When Will We Learn?

Yet another recall by Mattel has been announced. Again, toys have lead paint. What else can we buy from china that isn't a problem? We have pet food, toothpaste, toys, certain fish and foods are also questioned. When are we, or the Chinese, going to wake up? Quality control is not a joke! Manufacturing in America used to be a source of pride. Now our manufacturing sector has nearly disappeared. It is cheaper to produce things outside of this country. I realize that we need to have good trade relations with other countries, but trading our goods for poor and substandard items is not the way to go. Just who is at fault? Are we at fault because we need to spend less for what we want? Or are overseas companies at fault because they want our money and cut costs by having less control over production?

We were lulled to sleep by cheap labor and products made overseas. It made it more cost effective for our companies to send things overseas or buy things made overseas. We all wanted to save a couple of dollars on clothes, electronics and other things. As consumers we wanted all the newest things at the cheapest prices. Anyone who has shoped at WalMart has seen what is going on. We were all so happy to save money. Now What?

The latest recall of toys may just be a small part of an apparently growing problem. China has been the target. We buy so much from them. What haven't we discovered, yet? We can hope that our companies which do business with China will insist on better control of things we buy from China. It would be in China's best interest. With the Olympics in China, many people from all over the world will be visiting there. Do they really want to have continued bad press about things they sell?

Will there be a backlash? For years call center jobs went overseas thanks to cheap labor. Now many companies are dumping this and hiring American companies to do this. Most people would rather talk to an unseen person with an American accent, than some other person who is difficult to understand. We started sending and doing business overseas because it was cost effective for us as well as our trading partners. Maybe it is time we rethought some of this. Maybe we should start thinking about "American Made" again. We used to be proud of what we made in America. Somehow, we lost sight of the fact that cheaper doesn't always mean better. What will it take before we learn this?