China Blues

"Merchants Have No Countries"

- Thomas Jefferson

What was she thinking? CNBC commentator Erin Burnett got a huge laugh when her comments on China were broadcast on Jon Stewart's Daily Show. "I think people need to be careful what they wish for in China. If China were to say start making toys without lead in them, or food that isn't poisonous, their costs of production are going to go up. And that means that prices at Wal-Mart here in the United States are going to go up too." Her utter lack of irony blew the audience away.

And yet, she's right. Here's why. We live now in an out of control global economy - one created by a Second Industrial Revolution - with consequences more far reaching than the first. Some of these are well known, such as trading high paying jobs in the West for low paying jobs elsewhere, with trade deficits turning the U.S. into a debtor nation -and China holds the mortgage. But this ongoing global shift also adversely impacts the food we eat and the products we buy. China trade, especially if not exclusively, demonstrates how we further open our borders to imported goods at our peril. This is not xenophobia. This is a price we pay beyond the one on the sticker, when food is grown and processed without regulation or inspection, when goods from t-shirts to toasters are manufactured by the lowest bidder.

For more than 150 years, reformers - from Upton Sinclair to Ralph Nader - have fought to achieve tough regulation of our food, drugs, cosmetics and other consumer products. In 1848, Congress first imposed controls on imported goods with the Drug Importation Act. In the midst of the Civil War, Lincoln helped establish the Bureau of Chemistry, forerunner of FDA. Following exposés like The Jungle documenting unsanitary factories and adulterated food, populist Teddy Roosevelt pressed through the nation's first food safety statute. And during The New Deal, Congress enacted the comprehensive food, drug and cosmetic legislation still in force today.

These and other efforts were intended to insure quality consumer products; they established our safety net. Compliance with such laws requires on-site and product inspection; liability is then imposed throughout the production chain. The absence of such safeguards in China makes production there of goods less costly. The absence of such safeguards too often makes imported goods of inferior quality, presenting higher risks.

During the NAFTA and other "free trade" debates, lip service was paid to imposing labor and environmental controls offshore. This approach was rejected "as protectionism". Well they were meant to protect, alright. They were meant to protect you against poisons in Fido's meal and on Timmy's toys.

Regrettably, we simply cannot rely entirely on our domestic safety net to protect us from hazards we import. First of all, from e coli in the spinach to Vioxx in the medicine chest, enforcement even for domestic goods is often weak and product inspection less than thorough. Agencies like FDA, USDA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission are woefully under-funded and poorly staffed. And they decidedly lack the resources to protect us from the ever increasing volume of goods coming off the ships, into the stores and onto the dinner table. When more than one million imported toys were found contaminated with lead, the government response was to calm and placate, not protect. Just this month, more than 1 million pounds of Chinese seafood - shrimp, catfish and eel - went to our supermarkets despite an FDA "import alert" that it all should be tested for contamination.

And only a tiny fraction of imported goods even get to that step.

So what's an American consumer to do? Use the one power you have, self defense. Be careful of what you buy and from where you buy it. From toys to organic food, there has been a recent and dramatic surge in "buying American". That's a start. But unfortunately, products do not always identify the country of origin. Nor are can we be confident that assurances from retailers like Wal-Mart and Toys 'R Us ( Toys 'R Lead?) are legitimate.

So here's an idea. Institute a "global right to know". In California, often the place of new ideas, we already have laws on the books requiring companies to warn us when products - domestic or imported - present an unacceptable risk of cancer or birth defects. How about a warning on products that present other risks because they fail to meet minimum U.S. standards? Companies should be required to certify goods are safe. If not, tell us. If the warning is lacking and the product proves dangerous, then make the seller responsible for substantial penalties and a return of the purchase price. Let the market work.

Why punish the U.S. company? Why not the Chinese factory owner? Because it is Wal-Mart that took the manufacturing offshore and brought the products to us - they have a duty to insure product safety.

Unsafe workplace conditions translate to unsafe consumer products. The absence of adequate labor, health and environmental controls, together with cheap labor (Chinese toy workers make about twenty-five cents an hour), allow U.S. companies to garner even higher profits. The absence of such safeguards puts these workers at enormous risk; consider what the ambient lead exposure must be in a Chinese toy factory. China Labor Watch, a New York based human rights group, this week issued a report finding widespread labor violations in toy factories, including child labor, mandatory overtime, unsafe working conditions, and abusive managers. This is only the latest in a series of such reports by nongovernmental organizations this year. A market driven more level playing field would benefit workers and consumers alike.

If you went to a restaurant and were a victim of food poisoning, you would not return. Not so for U.S. retailers. They will keep going back to the same or similar factories so long as the price is right. It is a matter of business judgment, of risk-benefit. Your risk, their benefit. They have the power to insure safe products - and some do - by imposing tough quality controls in their supply contracts, by rigorous inspection of foreign factories, by comprehensive testing of consumer goods. But many would rather not know what they're selling - or what we're buying. They lack the incentive. So let's give it to 'em with an international right to know.

