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| Just how cheap are Chinese products anyway? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 15 2011, 02:57 AM (691 Views) | |
| Jim-Bob | Jan 15 2011, 02:57 AM Post #1 |
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Junkyard Engineer
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Are Chinese products cheaper in the store than ones from the US, Canada or the EU? Yes. That is something we know for certain. However, I contend that they are actually more expensive and here's why. The Chinese government has a policy of depressing their currency (the Yuan) in relation to those of developed nations in order to steal manufacturing jobs from those countries. Thus, where once there were good paying factory jobs there are now only low paying service jobs. You may well be paying a lower price than in the past but your wages have also been cut by the huge number of Chinese goods. What we have been doing then is riding the wave down. The more Chinese products we buy, the more jobs we lose and the more Chinese products we NEED to buy in order to cut our costs due to ever lower wages. This sets up a rather nasty dynamic in that new manufacturing technologies are now developed in China and kept there so that within a short time it will be far harder for us to start doing our own manufacturing again. We are now so dependent on China that everything you buy is somehow related to Chinese manufacturing. Something to think about... |
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| superduty5.9 | Jan 15 2011, 10:43 AM Post #2 |
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Metro Defender
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Amen Jim-Bob, I have been preaching this for years. Why don't others see the evil? Wally World is responsible for 50% of this! I hate it but have no other real choice when it comes to shopping . Everything I buy I turn it over to look at the "made in label". Most of the time it says china.One thing I will absolutely not tolerate to be made in any other country other than the good ole USA is the American Flag! I will never ever ever buy a flag made in china. I will make my own first! On a side note the University I go to for night classes doesn't allow it's students to display of any kind or size of a confederate (rebel) flag. It is considered racism. WTF! It has nothing to do with blacks at all! It simply shows your support for the south. |
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| Spock | Jan 15 2011, 11:54 AM Post #3 |
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Live Long and Prosper.
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I'd say that's debatable. The confederate flag represents the states that seceded from the union over the issue of states rights. The MAJOR right they were pissed about was the right to own slaves without the federal government intervening. South Carolina freaked out when Lincoln was elected because he was presumed to be an abolitionist and they felt that they had no place in a society Governed by leader with vastly different ideals, so they seceded and other states followed and bla, bla, bla. Everyone knows the civil war story. The point is that the south lost. Slavery was outlawed and it was deemed illegal for one state to just up and leave the union. Since then we have become the UNITED STATES and to separate the south from the north, in some people's opinion, is to support the notion of slavery and racism towards blacks. I understand that to fly the confederate flag in some ways honors those who fought and died in the Civil War. I had a great-great-great grandfather who fought for the north in the 1st WVa calvary. As much as I honor and respect those men who fought and died for what they believed in, I do not support the south's point of view. The south lost. The rebel flag, to some people, represents hate and slavery and 200+ years of bigotry towards blacks. I can certainly understand that. I am not black, but if I was I think the rebel flag would piss me off too. On the other hand, if you just don't care about any of that and want to fly the rebel flag anyway, this is a free country. Thousands have fought and died to maintain those certain freedoms. Just my opinion. Sorry to hijack the thread. Edited by Spock, Jan 15 2011, 11:56 AM.
