Made in China ?

[R_W_B]

Much of the worlds pollution is natural, methane from live stock, volcanic ash, smoke from forest fires caused by lighting. ..........

From what I have studied I tend to agree 100% with you on that. I will grant two things.
1. For big city areas, car emissions can make it harder for some folks with COPD to breath because of the concentration.
2. Most of the Global warming stuff (IMHO) is only about making money for certain entities that are world wide, but mostly in US and Europe.

... .. .. We get the fl yer from a big box store here every week & every week they have many items at 50, 60 and 70% off. Now I worked for Ford Motor Comp. and I made a good living and retired when I was 51 and people tell me that the unions have killed the economy in this continent. Are you going to tell me that the big box store is going to take a loss on all these items in the fl yer. I don't think so, the big boxes are making to much profits as far as I am concerned. Just like the manufactures including Harley and Ford and GM. Harley is not a high tech company. I am sure that their R%D department is nothing compared to Honda or Ford. They don't have to develop the safety requirements like Ford, such as air bags, seat restraint systems and roll over protection etc but you can buy a simple car for less money then a Harley.
Ken

Well Ken you kinda lost me on the Big Box Store since I have no idea what that is. I don't have any problem with Ford (since we did not have to bail them out with our tax money).

GM and the others well if they are making so much profit why did my taxes have to bail them out. Answer we never should have. They made way more money than most taxpayers so they should have bailed their own selves out.

I have NOTHING at all against whatever entity making whatever money they can, be it Ford, GM, you or the Unions etc. I think we all should make as much money as we can and live as well as we can. What I was presenting was that ALL entities must be aware of conditions that could run their product out of the country with their costs, OR go bankrupt, and ask me to bail them out. Nobody bailed my Employer's engineering company out when it went down due to lack of work.

Now admittedly I don't have all the answers and at my age I would rather not have to worry about it and just meet you and some others for a ride and a beer and conversation. But I still see things that appear to be pretty self explanatory to me that could help our nation and it's situation. But hey what the heck does an old Viet Nam Vet has been, Redneck White Boy like me know anyhow. I will be glad if I live 20 more years or die tomorrow it's been one heck of enjoyable ride for me both the hard stuff and the easy.

Only thing I know for dead sure is I never woulda thought that me buying a set of cheap gloves from Pakistan would have generated this much interest. If our Florida ride generates this much interest then we are gonna have one heck of a good ride. I owe Bodeen some beer or his lunch, and since you worked for Ford and I didn't have to bail you out I'll buy you a beer too if you give me a shout next time you come down.

Oh and by the way if any of you are buying that media report aired a couple of months ago about GM paying back all of it's loan from us taxpayers, you might want to read this link.

GM's Phony Bailout Payback - Reason Magazine


And thanks to all of you who posted on this thread, as always I love exchanging ideas and learning anything I did not know. Even though I was only really just amazed that China had any real competition. Here's to making Canada and America all they can be, and riden Harleys.

 

[wstalker]

IMHO its all about we. I'm pretty close to retiring so I've been in the working force for a little over 40 years. At work and at play, the big change is our society has become a me society, from the large corporations, to government, to kids. We as consumers can change the world. We as a group can change government. On the other hand when we are all me's we get what what we reap. It's always been the same. For the person who is laid off, I feel bad for you. I'm struggling trying to keep a 20 year old business alive. Do you think WalMart struggles? When I hear of people buying there and expecting the world to change...well I guess you are getting what you asked for...it's changing

 

[lone wolf in canada]

We have the same "Made in Pakistan" leather issues in Canada.
Our big bike shows near Toronto have numerouse leather booths and every one is run by East Indians. The prices vary from booth to booth.
I tried on a pair of chaps and needed a bigger size, he didn't have them, then ran down the aisle to another named booth and came back with my size. The price was higher and he said don't worry it's the same. I never did buy them, I got a real soft lined pair of heavy weight in downtown Toronto leather store from, yes, an East Indian salesman who was kind and knowledgeable and I paid a lot more for them but they're easy to get on/off and very comfortable and don't run in the rain. I bought a coat from him also and never had a problem with the dye running or shrinkage.
I have cheap 1/2 gloves and yes they are water dyed and therefore I got the "reverse Al Jolson " treatment several times. Garbage but they were only $5.
I think most leather bike items now are coming from Pakistan, but some of their products are better made. It's the labour man, just can't compete up here. Shop around.

