Opinion: China Isn't Fair, Neither Are We.

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Opinion: China Isn't Fair, Neither Are We.

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uploaded by Lee Lecu

China isn't fair- then again what is; when I see a new industrial revolution developing that takes advantage of it's workers like the US and Britain did to its marginalized citizens in the early 19th century, to provide for exported and domestic consumer tastes I wonder. Mao would be rolling in his grave right now if he knew how many of his people have become crippled in factories and not receiving workers compensation; moreover, the amount of fake antibiotics and other benevolent drugs such as infant formula being produced with no actual medicine or no nutritional value is sickening. Only a few years ago Chinese counterfeiters produced enough fake Similac that over a thousand babies died.

Even here, the made in China products produced for Wal- Mart, Canadian Tire and any other Big Box Mart are an embarrassment. Just ask your local trades person; a package containing Ryobi drill bits used to be known as a good product- now they are made in China. The old ones were Japanese and lasted a framer a lifetime, since they have been produced in China, he/ she is lucky if they last a season. Who cares right? They' re on sale at the Home Depot anyway- go by another package, how many Chinese tool and dye makers lost their hands making those drill bits anyway? Is this a warning sign, and to whom?

Recyclers. Be prepared to see a lot more recycled consumer goods produced quantitatively and unnecessarily. This defeats the purpose of the ideal we are trying to create using less resources to sustain the environment. Why not go back to producing that quality Shop Vac that will last a lifetime, instead of the dispensable Chinese one that will inevitably lead to more consumer waste and a potential industrial injury. Judging from last week's G- 8 meeting this is clearly not the case.

Our economies need to make room for each other- and each side is too self- interested to recognize this. It will definitively be too late in another half- century. Our national self- interests only concern what we can get the cheapest in the short term, and that's just the way it's going to be.

I hope you feel great.
LL