"Not Made in China" by Sara Bongiorni

[napi21]

This author was just interviewed on CNN. She said one Christmas morning, after realizing almost all the toys & gifts that had all received were marked MADE IN CHINA, she and her husband decided to try NOT to buy anything made in China for ONE YEAR. It was incredibly difficult, and somethings like tennis shoes for her son took 3 weeks to find.

She did say they didn't spend any MORE money, but that was because there were just so many things they just couldn't buy at all!

[oldgrowth]

1. I remembered reading about that here's a link to it

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1220/p09s01-coop.html

[napi21]

2. The most interesting clip from that article was this:

The funny thing about China's ascent is that we, as a nation, could shut the whole thing down in a week. Jump-start a "Just Say No to Chinese Products Week," and the empire will collapse amid the chaos of overloaded cargo ships in Long Beach harbor. I doubt we could pull it off. Americans may be famously patriotic, but look closely, and you'll see who makes the flag magnets on their car bumpers. These days China delivers every major holiday, Fourth of July included.

[NewJeffCT]

5. In the days after 9/11

My old company gave out small American flags for everybody to hang on their cubicle walls. In small letters where the flag met the little flag pole were the words "Made in China"

[The_Commonist]

3. I opted out of Christmas...

...a few years ago, after my niece gave me a "Global Warming Mug" as a gift. It's got a map of the world on it, and when you pour hot liquid in it, the coastlines disappear. I told my family that that is to be the last Christmas present that I will ever accept. It is THE perfect metaphor for why cheap useless crap like that is so harmful. I just went to the kitchen and looked at it, and it was made in China. I've never removed it from its box, and I will never actually use it.

My niece was about 13 at the time, and that gift was the perfect entry into discussing these issues. She knew that I thought global warming and such were important, and she thought she was being funny. It led to some great discussions, and she's now 17 and fully on board.

Several of us in the family have birthdays in late November and December, so we celebrate the birthday season now. On Christmas day, we now go to a nearby old folks home and perform Christmas Carols. It's much more satisfying...

[Katherine Brengle]

4. Wow...

sometimes I look around my house and see things and just shudder... how did we ever get sucked into buying so much useless garbage?

I try to make gifts for people instead of buying them trash - can't bring myself to gift crap most of the time.

[napi21]

6. We got sucked into it because businesses like WM kept

hammering LOWER PRICES constantly! I have to admit, I'm guilty of always looking for the best deal on everythng I buy, but I was never sucked into shopping at WM!

I remember, year ago, my BIL and his family were stationed in Japan. Their daughter was 12 and I wanted to buy her some piece of clothing for Christmas. I was very determined that whatever I bought, it was going to be made in the USA because it seemed sooo stupid to me to buy something that was made in asia, knowing it was shipped here and then have ME send it BACK! I finally did find a nice sweater, but it took me almost 3 weeks and about 50 stores to find something! That young lady is now 37 years old, so the problem has exdisted for a very long time!

[Coventina]

7. There's nothing wrong with looking for a good deal.

It's just that we might need to adjust the parameters of what a "good deal" means.

[Katherine Brengle]

8. Exactly --

I'm trying to get myself into the mindset of understanding the *total cost* of an item and not just the cost to my wallet.