You Can’t Outsource Responsibility
I’m getting really annoyed with all of the scapegoating of China lately. Yesterday’s AFL-CIO Democratic debate is the latest example :
All the candidates were asked whether China is an adversary or ally. The U.S. has a $233 billion (€168.9 billion) annual trade deficit with the economic giant.Most said they would take a tougher stand. “I do not want to eat bad food from China,” Clinton said, alluding to recent incidents of tainted food imports.
Edwards reminded the audience of the 2 million lead-tainted toys from China that were recalled last week.
I don’t care if China puts poison in their food, lead paint on their toys, or pee pee in your Coke. I don’t live in China, I live in America. If you want the increased flexibility and cost savings that come along with outsourcing your labor force to a foreign country, you need to assume the added responsibility of ensuring that the resulting products meet American quality standards. When all of these “tainted” products end up on American shelves, it’s American corporations and American regulatory agencies that are to blame.
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On the one side, you are correct – the US has been either lax in regulatory oversight, or increasing imports such as to overwhelm what oversight we have in place.
What concerns me more is the dropping off from the national discussion the status of our trading with China. Didn’t we used to discuss China’s status as ‘Most Favored Nation’ at some point? Weren’t people concerned about China’s human rights record in the hoary past? Why do we not even talk about this anymore?
Comment by Dave — August 8, 2007 @ 11:45 am
Ditto what Dave said. As a kid, I was a witness to the very beginning of the Tiananmen Square protests, and it horrifies me to think that my water bottle at work might have been produced by prison labor and made by one of those dissenters. But instead of addressing the horrible way China treats many of their citizens, we only care about them when it negatively affects business, e.g. their rampant DVD piracy.
Comment by dAnimal — August 8, 2007 @ 3:13 pm
If you don’t like the quality of products from China,thank Walmart. They have forced American companies to outsource their products to China and third world countries. You get what you pay for. That’s why I never shop at Walmart. Profit trumps quality and human rights everytime. So why do we have such a problem with Cuba?
Comment by Becky — August 8, 2007 @ 7:04 pm
When the governmental agencies responsible for enforcing product safety regulations are gutted—or at the very least, encouraged to play footsie with the same industries they are supposed to regulate—this is what happens.
Comment by Doobie — August 9, 2007 @ 12:07 am
“You get what you pay for.”
No, you don’t. You get what you can be persuaded to pay for with the wages you can be persuaded to accept. And that applies collectively. e.g. Health insurance– what used to be called a protection racket.
Comment by anon — August 9, 2007 @ 1:21 am