Comments

[FogBelter]

Couple things I recall hearing that are both interesting and disturbing.

First, in relation to legal actions that American consumers can use against Chinese Manufacturers who provide us with tainted products ... um ... none. There was a spokesman for one of the tainted Dog Food importers who said that even the importer didn't have legal recourse against his Chinese supplier ... that aspect of the trade agreement with China was never formalized because China, being a communist state, has a different legal process than the United States. Suing suppliers isn't a straight forward, easy process. So all of these American importers are where the litigation stops.

I also recall that a component of the WTO agreement states that any law that impedes trade between two nations has to be removed, or the Nation with the Law is in noncompliance with the Treaty and subject to penalty. If that is indeed the case (and I welcome correction) then it's hard to see how any of our consumer protection laws can be enforced against China in the first place. Seems like a sneaky end around was pulled on the American consumer there.

[blu2purple]

In our White House right now whe have what exactly what is "wrong" with America right now. Take a good look and THAT is it. That administration has dimantled this country from stem to stern in no time flat. I have heard an estimate of 30 years to fix it. I can't help wonder goes through his mind when he looks our troops in the eyes. Or their families. Do you think he has any guilt when HE sits down for his holiday meals? Just think if 2 elections ago Kerry had of taken his rightful place as president. How diffent would thousands of people have at Christmas? How different would it be? How would our country look today? Would all of this HATE be in the air EVERY SINGLE DAY...

Would China own our country.

[Zhonni]

Outsourcing, what a brilliant idea! It enabled companies to sell cheaper goods to Americans while shipping jobs overseas.

What happens when Americans lose their jobs and can't afford the cheap goods?

Is it not better for Americans to get payed higher so they can afford the higher priced goods anyways?

[nativist]

It's terribly easy. Refuse to unload boats or container ships from China. It would require massive support of the Longshoreman who would idle the gantry cranes. As we saw in Poland, revolution began at the docks. No lengthy hearings in Congress, no silly corporate platitudes to endure. No, this way, the problem is solved. Now.

I understand Wal-Mart might be discomfitted. But you see, Sam was proud to market and distribute merchandise "Made in America". There used to be banners saying so in the stores.It's time his children, (some of the wealthiest people in the world)returned to that philosophy.

It could be the domino that starts the process. Opinions anyone?

[researcher]

The main point here is that the American middle class is trying to maintain its standard of living in our shrinking economy and one way to do that is to buy cheap goods at wal mart. Then we blame the Chinese for inferior products, typical American the bully blame game.

The bigger picture is the shrinking wealth of the middle class. And when the dollar drops like a bomb on Iran that mc Cain wants to drop to help him win the pres. (pun intended but poor choice I suspect) the middle class will become our new budging lower class.

Yes middle class Americans line up to vote into office repubs that work to benefit the few: them.

if there is a dumber group of middle class in the industrialized world than Americans I have not found them. And yes I have traveled the world.

[Overd0g]

Given that "middle class" is a statistical designation, if enough "middle class" people move down to lower incomes, that will then become the new middle class.

[meandmagoo]

How about we blame every friggin' federal level politican since Nixon who has enabled these assholes to run roughshod over the American economy?

Fuck Walmart,I want a piece of all of those outsourcing globalist cocksuckers who've stabbed my country in the back.

[steamboat]

Well, make sure you kick them with those NIKE's (made in Viet Nam) you are wearing.

[Purple Girl]

Here's a thought-
Try to buy only locally grown products. Encourage more Farmers markets from out lying areas to come in, If you already have one Farmers market (Detroit) Set up a second and third for conveneince to the community. Mayors should be competing with the global distributors for products before they are exported to other states & countries. Perhaps being global is a mental exercise not a economic demand. I don't want my strawberries from South America- Their indiginous in my own state. We save no real money when you add up the overhead costs to get it here and the shotty inspection processes. We may find we generate jobs with in our own local communities- What happen to the local Butcher ? Most people would rather have their own store than live in a factory,weith no guarantees for the future. I may miss some seasonal products- but I won't die.

[dadw5boys]

Good luck. Small Farmers are losing money because of all the high cost of the diferent chemicals it takes to kill the bugs and get a crop to market.
Consumers are so mis-informed.
These FARMERS MARKETS are a joke. Most of them don't even own a farm. They buy the fruits and veggies wholesale and your paying retail dummies.

[gulopartisan]

That's the revolution. American farmers are being bankrupted while agribusiness "outsources" our food, a security issue vastly more significant than our dependence on foreign oil.

Reagan's handlers taught us that the only measure is the bottom line. We are finally beginning to comprehend the stupidity of this dogma, but the question is whether we are intelligent enough to act on our new knowledge.

