"Help I'm trapped in a Chinese toy factory!"

Seriously!

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/06/world/asia/china-labor-camp-halloween-sos/

America has already decided this issue. They would much rather buy Chinese goods stained with the blood of children than pay a penny more.

In reply to 1988RedT2:

But haven't you heard how great and cheap the torque wrenched from Harbor Freight are??

1988RedT2 wrote: America has already decided this issue. They would much rather buy Chinese goods stained with the blood of children than pay a penny more.

Agreed, it's all about the $$$ nowadays. I try to buy local when possible, USA if not if they prices are within 20% of overseas.

Edit: I try to buy quality used stuff first if possible.

I'm haunted by this video of workers sitting inside a huge press to swap sheetmetal/bowls...

the problem i have is finding stuff that is American made. or even just north-american made.

there are some websites out there that try to assemble the info, but every one i've seen thus far is absolutely terribly laid out and messy. makes it a pain to source them...

Can we honestly say this is a surprise? When entire stores stock products costing $1?

I think we'd just rather not think about it.

Paying people really poorly, or even making prisoners work or is one thing, but torture is a bit different IMO. Both suck, but I think they suck on different levels. One would think if labor was the goal here, then they would at least let the people sleep. Sleep deprivation = less efficient production. it's the "re-education" of political prisoners thing I find the worst.

For the record, no, i'm not surprised.

1988RedT2 wrote: America has already decided this issue. They would much rather buy Chinese goods stained with the blood of children than pay a penny more.

Bingo. Customers at work are always complaining that most of our parts are made in foreign countries, but they sure as hell won't pay the price for American made parts.

... and then complain that there are no jobs left.

ransom wrote: I'm haunted by this video of workers sitting *inside* a huge press to swap sheetmetal/bowls...

yeah, I want to spend 12 - 14 hours a day doing that....

i went out of my way to buy a american made blower "Troy Built" paid top dollar and it has not ran right from day one, and they could care less, i have contacted them several times and they just don't care, they designed and built a machine that just does not work, the issue is well documented on the webrnet and if you post a negitive review on their website they take it down, my wife and i still go out of our way to buy american, i filed a complaint with the BBB and TB answered (prett much) to bad so sad hope it does not make you mad!

Gearheadotaku wrote:

ransom wrote: I'm haunted by this video of workers sitting *inside* a huge press to swap sheetmetal/bowls...

yeah, I want to spend 12 - 14 hours a day doing that....

All it takes is one bad move and they'd be calling ya 'Stumpy'.

Say that American manufacturing faced a revival. What communities would be willing to put the factories on their streets and rivers?

I think part of the problem is the mentality of people who need to work.

50 years ago, people moved from job to job, because they needed to or even wanted to and it wasn't hard to find work.

Nowadays it "berkeley it, I'll get fired and collect unemployment and when that runs out, I'll get food stamps." and basically no one wants to work basic labor jobs. Either leave it to the illegals or let it go overseas because everyone thinks they need to make $50 an hour for putting trinkets together.

Hate to sound like an ignorant shiny happy person, but that's how I feel.

Yeah, we have exported pollution overseas also. Here in the Great Satan there are all kinds of enviro regs (which were much needed, I'm not knocking that) which add to the cost of products. Since people have a tendency to shop for the cheapest item, the combination of cheap labor and nearly nonexistent enviro regs overseas more than cover the cost of shipping crap here to be sold cheap.

That huge Boeing assembly plant in Charleston? That's a final assembly point for parts manufactured elsewhere.Mitsubishi makes the wings, Fuji Heavy Industries the 'wing box' and other panels, the composite fuselage is made by an Italian company which has a plant in Charleston not far from Boeing. There's several plants in China which make parts as well, notably the stabilizer and ailerons.

What gets me, though, is how Apple works so hard to have the public 'face' of their company seem so human centered and 'green', yet their products come from what would be considered nearly slave labor here. They are not the only ones, just one of the most visible and in my view hypocritical. Disclaimer: I bought Apple phones when I upgraded the kid and I, but I can assure you it was not due to their marketing campaign and there's just no other choice but to buy smartphones made in China. I seriously considered Nokia phones, thinking they were made in Finland, but then discovered they are made in China too. Even Motorola gets their stuff made there, at one time they were in Mexico which was at least North American and NAFTA.

The new Motorola X phone is being made in Fort Worth TX which is a step in the right direction. They had to slash the price to get them to start moving though so only time will tell how well that works.

Mitchell wrote: Say that American manufacturing faced a revival. What communities would be willing to put the factories on their streets and rivers?

