How does one boycott Chinese slave products?

[PghUSA]

Saw a very interesting piece on how Wal-Mart is funding the slave economy of China last night on PBS Frontline, while PUTTING AMERICANS OUT OF WORK!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/

I know some on this board are resident experts on just how bad the Chinese labor pool is (or should I say slave population). Knowing just how many things are made from Chinese components, or are made in China what is the most effective way of battling the slave economy of China and the lower of labor standards (or worse) in American factories that can no longer compete.

[monsoon]

Look at the labels and don't buy the cheap crap that is made there.

[PghUSA]

Look at the labels and don't buy the cheap crap that is made there.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What TV, VCR, DVD, or laptop is free of Chinese components? I really do think that our trade policy and the govt. has fed the beast on this one, and it shows throughout middle America with boarded up factories that made components and apparel just 5 years ago. I would love to boycott their goods, but is that going to be enough.

The solution I am toying with is just to go Bohemian and be self sufficent, even gas prices are related to our enriching the slave economy of China, since they are the main reason fuel prices are going skyward in order to fund their industries with which they can take over our economy. Where did all the workers go?

[urban addict 20324]

Some Chinese products are crappy; the 'slaves' make them too fast to even care about their quality, they seem to care about quantity. Their dismal wages (like 17 cents a day; as low as two cents a day) makes their products hella cheap and crappy. American wages are high and so the price is high, so we can't compete. The trade policy needs to be revised and we should limit the number of Chinese made goods. Forgein competition is taking over our domestic products and it takes a monopoly to compete against these forgein companies.

[PghUSA]

^ you got my vote urban

[urban addict 20324]

This slave labor is a cruel way for Chinese businesses to make money, as I repeat. China doesn't seem to have many labor regulations, so the companies toy around or 'freestyle' with their labor force, which is sometimes inhuman. They need some business and labor reform movement over there and that should be just like USA's labor reform in the Progressive Era. I'm actually supportive Chinese tech companies moving here, because they can't exercise any slave labor here, nor can they pay low wages for low, competitive prices; the labor reform movement has forced the US government to put a lot of regulations in workers' labors to make the workplace better for all. There should be a high tariff on Chinese products to balance the prices if a boycott is impossible or strict limitations on imports.

[PghUSA]

^^ I can see where your coming from only problem is when you say "Chinese company" it is really a part of the government (or so I have been told) everything and anything in that nation is linked back to the government, in the U.S. GE has its profits and its business policies and the U.S. Govt. has its taxes and its policies, in China they are one and the same. Just wondering how "free" those companies are or if they are simply the profit vehicle for a government that is married to slave labor. Interested on other thoughts on the matter.

[BrandonTO416]

Our national policy starts by people electing leaders who uphold workers rights and basic standards within trade deals. An individual boycott is good, but it doesn't do much good when people think abortion is more important then anything else. What kind of a nation have we become? Good question.

[monsoon]

Very true Heckles.

[PghUSA]

A couple of links I found:

http://www.boycottmadeinchina.org/

http://www.buyhard.fsnet.co.uk/

let me know if they help

[BrandonTO416]

One thing I can't stand about free traders and the situation /w China is that they whine about government's rule over trade deals. But the playing field isn't even. The Chinese government for years has devaluated the Yuan below its real value to make its products cheaper, and its for years kept its workers in a strict harsh environment. You have no means of recourse in China if you are being overworked, underpaid, and of course people in China have a very limited sense of private ownership unless you live in Hong Kong or some of the free trade zones.

I've seen documentaries about these free trade zones. They are gated off from the rest of Chinese society with electric and stone fences. Free market trading partners own great assets and huge factories within, but its only a labor camp where Chinese people are bussed in and out every day to work. Its still a communist country, afterall, and we're feeding it.

Again, what has America become?

[PghUSA]

^^ what we've all let it sink too, and me personally I don't like it one bit. The Chinese have the power to order our economy around! Time we did something proactive.