 

[R_W_B]

IMHO its all about we. ..... ... . ... .. .. .. .. .
when we are all me's we get what what we reap. It's always been the same. For the person who is laid off, I feel bad for you. I'm struggling trying to keep a 20 year old business alive. Do you think WalMart struggles? When I hear of people buying there and expecting the world to change...well I guess you are getting what you asked for...it's changing

Well I agree about the we thing at least in that context. But as far as Walmart I'm still not sold on all this bashing Walmart. I've heard they buy a lot of stuff from out of the country, so does HD. I've heard they sell clothes made in foreign sweat shops. Well you might be surprised just who all does that too. Is it because Walmart is big that everyone seems to hate them ? It was the same way with Microsoft and they have given away more charitable money than anyone in history so far. And Walmart produces many many US jobs and also gives away large amounts to charity.

Now I'm not saying big business is run like Saints but I just don't get all this bashing Walmart stuff. I'll tell you this if Walmart went away tomorrow. A lot of poor folks grocery bills would go way up buying elsewhere. I have priced all of them and there is a big difference in price between Winn Dixe, Publix and Walmart.

But anyhow I'll respect your opinion. I've worked my whole life and never drawn a dime of unemployment or welfare until recently I have drawn unemployment for the first time in my life (I'm 61yrs old). But until I can see more of what all this bashing Walmart is about I'm still gonna buy my groceries there cause it saves me loads of money compared to other stores.

We have the same "Made in Pakistan" leather issues in Canada.. ... .. .. .
... ... .. ... ....... ... ..
I think most leather bike items now are coming from Pakistan, but some of their products are better made. It's the labour man, just can't compete up here. Shop around.

I wore mine today on a 2hr ride and sweat pretty heavy in them, they are still holding up so far.

 

[Bodeen]

Company Store comes to mind.

Bodeen

 

[R_W_B]

Company Store comes to mind.

Bodeen

That's good one Bodeen. Do we owe our soul to Walmart. Tennesee Ernie would roll over in his grave and maybe come back and change the words. Just kidding my friend. You guys are prolly right, I just ain't totally convinced yet. I read Sam Walton's biography. He started out with nothing. But then I also read Dave Thomas' bio (Wendys) he was an orphan and worked at Kentucky Fried for years before he started Wendys.

Looking forward to seeun you in Daytona in October (and PA). Also in Ocala if you guys make that one.

 

[kemo]

Sam Walton was not a big fan of importing if he could buy it locally. But it is all about making a buck. They say in Canada that there are about six families that control the economy here. Broffmans whiskey, Irvings oil, McCains frozen foods, Rogers cable tv, Westons bakeries and Thompsons newspapers.
Ken

 

[R_W_B]

Sam Walton was not a big fan of importing if he could buy it locally. But it is all about making a buck. They say in Canada that there are about six families that control the economy here. Broffmans whiskey, Irvings oil, McCains frozen foods, Rogers cable tv, Westons bakeries and Thompsons newspapers.
Ken

So true Kemo, not to mention here in the US, Scotch whiskey run thru the pre WWII time, while the old Man Kennedy was Ambassador overseas. That made the Kennedys all their money, and put Jack in the White House. Course he was a good president for sure, not disputing that. He also had quite a few, shall we say .. women .. in the white house on the side. But the media was a lot nicer back then than under Clinton. :lolrolling

 

[wstalker]