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| superduty5.9 | Jan 16 2011, 01:07 AM Post #4 |
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Metro Defender
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Why not ban the Dukes of Hazzard then? Johnny flies confederate flag in his Chevy 4x4. Like it or not it's a part of our heritage. Simply flying it does not mean you're racist. There is a big black dark fella that goes there. He drives a 4x4 Dodge with a Cummins and stacks. He don't like blacks and he flies a confederate until they made him take it down. Anyways we need to stop buying china crap and buy more American products! |
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| Jim-Bob | Jan 16 2011, 01:24 AM Post #5 |
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Junkyard Engineer
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I do not wish to ban the Battle Flag of the Confederacy (The Stars and Bars was NOT the national flag of the Confederacy. It was only used in battle.). However, I do have a gut reaction to it that spells racism just like I do for the reverse swastika used by Germany's National Socialist Worker's Party. Just because I find something offensive doesn't mean I have the right to then have it banned. Too many people in this society think they have a right to not be offended. Go ahead and fly it. Just remember that when you do people will think you are a racist and apply other negative stereotypes to you as well. If you want to be seen in a negative light by most educated people then fly it. As for supporting the South, supporting it in what? The War Between the States may well have had other reasons besides the enslavement of other human beings, but these were the MINOR issues that led to the formation of the Confederacy. Yes, state's rights and state sovereignty may have been contributing factors as was the agrarian nature of the South's economy versus the industrial North. The main issue though was that of Slavery and if it wasn't for slavery there never would have been the secessions that led to the war. Thus, the Confederate battle flag is a symbol of fighting for a particular cause and that cause was the continuation of slavery. Period. Another interesting question then is "Did slavery end with the civil war?" The answer to that is: No! Besides the continuation of real slavery in the Americas until 1888 in Brazil, there was also the de facto slavery systems that were extant in the United States up until the 1960's. These were things such as share cropping (which came to be early in the reconstruction under President Ulysses S. Grant) and also the factory town systems in Appalachia. Both of these systems served to lock individuals to the land or corporation they worked for. As "free" blacks did not own property after the war, they needed a way to make a living. So, they tilled the fields for the land owners in return for a portion of the crops they produced. Naturally the land owners took a large portion of the crops and left the workers with very little. In addition to this the political situation was such as to deny so-called free blacks a voice or place in governing the place they lived in. Thus, they were citizens in name only and denied the same rights that those born with another skin color received by birth. Factory towns were run much the same way. It was set up so that you "owed your soul to the company store". For those who are not familiar, these were essentially mining towns in places like West Virginia. The company owned EVERYTHING. You lived in a company house that you rented from the company. You shopped at a company owned store with inflated prices. You were paid in company money-NOT US dollars. Thus the company had you by the balls. They priced things so that you were always in debt to them and could never catch up. If you died in a mining accident the company evicted your family from the house the next day. They left with nothing more than the clothes on their backs since they didn't own anything. (This is why Martin Luther King Jr's next move was going to be fighting for the rights of poor whites in Appalachia, but he was assassinated before it got off the ground.) This still happens today to a lesser extent in China with companies like Foxconn. Who is Foxconn? It's one of the largest electronics manufacturers in China and Mexico and produces all of the Apple iProducts on the market as well as those of several other big players in the US market. So... has slavery really ever ended? You tell me. Edited by Jim-Bob, Jan 16 2011, 03:11 AM.
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| nerys | Jan 16 2011, 01:28 AM Post #6 |
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Grr
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actually I am pretty sure "actual" flags (not the dollar store plastic stuff) are required by law to be made in the USA. IE your not allowed to import a chinese (or anyone else) made US flag. the mast pole rope etc.. can be made elsewhere but not the flag it must be made here. thats why you will many times see on the package Flag made in USA rest made in China etc.. as for civil war the slave thing was not as big as people seem to think. it was also about economics (which was related to slavery but not racially) and more importantly about STATE versus FEDERAL powers and rights. sadly (from this aspect) the south lost so we got a bigger federal government :-( |
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| Woodie | Jan 16 2011, 07:03 AM Post #7 |
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100% right nerys. The North's threats to abolish slavery in new territories were economic (hard to compete with free labor) and the South's response was economic and states' rights based. Slavery was sort of a trigger for the war, but that's not what it was about. Just like WW1 was not a war over some Austrian idiot getting himself shot in Sarajevo, that was simply the spark that lit it off. The entire country lost the Civil War. The Monroe Doctrine and the effect of the Civil War on states' rights were the very beginning of the overwhelming government we are now saddled with. |
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| superduty5.9 | Jan 16 2011, 09:30 AM Post #8 |
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Metro Defender
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I agree with Nerys and Woodie, the whole country lost. It was terrible for north and the south. People keep bringing up slavery and racism. I never owned slaves or know anybody who did. I don't owe anybody crap whatever color you are! There is reverse racism going on now. There are TV stations, magazines, college funds, quotas, ect., for people of color. If someone started a TV channel called WET (white entertainment) and had rednecks, hunting, mud boggin and only had white people in it's commercials, we would start WW3. When will we just equal? To get back to the original topic, we don't buy enough American products! |
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. Everything I buy I turn it over to look at the "made in label". Most of the time it says china.

7:14 PM Jul 10