Monday, August 27, 2007

Not Made In China

It's close to impossible. I am not a fan of China: from young children manufacturing fireworks at their school to the pollution they are are trying to hide, to the extinction of rare river dolphins, to the Three Gorges Dam, to the massive toy recall and tainted pet food scandals, to the invasion and occupation of Tibet, to the horror of their fur industry, to their support of the genocide in the Sudan.

Everything is "Made in China", from the cheap crap sold at discount stores, to the iPod on your desk. In a country with so much corruption, and so few environmental laws, I imagine that investigative journalism has only scraped the surface of what's going on in China.

So I try to buy "Not made in China", and it's nearly impossible. I'd seen that Ikea had a new line of cast iron cookware, and when I went to look, I discovered (to my profound joy) that it was Made in France. I spent twice as much as an equivalent Made-In-China set from Costco, but it was worth it. David Ricardo (or Robert Torrens) and his Comparative Advantage be damned, I'll spend more to buy something made in North America or Europe.

1 comment:

Rickahyatt said...

Oh, that's not all.
When the 3 Gorges Dam goes, which it will, so goes about 1 million slave workers in the Pearl Delta Industrial area; Read ALL WALMART PRODUCTS.
And their prime economic weapon against us, which has, after all, allowed so much of their poisoning of our food, toys, drugs, etc. etc.
They started this war; We'll finish it.
Weather Weapons exist.