Forum Post: Have the Occupy folks stopped using Chinese made laptops yet?
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 9, 2011, 10:22 a.m. EST by VladimirMayakovsky
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All the winter equipment that you are going to use, make sure that none of it is made in china (chances are it is). Take a stance. Buy native American quilts to protect yourself against sub zero conditions.
I didn't realize OWS was against foreign-made products...
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I worked for Compaq computer corporation prior to the take over by HP. The goal was to create a sub 1000.00 computer. It could only be met by having the manufacturing done abroad. It could have been possible to get it done here but unions make negotiating lower salaries a hard thing for US companies. The Chinese actually took advantage as well. A billion potential consumers in China. China would not allow computers to be imported but would allow the import of parts to be assembled in Chinese plants. Then as it became clear to the US companies that China would also provide cheaper factories for making the parts that production began there as well. We were willingly led by the Chinese government to screw ourselves for profits.
This is why I think we need to lower wages in the USA to bring back JOBs.
What choice do they have. If you choose to use a computer it comes from Asia. Can't think of a single one made in the USA for consumers.
That's what the Germans said when the Nazis took over their country.
Viva la Resistance!
Actually they never even said that. They were taken over so slowly it was kinda like boiling a frog, till the water boils you don't realize how hot it is. In order to make an effective change it may be a necessary evil to use the tools available to us. We cannot change anything if we are limited to less effective means. And the issue of where is not as important as how they are made. The people (or an honest government) need to be in control of what comes in and out of the country but that issue is second to getting the control to change it.
Then I demand high tariffs so that laptops cost $10k/piece so that we can bring jobs back to the USA. Yes, people will not be able to afford laptops but that's the price of getting jobs back to the USA.
I have for a very long time felt the same way if we don't adjust trade we get screwed. But corporate influence in DC prevents the righting of this wrong.
And Furthermore,, Stop blaming other people for the mess America is in. If you want to blame someone stand in front of the collective mirror.
Who makes computers in America anyway? Get real will ya. Here is an Idea, while you are all hangin around in those occupy areas why don't you make your own computers.
But only us American made motherboards and ICs and hard drives and memory etc.
Say no to the Chinese already.
Do Americans make Motherboards, ICs and what nots??? I guess most of that comes from Taiwan and Thailand?
VM: you really get to the point. It's sad and funny, really how we've cornered ourselves into the practical limitations of being dependent on overseas child labor. It's our willful blindness to the Wal-Mart culture of consumerism. Look at how much junk you can get into a landfill for only $100 bucks!
Sam Walton originally started Wal-Mart on the premise it would sell american goods only. I think what killed Sam Walton was the realization that it was impossible to fulfill that dream. He was a patriot his family on the other hand are merely twits.
So, stop right now. Stop using the consumerist iPads and iPhones. Stop posting on the internet using Chinese made laptops. Use smoke signals.
Balance is key - seriously you know the practical limitations of using smoke signals to articulate ideas. I've lived in extremely rural conditions with no modern conveniences and it's quite nice. It doesn't take money or anything else that's synthetic to live.
The question you need to ask yourself is, why are laptops made in China?
Do they do it better? Or cheaper? And who outsourced the manufacture in the first place?
Was it you or me?
It's cheaper, Apple tried making them in the US and couldn't come close to the PC prices. Corporations want profit and people would rather buy two or three toys from china then one more expensive one from the US. It's the fault of no one in particular and everyone in general.
people would just like to own a computer period. even just a netbook so they can participate in the communication age. they're not simply cheapskates
Sure, I agree, but that's why they are made with cheap labor. It's human nature. The outsourcing that so many people complain about wouldn't be there if people were willing to pay more and/or companies took less profit. No matter how much profit is given up though no company can match the savings you get from cheap labor from the far east. People suffer from the same greed as corporations, they want things now. I'm not saying I'm any different, I don't need a cell phone, ipod, computer, whatever, to live. We just want these things.
Do they make it cheaper? Is that a real question?
It was the consumer that pushed for lower prices.
It was inflation that caused the consumer to need lower prices.
Who caused inflation?
Do you know what inflation is? I'm pretty sure that rising inflation didn't make goods cheaper.
Inflation happens when money is printed without a true financial basis.
That happens when investment bankers take real money, and gamble with it, and lose. Heard of the bailouts, I assume?
I have heard of the bailouts. But we were buying cheap products from China long before that happened.
Every time someone bought something at Walmart, they shopped the jobs to China.
You've got it backwards. The jobs were shopped out first, then the consumers supported the move by buying the cheap imported stuff.
No, the push for lower prices pushed the jobs to China, then as people continued to buy the cheap goods, it only helped to keep the jobs there.
The consumers dictate to the CEOs? I don't think so. American CEOs know that Americans are cheap and will always go for the cheapest crap, and so they act accordingly. They are not forced at gunpoint to make such decisions. They are paid billions to cater to the lowest common denominator. That's why we are sailing down the toilet.
Who prints the money? The Gov't created the housing bubble. Heard of the CRA I assume? I agree that the banks should not have been bailed out
CRA and the housing bubble!!! Why have these topics been ignored?
The crash of the housing market is the single most significant event that led to this financial mess. Look back to the Clinton administration. Plenty of blame to go around, but Clinton pushed for increased home ownership and twisted the arm of the financial sector to make it happen. The rules changed dramatically, and now, we are paying the price.
Yeah, too simplistic I was.
It's a deeper issue than we realise. The fed reserve tells the gov to print the money, and apparently other countries are counterfeiting it too, so inflation is an uncontrolled factor in a convoluted equation.
The rise in prices (inflation) caused people to need lower prices? Nice logic. People will always seek out the best value for their dollar, inflation or no inflation.
Inflation devalues the purchasing power of the dollar.
Patriots would buy Amercan made products if they could afford to (if they were available).
If we keep buying Chinese made goods then the 1% has already won.
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Can we come back to the main topic please? Should the OWS supporters use Chinese made down jackets? Down kills geese. If you are thinking synthetic, that is bad for the environment. Should we go back to cotton made quilts?
Wool is better. And it's actionable.
Shearing a sheep is animal cruelty.
That's just silly, dude.
There is winter in China.