I suspect Elaine is on a flight to China right now to fight the injustices of Chinese Communism ... or wait ... is she sitting safely in her TownHome (decorated with lights Made in China) near Cambridge, opening Christmas presents (that were Made in China too)?

I was watching one of the financial channels the other day, and a commentator was talking about goods being made in China, and then she blurted out "nothing is made in America anymore" and continued on her merry way. Welcome to the New Economy, where everything is made in China while we all sell the stuff made in China to each other.

Sorry, but I'm tired of "everything" being made in China, and I'm personally dedicated to not buying anything that says "Made in China" on it. I'm tired of being sold out by the New World Order, and I'm not going to support it with my dollars. My biggest gripe is that when I do find something that says "Made in USA" on it, I find myself wondering if it is really something that was made here in the lower 48 or is it something that was made in a "free trade zone" on some island like Guam? Is there any way to tell?

For example, I did my homework, and purchased my SUV and truck partly on the basis of where they were built, and I'm happy to say that both of my rigs were built right here in the USA, although the engines were built in Germany and Japan. Of course, doing this kind of research is not practical for every purchase of every item, but I sure would like to know what products I can buy that I know for a fact are built right here in the USA. Even though they might cost more, it has been my experience that most things made in China don't last too long.

Surely there is a rational explanation for this ongoing debacle, and Kissinger, Snowcroft, Schultz, Haig, Eagleburger, and GHWB will offer it as soon as they return from the bank.

This year I deliberately bought Christmas presents from anywhere but China - it was difficult but I managed to find a number of items which were actually made in the United States.

Ain't "free trade" great?

Well those selfish, greedy little nitwits. Don't they know there's nothing more important in life than cheap products and the new god is "free market"....and the mantra of the lockstep followers is "let the market decide"? (if your workplace should be safe)

Next thing you know they'll want protection from outside sources...like evil unions to protect their interests.

"Mine explosions, factory fires and other work-related accidents killed 47,000 people in the first six months this year, state media say."

I wonder how that compairs with other less developed countries like Korea, Mexico,… Canada (just kidding).

- 47,000 * 2 = approximately 100,000 deaths per year
- 100,000 deaths / 1.3 billion people = 73 deaths per million

Assuming 280 million people live in the US, China's worker fatality rate would generate about 22,000 work related deaths per year. But I see that 6000 workers actually died here in 1998. That puts China's death rate at about 4 times ours. I wonder how that compares to other developing countries.

One problem - you are assuming that the Chinese state-run media is telling the truth.

Unfortunately it was too late, but I kept an eye on the labels and was a bit sad to see so many 'Made in China' under the tree this year. I'll do better next year, I promise!

May be an interesting way to fight a war, or manage a people. Destroy the population through factory labor.

Thanks for the under the Christmas tree insight.Am bookmarking for future reference to use in my effort to publicize the voting record of the current representative of this district.

Perhaps the voters will better respond to WTO information (and the globalists that push the WTO agenda)if that information is couched in a more identifiable manner.

Merry Christmas and God Bless you all.

What do they need a union for?

The are a union.

Here are some links that might help find made in USA products

usstuff.com

BuyAmerican.com

itsmadeinusa.com

Surely there is a rational explanation for this ongoing debacle, and Kissinger, Snowcroft, Schultz, Haig, Eagleburger, and GHWB will offer it as soon as they return from the bank.

Bulls-eye. They're ALL part of the I've Got Mine Club(screw the rest of you losers)

Unfortunately its an attitude many aquired who did so well in the stock market over the last 10 yrs. They will only admit to the real, destructive long and short-term cost to our society, to include the decimation of American Labor Families from NAFTA/GATT/WTO, when their own ox somehow gets gored.

It's a character defect ... I call them SELFISH, GLOBALONEY, GREED-MONSTERS.

Someone ought to ask the President or First Lady when they return from their comfortable family Christmas 'get-together' at Camp David, how many of the presents they had under their tree were Made in USA.

That puts China's death rate at about 4 times ours.

Another way to look at it might be to see when the US rate was 4X what it is now. My guess would be about 1940.

BTW the death rate in the US is 100%, 100 deaths for each 100 people who were once alive, and is not expected to change soon!

"One problem - you are assuming that the Chinese state-run media is telling the truth."

I figured that someone would say that. If you're just going to take an editorial that could have been written about working conditions in dozens of countries and discount the statistics, then it's just an incidental hit piece without support. The labor statistics in many countries are slanted, perhaps in most countries, but one needs a starting point to put conditions in perspective.

I lost the web site, but when I first looked up US death rates I saw an article mentioning how far we'd come since 1918 when the death rates were comparable to what this article reports of China, and I doubt the truthfulness of our 1918 numbers.

Found it: http://www.dol.gov/asp/futurework/report/chapter5/main.htm#1b

"BTW the death rate in the US is 100%, 100 deaths for each 100 people"

{smile} I was told our chances of dying from anthrax are either 100% or zero.

I'm a woodworker, and you can't believe the stuff China is shipping over here. And most of it is crap. I started complaining and querying companies whenever buying tools or machines. "Where is that thing made?"

I noticed recently "Made in China" is carefully concealed on most products. Unless it says otherwise, I assume that is the origin. Lately I've begun to doubt the "made in Taiwan" claim. I know companies that previously manufactured in Taiwan now manufacture in China; Grizzly and Sears are two examples. Also: American stalwarts like Delta subcontract to spec in china. I recently bought a Delta bandsaw, paying about 40% more, partly for the Made in America label. I took it out of the box and looked it over. The bearings were marked: "Made in China."