The big attraction to Wal-Mart when they first started was the percentage of USA made products sold in their stores. I was impressed. Since then they have gone totally opposite, and have no problem destroying any area they see fit to make a profit. If we as consumers only care about the price, we will suffer the consequences...when American politicians care anything about the people of our country, rather than lining their own pockets, we will have an economy again...when we decide to buy American again...we can offer our children hope. Until then we will continue to be duped and have a lot of plastic chinese made junk...There are other stores I will not shop at, but Wal-Mart in my opinion is extremely anti-american...unless you think slavery and sweat shops are good for our economy. That's one of many reasons I bash them. I'm very passionate about this country waking up, before we are back to sweat shops ourselves.

 

[R_W_B]

... .. .. .. ..
we will have an economy again...when we decide to buy American again...we can offer our children hope. Until then we will continue to be duped and have a lot of plastic chinese made junk...There are other stores I will not shop at, but Wal-Mart in my opinion is extremely anti-american... . .. . .. .

Well you guys have made me re-think and re-investigate quite a bit. I mean after all when this many folks disagree with me, then it's time for this old redneck to check up on things. That's how us Rednecks brought ourselves out of the goober stereotype.

Anyhow joking aside, I will grant you guys that you have honorable motives which I am (and have always been) in agreement with. But the problem has not changed that much from the last time I investigated this stuff. This has been going on since the 60's when you first started seeing a lot of stuff showing up with the " Made in China" label. But as time went on it's nearly impossible to totally escape this prevalence unless you move up in the mountains somewhere like one these Green People and live totally off the land.

Here are the facts as I have found them.

The “Made in the USA” label is not fool proof. There are many illegal sweatshops operating within the US and in US territories. Also a “US-made” garment can be produced overseas and only had the finishing touches, like buttons or embroidery, applied in the US and still legally show the label.

Walmart is in fact one of the largest perpetrators of this activity but only because they are one of the largest companies in the US. They also employed 1.9 million US workers in the year 2007. That's a lot of jobs. But the pervading fact is, Walmart is not the only one. Pervading facts show that over 89% of all clothing items sold in the US are made overseas now. The only way you can be absolutely sure you bought a "current" non sweatshop sale, is to buy used items in thrift shops. Or make your own clothing. I checked a bunch of green websites on this too since they are the most radical in this paradigm. Their solution is to " buy less clothing all together " and try to repair you clothes yourself.

The fact is this thing (not Walmart but the world economy) is like a huge runaway Dinosaur that's been gaining speed for decades. I suspect if we had folks on Mars it would skip off the global and become dual-global economy. Everybody's got some blood on their hands so what are you gonna do except try to make our own selves more competive and productive in this new scenario. We are used to being the big cheese on the planet for the last 200 yrs. But we are a young country relatively speaking. Only time will tell how we can adjust or prevent or simply watch this unfold.

I have and will try (as much as that is possible) to buy American. But even my Harley is not all made in Milwaukee. And also there is the common sense facet. When I was laid off from my job as a Cad Civil Engineering Type draftsperson, I was makeing $19 hr plus time and half for overtime. I was paid that much because in order for my boss to replace me with someone of equal abiltiy and math background it would cost him that much. It took me years of hard work and extra study to be able to make that much money. Now to a lot of you that may not sound like all that much pay. But my wife (who has been disabled for the last 12yrs) and I lived quite well of that and hurt for nothing within reason. But if I can buy a car from whomever that is more affordable than a US car company who is paying a guy $29 an hour to screw tail lites on all day ( a relative of ours ) then yes you can bet I'm gonna do it. That scenario is far from any sweat shop.

I respect all of your opinions and remain open to change if I can be convinced of my sin. But there is my opinion for what it's worth, which I suspect not much. And as always (if you will still have me) I hold all of you forum members in the highest regard even if you don't me. But I would rather be disliked for who I am than liked for who I am not. RWB