Same Air, Different Attitude
Posted by SCapozzola on November 6th, 2007
There’s an interesting blurb in the sports section of the Washington Post today. The number one woman’s tennis player in the world, Justine Henin, may not compete in the 2008 Olympics because of asthma troubles exacerbated by Beijing’s smog and overall poor air quality. While U.S. manufacturers and environmental advocates have attempted to draw attention to these horrifying conditions for years, it may take the spectacle of an Olympics with wheezing athletes and haze-filled pictures on television to force China to finally act.
In its race to build a manufacturing juggernaut, China has overlooked the need to balance full-tilt factory production with safe emissions standards—the standards that we take for granted in the U.S. As a consequence, the people and workers in Beijing are breathing unsafe, smog-filled air every day. That’s not surprising because Chinese steel and chemical companies spend only 10% of what U.S. Steel and Dow Chemicals routinely spend for environmental controls.
It’s often said that China can build products more cheaply. But that “cheap” price comes with its own extreme costs, including widespread upper respiratory illnesses. And when such basic differences as lack of health and labor standards are combined with illegal currency manipulation and subsidies, one can see why the U.S. is suffering a $232 billion annual trade deficit with China and 1.8 million jobs lost to China in the past six years.
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November 11th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
What a Breath of Fresh Air (pun intended) to see someone is pointing out the truth. Chinese goods are cheap for many reasons least of which is cheap labor. The lack of laws and standards allows them to producce products for far less cost then American counterparts even if labor cost were the same. If you are not even interested in American Made, maybe you are concerned about “your carbon footprint” well buying Chinese is simply not green. You may be green at home but everytime you buy a Chinese product you just help spread waste all over the world!
There are many ways to find American Made Goods try here at http://www.americansworking.com
Keeping your money at home keeps you job at home
November 12th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
The underlying facts regarding the damage to this country on the “free trade” issue create a PR hole big enough to drive the proverbial truck through. The fact that we are ***losing ground*** on the issue underscores massive failure on the part of two specific advocacy groups IMO. 1) Where are the unions? Unions will walk on American companies for a dime per hour but sit on their hands as communist China breaks each and every rule unions fought so hard to enact. 2) Where are the environmental groups? The Sierra Club will sue an American company at the first hint of a single extra PPM of pollutant in the air but simply bleat like sheep as the sources of pollution move from the US (where it is strictly regulated and controlled) to the 3rd world (where there are no regulations or controls). Could you even begin to imagine the public relations benefit to be realized if a team of union organizers went to China to organize their workers? How about if the enviro-groups banded together and brought suit against the pollution loading of our 3rd world “trading partners?” What would happen is that these places that take our manufacturing jobs would have to start bearing the cost of compliance. Once that happens there would be no economic benefit to manufacturing in the 3rd world. Problem solved. Reach me at an_droid2003@yahoo.com
January 19th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
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