Detroit, Cleveland, the iron range- there's a lot of destitute places that could use an influx of employment that would probably be willing to take the hit.

That being said- we've done this to ourselves. I hate to say it, but Americans as a whole have no reason to be outraged by this, they're the ones that created it.

In reply to mndsm:

Dead on the money. We demanded cheap, China responded. We have only ourselves to blame.

In reply to Curmudgeon:

Exactly. Americans demanded cheap. They forgot about quality. This entire society is disposable now. I look around my apt and 90% of the stuff I own was probably made in China. Hell, my laptop, was probably made in China, TWICE! And while i've repaired this thing more times than I can count (I spent a lot of cash on this pig, It's going to last) most people would have pitched it in the trash after the screen got smashed. No one gives a piss about where it's made as long as it's cheap.

referring back to the Mike Rowe thread that caused such a row [laugh.....it is punny ]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=686702141339932&set=a.151342491542569.29994.116999698310182&type=1&theater

Mike Rowe said: Does the government have a huge role to play? Sure. But ultimately, the way out of this is not through D.C. The buck no longer stops there. It stops with us. It has to.

Curmudgeon wrote: What gets me, though, is how Apple works so hard to have the public 'face' of their company seem so human centered and 'green', yet their products come from what would be considered nearly slave labor here. They are not the only ones, just one of the most visible and in my view hypocritical. Disclaimer: I bought Apple phones when I upgraded the kid and I, but I can assure you it was not due to their marketing campaign and there's just no other choice but to buy smartphones made in China. I seriously considered Nokia phones, thinking they were made in Finland, but then discovered they are made in China too. Even Motorola gets their stuff made there, at one time they were in Mexico which was at least North American and NAFTA.

From what I have read, China has advanced it's manufacturing sector to the point where it is not only cheaper, but more effective. Need a last minute re-tool to adapt a design change? No problem, the dies can be ready by tomorrow morning. Need a few thousand engineers by the end of the week? No sweat.

Considering the rate at which technology now advances, speed and flexibility are paramount.

Mitchell wrote:

Curmudgeon wrote: What gets me, though, is how Apple works so hard to have the public 'face' of their company seem so human centered and 'green', yet their products come from what would be considered nearly slave labor here. They are not the only ones, just one of the most visible and in my view hypocritical. Disclaimer: I bought Apple phones when I upgraded the kid and I, but I can assure you it was not due to their marketing campaign and there's just no other choice but to buy smartphones made in China. I seriously considered Nokia phones, thinking they were made in Finland, but then discovered they are made in China too. Even Motorola gets their stuff made there, at one time they were in Mexico which was at least North American and NAFTA.

From what I have read, China has advanced it's manufacturing sector to the point where it is not only cheaper, but more effective. Need a last minute re-tool to adapt a design change? No problem, the dies can be ready by tomorrow morning. Need a few thousand engineers by the end of the week? No sweat. Considering the rate at which technology now advances, speed and flexibility are paramount.

Not hard to do when you have a billion people doing what you tell them to do. Communism is beautiful for efficiency like that.

mndsm wrote:

Mitchell wrote:

Curmudgeon wrote: What gets me, though, is how Apple works so hard to have the public 'face' of their company seem so human centered and 'green', yet their products come from what would be considered nearly slave labor here. They are not the only ones, just one of the most visible and in my view hypocritical. Disclaimer: I bought Apple phones when I upgraded the kid and I, but I can assure you it was not due to their marketing campaign and there's just no other choice but to buy smartphones made in China. I seriously considered Nokia phones, thinking they were made in Finland, but then discovered they are made in China too. Even Motorola gets their stuff made there, at one time they were in Mexico which was at least North American and NAFTA.

From what I have read, China has advanced it's manufacturing sector to the point where it is not only cheaper, but more effective. Need a last minute re-tool to adapt a design change? No problem, the dies can be ready by tomorrow morning. Need a few thousand engineers by the end of the week? No sweat. Considering the rate at which technology now advances, speed and flexibility are paramount.

Not hard to do when you have a billion people doing what you tell them to do. Communism is beautiful for efficiency like that.

Yeah, it is. Particularly when those people live like serfs. Speed and flexibility are good things. But at what cost? Google 'Foxconn' in conjunction with 'human rights' or 'pollution'.

All that so we can cheaply surf the Web for pics of lolcats. Sometimes I despair of humanity.

Curmudgeon wrote: I seriously considered Nokia phones, thinking they were made in Finland, but then discovered they are made in China too.

Depends which model, some of their higher-end phones are made in Finland, South Korea or Taiwan.