Made in Japan...No, China

Summing up all the above posts, I too boycott WalMart, not for annual $10b of purchased Chinese goods, but for their domination of the lower middle class and Sam Walton's multibillionaire greedy offspring. I see the "Ask me for help" signs on elderly grandparents backs similar to the control someone did with a previous generation by making them wear yellow six pointed stars. WalMart is the antichrist. On to a lighter topic...

More unprovoked ranting...I buy value, even it ends up being Chinese, but buy American when all else is equal. I do believe a Chinese made alternative fuel vehicle will be sold in the US within 10 years. It is a global market.

As an aside, Levi's gave up manufacturing years ago...they are a pure marketing, sales and distribution company. All their manufacturing is subcontracted. Their business model is what the big 3 auto makers aspire to have in place 10 years from now. Even if you give up Levi's, I willing to bet Dockers are in your closet.

The Chinese made car Chery is for real...dealerships are for sale now for a cool $2million + similar amount in global investment. (I remember when Toyota gave away distributorships for free). The import of Chinese cars is inevitable. They will skip the cheap and disposable phase that the Japanese and Koreans went through and go straight for middle class American. This will kill off all small, intermediate and full size US badged cars. The Japanese and Koreans will go more upscale, e.g. like Jaguar is currently doing, or to niche markets (trucks, SUVs?), to survive. This has been proven with the photograhy and optics industries, and to a lesser extent, the electronics industry. Cars and motorcycles are inevitably next.

 

Chery... so close to Chevy

 

Wolfy:

This had better *not* be the same Bricklin who took the Canadian taxpayer for an expensive ride with his promise to build sports cars - a la DeLorean - in Atlantic Canada.

Jay

 

No argument from me on that point. Glad you brought it up too.

 

David:

The Chinese learned an important lesson: it's easier to lull us into a false sense of security by offering us cheap crap and cheap credit (Buying our debt). If they tried something like dropping nukes on us, that would be a bit obvious.

Have you seen that commercial for Global Warming? I don't agree with the message, but the point is a strong one: a frog in a Pyrex bowl of water at room temp. If you try to pour in boiling water, froggie jumps out.

However, if you slowly ramp the temperature to 100 C, taking 60 minutes to do so, froggie will sit in the water until he boils alive. We're like that froggie when it comes to trade and MFN status with China.

I fear we've lost that battle even before it has "properly" begun. For example, Chinese companies have purchased a controlling interest in the vast Tar Sands project in the province of Alberta. The ink is already dry, so that deal is done.

 

an atricle in the NY Times says that now even China is not as rosy as once it were. cheap labor is no longer as willing to suffer sweat shop conditions.

Help Wanted: China Finds Itself With a Labor Shortage
By JIM YARDLEY and DAVID BARBOZA

Published: April 3, 2005

NINGXIANG, China - The pipeline that pours young, eager workers into China's manufacturing juggernaut begins in the country's interior at vocational schools like Hunan Top Software.

So it is here in Ningxiang, a 10-hour drive from the factories on the southern coast, that clues can be found to a problem once thought inconceivable: The world's most populous nation, which has powered its stunning economic rise with a cheap and supposedly bottomless pool of migrant labor, is experiencing shortages of about two million workers in Guangdong and Fujian, the two provinces at the heart of China's export-driven economy.

For Wu Dongshan, the job placement coordinator at Hunan Top, the most obvious sign of change is that factory recruiters now come to him, a reversal from three years ago, when he would make the long drive to Guangdong with busloads of students desperate for work.

"We were begging the factories to hire our students," Mr. Wu said. "We had too many students and not enough jobs."

No one thinks China is running out of workers. But young migrant workers coveted by factories are gaining bargaining power and many are choosing to leave the low pay and often miserable conditions in Guangdong. In a nondemocratic China, it is the equivalent of "voting with their feet."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/internat....html?th&emc=th

 

Nope that would be Costco.

 

Copied cars

Quoted "Chery copied Chevrolet's Spark and Honda's CR-V. Each manufacturer who wants to do business in China MUST pair up with a chinese company/partner and MUST share/reveal technology with them (oh I wonder why). Also, your CR-V that you own here isn't called the Honda CR-V in China.. ohhh no. It's the DongFeng-Honda CR-V. Same for other manufacturers but I can't recall the names right now."


They copied the GM "QQ". Virtually identical car. GM's lawsuit is slowing down the process to import the Chery. BTW, DeLorean did more to shaft Ireland (where the DeLorean was built) than Canada. Once he got busted for cocaine, things went downhill fast, including his heavily subsidized factory.