‘Tis the Season

December 24, 2009 by Jolly Roger

Now we’ve been told that “free” trade is just wonderful for everyone. It’s so wonderful, in fact, that Chimpy stuck subsidizing the offshoring of our jobs and R&D facilities right into American tax policy-a policy that the present President has done nothing to reverse.

In the holiday spirit, let’s look at how wonderful “free” trade has been for everybody involved.

-Here in America, we’ve been reduced to third-world status as all of the jobs that paid anything have been offshored-with a generous Chimpy tax subsidy the last few years, meaning Americans paid for the knife being drawn across our collective throats.

-In Mexico, everybody promised that if the political system was “democratized” and NAFTA was passed, the Mexican peasant would benefit handsomely. Well, Mexico did change their political system a lot, and they did ratify NAFTA. How has that worked out for them? First, the Mexican small farmer found himself unable to compete with American corporate conglomerate farms, so he left the farm and trudged up to a Maquiladora plant to take one of those jobs that were being shipped out of America. Unfortunately for the Mexican maqiladora worker/ex farmer, we decided that we should rewarsd Communist China for all of their refusals to liberalize, and we shipped those Mexican jobs right off to China, where the wage scale is even lower than the pittance we were paying the Mexicans. The Mexicans, having received this double-ramming from America, had been running up here to try to survive-till the Rushpubliscums finished destroying our own economy. Now, the Mexican peasant has no place to go, and is caught in the crossfire of a brutal civil war between the Mexican Government and drug traffickers (who are about the only people still hiring.)

-Indian farmers have been committing suicide by the scores, and losing their lands to lenders, because there is no way they can compete with the likes of ADM.

-China, an ancient land with historical and natural treasures that are irreplaceable, is being polluted at a rate the Maoists never envisioned, and its ancient structures and landscapes are being demolished at a rate the Red Guards would have envied. As for Chinese workers, many of them are little better than slaves, often getting underpaid while they are restricted to quarters via company “housing.” If a Chinese worker gets sick, he or she can expect the heave-ho from his or her employer. Chinese industry has largely turned into precisely the sort of oppressive monolith that Marx said had to come before a Communist revolution could take hold. The Chinese worker has been buried under a Great Wall of Pollution and Oppression.

And last but not least, the “profits profits profits” mentality of American conglomerates operating in China (and elsewhere in Asia) has repeatedly resulted in dangerous materials shipped out of factories where safety concerns and quality control are non-existent. Chinese drywall sickens Americans in their homes, melamine-tainted candies have caused people to fall ill all over the world, and every single year a bunch of lead tainted and otherwise dangerous toys are shipped out from Chinese factories to kill, injure, and/or stunt the brains of American and European children.

This year is no different.

Customs agents in Miami have seized several shipments of toys from China considered dangerous by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The toys contained hazardous materials, including lead paint, or had small parts that pose choking hazards for children.

One shipment contained nearly 22,000 toys that had one or both violations. Another contained 444 lighters in the shapes of farm animals, complete with realistic sounds, that children could have mistaken for toys.

The items were headed all over the country, although Customs and Border Patrol would not specify which stores. Spokesman Jose Castellano said some items may have been intended for roadside stands and small businesses.

Other products intercepted this year include black toy guns that could be easily confused for real firearms and yellow toy ducks with lead paint.

This year, the federal government lowered the limits for lead in paint on children’s toys to 90 parts per million, which is among the lowest in the world, and most children’s toys must meet these and other standards, some of which were voluntary.

In 2008, the agency had reports of 19 toy-related deaths and about 172,700 hospital emergency room treated toy-related injuries to children under 15. Almost half affected children younger than 5. Most of the deaths were associated with drowning, motor vehicles or airway obstruction from a small toy or small part of a toy.

Let me make it clear; I don’t blame the Chinese for this. I blame the greedy American conglomerates like Mao-Mart, who have insisted that quality American producers relocate their manufacturing to China so that the Waltons can squeeze every last dime of profits out of products that Chinese factories are under tremendous pressure to produce for next to nothing. I also blame a Government that subsidizes the relocation of American factories overseas, and charges no taxes on profits kept out of the country. This encourages American businesses to keep little more than office space in the US, where they’d have to comply with wage, environment, and safety regulations.

When are we going to recognize that there is no such thing as “free” trade the way we practice it? This is like throwing a 5 year old into a fight with Holyfield and calling it “fair.” Sure, both opponents have 2 arms, but…

Crossposted at Reconstitution.

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