TheCanuck said:
I dont have a press. I dont go to Walmart, EVER. No, i dont have kids. Yes i try to buy consciously. Also, i didnt say i would never ever buy anything that came out of china, that's pretty much impossible. I said i would not buy something from a company that belongs to the chinese GOVERNMENT.
China keeps f**king us out of jobs with ultra cheap labor.Same with Mexico.Keep buying their products and pretty soon, we wont have any manufacturing jobs left.
There are certain merits about economic protection and personal moral issues. Certainly, we'd ideally want our own country's economy to grow. However, one has to look at how the country grows and how to make use of other countries to benefit us. Some countries put in place legislation to insure the economy of their country is protected from cheaper production costing of the far east. As an example, even your regular box of 100 ballpoint pens that one might find in Germany, is actually made in Germany not China...however it depends on whether the people are willing to pay for it.
The term, wanting to have the cake and eat it too(Marie Antoinette, yes a bit of an awkward paradox) comes to mind...and is very Canadian of the moment. We seem to want to only pay a certain price but expect the quality to be high. Meanwhile, we also expect our salaries and benefits to be equaling as high. So really, can you compete? Actually yes...but it goes with change of economy. It wasn't too long ago that Canada was largely a first sector economy of raw materials and resources, but gradually, we've changed to more and more second and third(services). Our goal should be about increase in expertise/knowledge and ultimately wealth rather than trying to sustain on dying resources. Britain(maybe a bad example given how cuckoo they've been acting) survives today because of their financial advising/consulting/investing and not on things like coal production.
So we as a society have to find that balance. Do we want to sustain jobs in certain areas, and either accept lower wages to compete with foreign imports or willing to pay extra for that domestic equivalent product? Or do we try to adapt and better ourselves in something else?
So, not buying from China is one thing. Quality wise, China is pretty much down to you get what you pay for with no name dropping BS. China's heavy industries has steadily improved and their metals works are very high quality these days. Norinco however is a government company, today however, not all companies are government controlled.
PS-your cellphone is likely either made in China, Korea or Taiwan...
