]

Also, foreign treaties outweighs the Constitution. Read it for yourself!

.

no, treaties are second to the constitution. after treaties come federal and state laws

[Wingnatic]

Outside of the fact that China uses in the high 80 percents[[materials) , anything they export is produced in China , they only import what they have to . Here's a country that threatened political sanctions with Norway because they awarded a Chinese National a Nobel Peace Prize .... Thats their thing now , threaten everyone with political relations that will be strained :

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow today called for action to stop China from forcing American companies to hand over their advanced technologies as a condition of doing business there. Noting that forced technology transfer is a violation of international trade laws, Stabenow sent a letter to the United States Trade Representative [[USTR) Ron Kirk, calling on America's top trade official to take action to stop China's illegal practices.
"If U.S. companies refuse to hand over engineering secrets, China threatens to deny access to the Chinese market. These types of shakedowns are another example of China's disregard for fair trade and intellectual property, and its willingness to violate trade rules for its own advantage," Stabenow said in her letter. "We must demand that China does not engage in action which amounts to the theft of American-made technologies. If China refuses, I urge to you to take appropriate WTO action to stop this outrage."


http://stabenow.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=448

[Bigb23]

Reverse technology is the future of China. All they want to do is, trump the American military. Otherwise, I would not care, but China has aspirations to be the next world leader. As have Hitler. Sweep the mineral rights you do not have, and reap the benefits. I could be shut down thanks to Microsoft software compromised by the Chinese, but I hope to stay on. Thanks all.

[Bigb23]

Just watching ABC news - and 60% of our apples come from China. Last time I looked, we had a pretty good orchard around Traverse City. Another WTF?

[vetalalumni]

Just watching ABC news - and 60% of our apples come from China. Last time I looked, we had a pretty good orchard around Traverse City. Another WTF?

Doctor says "There is arsenic slipping into our food supply by these imported apples so let's figure it out,"

Other Doctor claims this is fearmongering.

Arsenic in Apple Juice Claim Puts Dr. Oz in the Hot Seat

Published : Thursday, 15 Sep 2011, 5:12 PM EDT

[[NewsCore) - Celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz found himself in the crosshairs Thursday after making an explosive claim on his TV show that there could be dangerous levels of arsenic in many popular brands of apple juice.

Government regulators, scientists and juice manufacturers quickly lined up to refute the charge as reckless and misleading.

The US Food and Drug Administration even took the step of sending a letter to Oz before the show aired to warn him that making his claims would be "irresponsible," ABC News reported. The agency pointed out Oz and his team had tested for both organic arsenic, which is not harmful, and also for inorganic arsenic, which can be dangerous.

Apple juice manufacturer Mott said Thursday that Oz "needlessly alarmed parents in the name of ratings" and affirmed its product was completely safe. Other juice manufacturers also released statements assuring customers of the safety of their products.

On Wednesday, Oz told his audience that research conducted by his team had determined that certain brands of apple juice could be dangerous due to high arsenic levels.

He then made the rounds of the morning talk shows Thursday to defend his research.

"I'm not fear mongering. We did our homework on this risk," he said on "Good Morning America," adding, "Other groups, independent of ours, over the last three years have been publishing reports about this."

"I want to be clear about this. No children are dying from acute toxicity from arsenic. The levels we're talking about are much lower than that," he continued.

"My concerns are about long term effects over years of kids getting arsenic levels that are higher than we can tolerate," he added.

On the "Today" show he said many of the apples used in juice are imported from countries that might still use pesticides no longer used in the US.

"I'm concerned because 60 percent of the apples that we use in apple juice in America do not come from apples grown in this country," he told Matt Lauer.

"There is arsenic slipping into our food supply by these imported apples so let's figure it out," he continued.

"I don't want folks to stop drinking apple juice. I want us to more seriously figure out if we've got an issue with apple juice," he said.

But ABC News Health and Medical editor Richard Besser had a different take. "This is fear mongering," he said on GMA. "It reminds me of yelling fire in a movie theater. I'm very annoyed."

[Jimaz]

Just watching ABC news - and 60% of our apples come from China. Last time I looked, we had a pretty good orchard around Traverse City. Another WTF?

"The beatings will continue until morale improves."

[old guy]

Arsenic can be found in apple seeds. It's a natural thing. So it's actually one of those products that could have arsenic in it and be called 100% natural. Actually even 100% organic. I was watching the kids of my boss eating apples once, about 35 years ago. One of them was eating the seeds. I mentioned the arsenic thing to him and he looked at me like I was crazy.
There isn't anywhere near a toxic level in them, but the body stores arsenic and after a long period of time it could be possible to reach a toxic level if you ingested enough. Not very likely though.

My guess is that in China, they process them in a way that crushes all the seeds into the product.

You have to watch where apple sauce comes from too. A large percentage of apple sauce comes from China too. Buy local apple products.

[gazhekwe]

That's how you make applesauce in large quantities. Quarter the apples and boil them all together until they soften up then put them through a strainer to get all the skin, seeds and core things out. Result, nice yummy applesauce made like my grandma made it. It's pink, too, from the skins being left on.

[Bigb23]

I shouldn't be surprised that my "Mandarin" oranges came from China - but like the phrase "you don't want to know how sausage is made" applies.

[oladub]

"America will NOT be able to revert back to an industrial based economy before a dollar collapse escalates to fruition. It took decades to dismantle U.S. industry and ship it overseas. Reeducating a 70% service based society to function in an industrial system, not to mention resurrecting the factory infrastructure necessary to support the nation, would likely take decades to accomplish."
http://www.alt-market.com/articles/2...-pull-the-plug

The article goes on to say that everything is in place for China to pull the plug on our economy.

[old guy]

What would they accomplish by doing that?

[oladub]

What would they accomplish by doing that?

The sooner the US dollar is dumped and the dollar ceases to be the world's reserve currency, the sooner China becomes the number one economy in the world and China can begin calling the shots. A corollary is that the US will be less able to maintain it's military dominance.

[rb336]

The article goes on to say that everything is in place for China to pull the plug on our economy.

And the most ironic part of that? it is the combination of corporatist dems and reps and the randians and other market fundies who pushed and created the circumstances that have led us here - in the name of patriotism.

[Jimaz]

And the most ironic part of that? it is the combination of corporatist dems and reps and the randians and other market fundies who pushed and created the circumstances that have led us here - in the name of patriotism.

I find it interesting to consider whether the result of that push was a mistake or intentional. That question doesn't seem to come up in conversation very often.

cui bono? I'm thinking the big international import/export/shipping corporations haven't been complaining too much about business lately. But we don't hear much of anything about them.

[rb336]

I find it interesting to consider whether the result of that push was a mistake or intentional. That question doesn't seem to come up in conversation very often.

I do not think it was a "mistake" and i bet if you look at various legislative items they would have been written by the corporate masters

[Steve bennet]

Everyone always complains and preaches not to buy crap made in China, yet you can go though anyone of these people's houses and find all sorts of crap made in China.

Unless you're truly going to do something about it on a personal level and refuse anything made there, be quite and just embrace and enjoy the cheap labor.

[Jimaz]

I do not think it was a "mistake" and i bet if you look at various legislative items they would have been written by the corporate masters

Yes indeed. That cat has been let out of the bag.

• ALEC Watch
• ALEC Exposed

The next question is: how egregious does the deliberate sabotage of the national economy have to be before it becomes an act of treason?