[emerywood]

The problem with massive importation of inferior but cheap Chinese goods is the elimination of producers of similar but better quality goods in this country because of price competition. It is unlikely that production that had been lost would resume in this country because of some defective imports. It is perhaps essential to ensure the quality of imports before they are allowed to enter our markets, not after.

[rich1107]

Where do Mercedes-Benz and Range Rover manufacture their autos, you know the ones the elitists love to drive? Some countries had better sense than to ship all their manufacturing jobs to China. Capital is free to roam the globe, but unless we want to become Bedouin, labor has no such option. Fair Trade; not free trade is what we need.

[steamboat]

And who are the elitists? Your entertainers (Warren Beaty comes to mind) and your athletes you all worship (Michael Jordan comes to mind). So do you criticize these two and the countless others? I bet you don't. With all of you, the blame is all on WalMart and Bush, right? Hey, who does those NIKE commercials (now made in VietNam)? All your favorite basketball players. Have you criticized them? I bet you haven't. And finally who signed those one-sided trade agreements, WTO, GATT, and NAFTA in '93? And BEFORE the repubs took control of the House. Hint: It was NOT Bush. It was President Clinton. So where is your criticizm of him?

[dadw5boys]

STEAMBOAT, did you miss that REGEAN's FREE TRADE agreement started the whole thing?
HERE IS THE LINK. THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION!
http://www.heritage.org/Research/TradeandForeignAid/EM371.cfm
ANOTHER
http://www.freetrade.org/node/299/print
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,149386,00.html
I could go on and on but you love to attack Clinton and that will not change.

[steamboat]

PS: Why even Mr. Liberal film-director Spike Lee was in one of those NIKE commercials once. Remember? So have you criticized him?

[yellowdogSC]

All true.

And I find myself envying anyone living in a "geography" in which their ideas have impact and/or meaning.

In a small southern town I have ACTUALLY heard the "urban myth" phrase from a Wal-Mart manager, "Why don't you just go shop somewhere else", (and NOT as a question.)

This same store once informed me that they had placed a forgotten bag of MY merchandise back on the shelf for resale, and that I"d have to start all over.
This AFTER an immediately placed phone call advising of the situation (AND of my status as disabled), during which they REFUSED to take my name to ID the bag, which at that time was still in their possession.

And I'm going to do WHAT, exactly, to make my opinions heard?

Still, I agree with everything said, and I do what I can.

Thank you.

[talak]

With all the focus on how unsafe imported products can be to American consumers, we lose sight of how these products are affecting the people who produce them. We are just learning now how devastatingly polluted China has become, although we have known for a while how labor has been abused in that country. I think that much of the blame lies with the media that is just now reporting on the poor environmental and labor conditions and with ourselves, because we often support politicians on the basis of their publicly-designed "personalities" instead of their policies.

It is remarkable that the results of 150 years of fighting for tougher standards in the U.S. have been undermined to a good extent by the corporate-written trade agreements that have been supported by members of both political parties. The brand of capitalism that we are exporting will, in the long run, do little to bolster the security and image of the U.S.

BTW, an excellent documentary on labor abuses at one apparel plant in China was shown on some PBS stations last April (although in my area, the program was buried at 1:30 a.m., a slot that had few viewers).

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/chinablue/

[ShanghaiGuy]

I worry that most Americans are willing to give up some degree of product safety in exchange for marginally cheaper prices on consumer goods.

After all, if Americans were willing to give up millions of jobs for that reason, why not give up a little product safety?

On the other hand, product safety poses a more direct and tangible threat than potential job loss, so maybe the connection between purchasing decisions and their consequences can be more readily made.

[backhandpath]

Why are you guys always apologizing for Chinese cut-throat labor practices? Blame Walmart? Oh please.
That is an easy target to distract attention away from how China, the largest labor union in the world, is crushing our own hard won labor and safety standards over here in this country.
Do not look at what China did in Tibet.
Do not look to what China did in Tiannemen(sp) Square.
It is ok. China is just going through an industrial revolution.

[dadw5boys]

WHY blame only Walmart. The U.S. Government actually paid people to move production overseas.
Neil Bush took plane loads of people to China and got paid to do it.

[gulopartisan]

This is not about what's Ok in China, it's about what's Ok in the US. One of the many appeals of "globalization" is that it pushes responsibility out of reach, it makes the perpetrator a nice, inaccessible abstraction -- China. Let's punish "China." Well, in China they personalized the perp and executed him.

Try and execute a few US CEOs for bringing poisons into the lives of our children, and let their successors deal with "China." Things will clean up fast. Punishment isn't much of a deterrent if you have nothing to lose, but I think it might work just fine on the 1%.

[maddogbitesback]

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Cheap products flow into stores and homes because there are no pollution laws, no labor laws and no responsibility in Asia. It is like being able to tap into the pre war South. China would be happy to stop pouring chemicals into rivers if Americans would pay a little bit more for the jeans they don't need. They would be happy to produce whatever you want but you have to be ready to pay more.