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Post by redwolf on Dec 23, 2007 23:23:28 GMT -6
Elizabeth Edwards Had Hard Time Finding U.S.-Made Toys By ANN SANNER Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON — The wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said she had a hard time tracking down gifts made in the U.S. after she and her husband promised to avoid putting Chinese-made toys under their Christmas tree this year.www.wral.com/news/state/story/2209702/
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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Dec 24, 2007 6:08:09 GMT -6
Good for Edwards. If more candidates would take that stand, more Americans would follow, and we'd all be much better off.
Toys aren't an essential item for human existence. If Americans can't find toys made in the U.S., then don't buy any at all. Parents can give their children books for Christmas, or make their own toys if necessary.
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Post by blueneck on Dec 24, 2007 9:16:32 GMT -6
It is increasingly difficult to find US made toys. In our quest to avoid chinese made toys we were succussful by broadening our scope to include european, canadian and japanese made toys in addition to US made. At least with european and japanese toys, their safety criteria is at least as stringent if not more so than US.
With the exception of Little tykes, a loan hold out in major US toy mfrs, most of what you will find is cottage industry US toy makers - which is a good thing actually - these folks have reported booming sales - a win for US small business.
Playmobil toys from Scandinavia have been a particular favorite of our kids
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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Dec 24, 2007 22:19:08 GMT -6
It is increasingly difficult to find US made toys. In our quest to avoid chinese made toys we were succussful by broadening our scope to include european, canadian and japanese made toys in addition to US made. At least with european and japanese toys, their safety criteria is at least as stringent if not more so than US. Also, the Europeans, Canadians, and Japanese pay their workers reasonable wages, and don't ban unions. It makes more sense to buy imports from countries the U.S. doesn't outsource jobs to (due to wages approaching those of American wages). Few American jobs are outsourced to Britain, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Canada, or Japan. Corporate America would have to pay workers in those countries almost as much as American workers. And that would defeat the entire purpose of outsourcing--to replace American workers with cheaper workers in foreign countries.
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Post by proletariat on Dec 25, 2007 17:15:45 GMT -6
I have a hard time feeling sympathy for Edwards. What I want to hear is that he will withdrawal from the WTO, NAFTA, CAFTA etc. That Public Citizen (Santa) link I posted hinted at this. Its not simply that toys are coming from developing countries with no inspection and safety standards, but written right into those trade agreements are special get into America free cards that actually make it a violation of trade law to inspect these products. In 1970, 90% of our toys came from the U.S.
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