hand tools from China

[The Wood Butcher]

If Chinese goods were being traded on an even playing field, I would have less of a concern with their expanding economy, but they are not, and therein lies the difficulty for me, and indeed for Western economies who are becoming increasingly reliant on a clearly dishonest and ethically questionable regime.

According to a program I watched recently we can thank Western Investors for that, not blame the Chinese or call them dishonest etc.
Many Far Eastern Countries that are heavily in debt are in that position thanks to American and European Bankers. China decided they were not going to let it happen to them: and who can blame them?

Shouldn't believe everything that Mr Adam Curtis puts his documentries either... I beleive the thrust of that one was that everything was down to the evil genius that is the obscure fifties author Ayn Rand, and her beyond the grave hold over a generation of tech-savvy American entrepreneurs. One of his problems is that there always has to be a conspiracy theory or shadowy evil genius in the background pulling the world's strings... :roll:

As for the subject at hand, my opinion is that the Chinese state is the enemy, pure and simple, and there is a whole swathe of American and European business "leaders" that should be tried for treason for what they have done to the manufacturing base of the West... looks like I've got more in common with Adam Curtis than I thought.

As I don't like to be a hypocrite I always aim to buy European, Japanese and American products, as those are the countries that I consider to be quality manufacturers. It's possible providing you can afford to pay what is required, but I don't believe in buying cheap and disposable anyway.

 

[János]

Hello,

China is a communist and authoritarian dictatorship... and what you might see as an economic boom is a product of the Occidental societies disfunction... greed is the only driving force in the economic thinking of our societies: maximum of profit with a minimum of work. "Free market" and "every need will be fulfilled by the market" are really harmful myths: Western style industrialized markets will fulfill only those needs which could be fulfilled easily with a high profit rate. I would not buy anything Chinese, as I do not like them, but there are no alternatives, and regulations on labeling/stating the origin of goods/produce have been diluted or abolished by EU regulators, so even to find out the origin of goods on offer is a hard job.
Just remember the field of power tools: even Metabo changed its slogan from "Made in Germany" to "Work. Do not play", and outsourced the production to China...

Bye,

János

 

[studders]

Shouldn't believe everything that Mr Adam Curtis puts his documentries either... .

Having been round the block a few times I'm not quite that naive. There must however have been some degree of truth in the allegations that the IMF loans didn't end up with the people they were intended for?

 

[The Wood Butcher]

Shouldn't believe everything that Mr Adam Curtis puts his documentries either... .

Having been round the block a few times I'm not quite that naive. There must however have been some degree of truth in the allegations that the IMF loans didn't end up with the people they were intended for?

I've absolutely no doubt whatsoever that that was the case, as it is the case with Ireland, Greece and Portugal right now.

 

[Vann]

As for the subject at hand, my opinion is that the Chinese state is the enemy, pure and simple...

I have to say that is my feeling too. It's nothing to do with whether I like or dislike chinese people, I dislike the Chinese state and I dislike any single economy having such dominance.
It's impossible to completely avoid Chinese products, and one has to be realistic, but where I have a choice, I prefer to purchase products from other countries and am prepared to pay extra to do so.

Nuff said.

Cheers, Vann.