I have been ticked off and upset by the flooding of American markets with cheap CHICOM goods for years now, my friend, and have diligently tried to buy American First, and "other free country" second, whenever I could. But the sellout has now become so complete, that some things you may really, really, need are no longer available in anything BUT Chinese. Quick story. I was making Y2K preparations (now stop that snickering!), and I needed some kerosene lanterns and a heater. The only American made kerosene heater I could find was a very used army surplus tent heater, and it required the use of a flue, which I couldn't do. ALL of the new ones in the hardware stores were Chinese. I searched diligently for American made lanterns, and you can still get the famous Alladin, but they were completely out of stock through the Amish outlets, and were prohibitively expensive to boot. I found a guy in Seattle who had a stash of the famous Dietz Lanterns. The old Railroad Lanterns were Dietz, and I was delighted that they were still in business after all these years. Only about half the price of an Alladin, so I ordered one. Imagine my shock when it arrived with a MADE IN CHINA sticker attached! My wife bought me a bread machine for Christmas, and purposely chose an American brand, Sunbeam. I didn't see anything on the box, but there on the machine itself was, you guessed it, MADE IN CHINA!

Now, I'm trying hard, and actually looking, and still getting burned. They've just gotten their hooks in us so deep, and our ability to reach more than a fraction of them so small, that no matter how much we desire it, it probably won't happen. Just think how many air-head consumers there are out there who are only concerned with trends, or styles, or colors, or price, that never even look at where a product is made, or worry about it at all, much less read something informative on the internet! Something bigger than this is going to have to happen to wake these people up, a truly major event of geopolitical proportions. I think a good move right now would be an immediate revocation of MFN Trading status, and some kind of incentive to provoke American companies to bring their businesses back home. Go buy a pair of Converse All Stars right now, because they're shutting down the factory and moving to China! If you move quick enough, you can still get a historic pair of tennies that actually says "Made in the USA" on the heel.
Chuck

: WANT TO CHANGE THE WORLD? If we immediately stopped buying
: anything that was stamped "made in China" we
: would not only stop World War III but put the NWO on
: notice! Think about it! If all of us living in Western
: Nations who rely so heavy on Chinese made goods simply
: refused to buy anything Chinese we could teach not just the
: Chinese a lesson but the rest of the World's 'Politburos'!!

: Wow! Do we have that much power? Only if we TAKE it!
: Esclarmonde