What if instead of sending money to China this holiday season, through Wal-Mart, Kmart, Best Buy, Amazon, Target, etc., we all made a gift and donation to each other’s credit card debt, along with a donation to our favorite real charities?
And now that the Chinese sale of drywall that apparently ruins houses has moved from the legal pages to the sports pages, with the story of New Orleans Saints head coach filing suit, the purchase of "cheap" goods from China is emerging from the financial and political stories to the real world that matters by being on the sports pages and therefore it is now newsworthy. So here are my thoughts on why we should pay off our credit card debt rather than buy stuff from China this year.
Sorry kids, no cool electronics this year.
The President probably could not recommend avoiding "Made in China" products on his recent trip without upsetting the stock market and the various trade agreements and discussions about them, but we consumers can act. I know the Malls and stores will claim such conduct will hurt employment of clerks, shipping company personnel and the like, but we ignored the efforts during the Carter years to turn down the thermostat, and reduce our demand for imported oil. President Carter and his followers were made fun of and all and we all know what the dependence on foreign oil has led to in Iraq. So maybe it is time for consumers to act?
Speaking of which, is it too much to ask that someone note, in public discussion, that while the US taxpayers and future generations are paying for the current wars and the patrolling of the Indian Ocean that the Chinese are expanding their markets in Africa using shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean and around SE Asia, that the US is patrolling and protecting? Has anyone seen any contribution in money or personnel to that effort by the Chinese or even any mention of our keeping the world safe for Chinese trade expansion at the expense to our taxpayers and economy?
Before you attack this as some type of stupid bigoted attack on China, note that the over production by China and the over absorption of their goods by the US and other countries is a topic of debate in such august financial papers as the Financial Times.
In its November 19, 2009, edition, writing about the Obama summit visit, one of its staff writers, John Gapper, noted as follows:
"The world is not big enough to keep on absorbing China’s export growth, and it faces the waning of what Arthur Kroeber, a managing director of Dragonomics, the economic consultancy, calls its ‘demographic dividend."
Mr. Gapper continues, saying:
"Ultimately, China may not have a choice. Its unequal trade relationship with the US has led to the complaints that soured the atmosphere at this week’s summit and, even if it wanted to keep going down the same road, export-led growth would eventually hit its limits."
john.gapper@ft.com
We all are familiar with the stories of lead paint on children’s toys, poisoned milk sold to its own children, recent mining disasters and deaths, sweatshop product scandals involving US designer clothes, and wallboard apparently releasing toxic fumes, but these only seem to matter to the Consumer Reports types and people ignore all this in the quest for cheap stuff and things sold at discounts from what quality products cost. Now, however, the Chinese may have crossed the line when it is a sports name and not just children and nameless, faceless consumers who are affected.
The recent stories about drywall involve New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton and his home in Louisiana.
In an interview with CNN, Payton said about the possibly tainted drywall from China,
"We’ve had 5 computer failures, we're on our 4th hard drive right now. We had 13 air conditioner service calls and three different coil failures. We're on our third microwave oven panel, we’ve had to install a second set of phone lines, and a second alarm system."
The complaints from homeowners against the Chinese drywall have included a sulfurous smell and causing corrosion in wiring and electrical components. Complaints also allege health concerns such as bloody noses, headaches, throat and sinus infections and a Pandora’s box of allergic reactions. Homeowners have registered similar complaints from more than a dozen states.
The EPA has done tests comparing the Chinese drywall to American made drywall, and released the results recently. The tests found sulfur and two organic compounds associated with acrylic paint in the Chinese drywall. These chemicals were not detected in the American drywall. According to the EPA, more tests are needed to determine if the compounds are responsible for the problems reported.
http://www.examiner.com/...
Additional recent stories are found in CNN: http://www.cnn.com/...
The New York Times has covered it also: http://www.nytimes.com/...
Here is a recent AP story: http://www.nytimes.com/...
Of course, some, like economist and writer Paul Krugman, reject the idea that China is a threat. In discussing the Chinese currency and the dollar value, he recently stated as follows:
The point is that the financial press has us scared about all the wrong things. By peddling scare stories about the dollar and the Chinese menace, it’s diverting attention from the real threat: mass unemployment.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/...
Far be it from me to claim to be an expert or be able to debate Mr. Krugman, and I don’t claim the Chinese are a "menace", but I do think that a bit of "Bah Humbug" when it comes to the usual buying spree of this season in massive buying of goods made in China, is a good idea.
We consumers are not able to affect the policies of China or even Goldman Sachs, but we can each control our own spending habits, I hope, and maybe it is time to make a gift to ourselves by paying down our own personal debt and that of our family and friends as our holiday giving plan this year.
Now to explain it to the family!