At the same time, I suggest you read the PCIC report on the Apple Ipod (http://pcic.merage.uci.edu/papers/2007/AppleiPod.pdf) which might give you a different view of that Chinese trade deficit for electronics.

US officials like talking about free market economies doing free trade, but our todays global economy is anything but free. In the competion beween the US and a guided economy like China there is no such thing as free trade.

The state plays an important, perhaps even the deciding, role in
the redistribution of wealth and power, even in the West. It ensures that all companies whereever they come from find a level playing field for their investment. Child labor is baned in Missippi and in North Dakota. Federal tax laws are designed for Microsoft and for the medium sized carpart factory in Ohio. The government ensures that the productive core of the economy makes a portion of its wealth available to society as a whole. The state serves as the relay station for the diversion of funds from the sphere of production into those sectors of the country devoted entirely to consumption.

The state serves a different function in China. It inserts itself, like a fireproof layer, between the core and the crust, ensuring that nothing can escape from the red-hot core to the perimeters. The labor market in China today is the world’s most ruthless when it comes to employee welfare. Also if it comes to rules and regulation for foreign companies the Chinese government is not interested in leveling the playing field.

Even deaths are tacitly accepted in Chinese economic life. According to Western estimates, there were roughly 100,000 fatal industrial accidents in 2007, including about 10,000 in the mining industry. These are the biggest casualty figures that have ever been reported in the country.

Also public health is heavily crippled. Pollution has made cancer China’s leading cause of death, the Ministry of Health has announced.
The use of child labor plays an important role in export promotion, an essential component of the Asian economic miracle. About seven million children are sent to work in China, and about 130 million in all of Asia. They weave carpets, haul heavy loads, and assemble plastic parts to make plastic toys, but most of all they pull down the cost of labor.

Additionally, the state extends its protection of its productive
core beyond the domestic front, taking great pains to do so on
the international stage. One of the first steps it takes is to use a
currency that is not freely convertible. By fixing an artificially low
exchange rate for the Renminbi, the Chinese government has
constructed a protective barrier that has served the country well.
Foreign capital can enter the country with relative ease, but get-
ting it back out is another story. The Chinese currency’s value rep-
resents the biggest export promotion program a government has
ever funded.

The main difference between the US and China is this: The productive core of China can depend on the state for protection. The producitive core of the US can not.

Then I read on consumersreports.org that the best buy is LG LHD45EL. The second is Kenmore 54501 for medium capacity.

Then you read on sears.com customers’ reviews. It’s all the same. Almost everyone is stuck with a failed Kenmore dehumidifier.

It’s no space technology to engineer a dehumidifier. The Chinese can make a good one if they want to. Why can’t they? LG is a Chinese brand, but Maytag and Kenmore are American brands.

The question is “Why can’t the Chinese make a working dehumidifier for American brand?”

Is it about market share war or is it about weak American manufacturing?
Will LG take over Kenmore, GE and Maytag in the world market?

Are our manufacturers so dumb to let go of our economic engine - manufacturing for good?

Well, the need is real. We need a working dehumidifier and I won’t buy an LG or Haier, another Chinese brand.
The optimized maximal profits strategy used by all global American companies are failing us and our economy.

Why can German still export German made products and we let it all outsourced to China? I may have to buy a German made dehumidifier this summer. Irresponsible manufacturing is detrimental to our environment and waste of energy. If we want to keep some American brands, we must manufacture products ourselves, even at a higher price. - a frustrated and angry consumer.

Those Representatives who voted in favor of Free Trade have effectively brought down the U.S.A. from the inside where no outside enemy ever could. It is apparent these over educated morons in government are blind, greedy, and totally STUPID.

When bullets fly during the upcoming war I hope our so called Allies will help us like we helped them….but I truly doubt it.

God save the U.S.A. from the elected MORONS called Congressmen, Senators, and President.

I am a Supply Chain consultant for small to mid-sized manufacturing companies. I used to be a Sr. Commodity Manager for a Fortune 100 company, and 6 years ago I left as I saw the writing on the wall for global outsourcing to low cost countries. I wanted to be a part of keeping manufacturing in American, not moving it out. I wanted to help the small to mid-sized companies improve their supply chain and production operations so they would be better able to compete against outsourcing by being more efficient. And they had room for lots of improvement; I saw it every day managing these suppliers.

Surprise, no one seemed to care! Many companies thought they were doing a good enough job even though their technology and processes resembled something from the 1970’s. God helps those who help themselves, but I guess we forgot that and now everyone wants the government to step in and protect their right to do business the same way they have been doing it for the past 30 years. Forget investing in continuous process improvement, forget improving and educating their labor resource skills, and forget capitalism allowing for survival of the fittest. That all costs money, time, and effort! And worst of all, that requires CHANGE! If the government protects our way of doing business without forcing drastic and immediate change, it will be the kiss of death for our manufacturing. Not only will WE not be able to afford our Made in the USA products, neither will the rest of the world.

If our companies are not eager and willing to change, they will not be here anymore, and they don’t deserve to be. We have the best workforce in the world, but we feel entitled and have given up the passion behind why we do business. If you are a manufacturing company, and you do not have a working ERP system, Lean Manufacturing processes, skilled supply chain and production operations employees, and either a partner or a sister division in Mexico, Asia, or the Eastern Block to give you a global footprint, you will die. These are hard words, but it is time hard times. There is no more time left. And I don’t see anyone talking about our own accountability and what we need to do to step up to the plate.

I know this is just one piece of the puzzle, but it is an important piece. The first presidential candidate that stops talking about “protecting” American manufacturing jobs and starts talking about using our tax dollars to subsidize the improvement of American companies through technology and education is getting my vote, whether they are a Democrat or a Republican.

In the meantime, in the words of Thomas Friedman (The World is Flat): Change or die. If you don’t know how, get help now. How you did business yesterday will not keep you in business tomorrow. We cannot (and should not) subsidize your inefficiencies. It is time to stand up and fight back, not by knocking down what others are doing better than us but by improving ourselves. Who’s up for the challenge?
The Supply Chain Gal

I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you….