"Faded Glory .... Made in China"

tr4022 · #21

JD Spydo wrote:But I'm also wondering if the original movie "Rollerball" with James Caan isn't happening right in front of our eyes

"Rollerball"??! Hah! I'm old enough that I saw that in the theater as a teenager when it first came out! Fun movie, haven't thought about probably in decades.

Tod

SkullBouncer · #22

nevermas wrote:Faded Glory is a Walmart brand

The brand issue is hardly lost on me.

I point to the definitive irony of the chosen name, the fact that gross trade imbalances do exist and the importance of loyalty to domestic enterprise in every free economy that China in particular cheats against with impunity.

SB / BRUCE

Monocrom · #23

WOTANSON1 wrote:. . . Go on down to China Town in your own city, talk about sweatshops, but nothing ever gets done about it because the shop owners pay off local politicians.

Been there, done that. Everyone knows where the sweat shops are. No one wants to do anything about it. But that point you bring up is the same one stoners bring up regarding weed. Why is it that the very first thing out of their mouths is that, "Well it's not as bad as alcohol."

Lovely. Thanks for admitting it's bad. And then trying to justify it by saying "Hey there's something out there a bit worse." Sweat shops in NYC doesn't make the lives of abused workers over in China any easier.

SolidState · #24

What would people do to combat it, allow American textile manufacturing unions to have a seat at the tables of politicians who make REGULATIONS regarding trade practices? In the USA, saying the words "Unions" or "Regulations" is akin to saying "Great Satan."

WOTANSON1 · #25

Not in the factories the vast majority of US manufacturers use in HK and Mainland China. In fact those factories are much healthier to work in than the ones in NYC, which is why they are not used by many companies. There is no one more anti communist than myself, and I'm not a "stoner," nor is my wife and I resent your implication, you have a nice day there "friend."

WOTANSON1 · #26

I also realize you are trying to infer that my wife is some sort of criminal, that she's doing something illegal by doing what she does, you sir, should be ashamed.

phillipsted · #27

My family grows cotton in SW Oklahoma and they are members of the Plains Cotton Cooperative. The PCCA purchased a denim factory in Guatemala to produce denim clothing for sale in the U.S. market. The Denimatrix factory has been acknowledged by the U.S. Secretary of State for its "corporate excellence". Plus, every pair of jeans is manufactured with cotton grown by my family or other farmers in the U.S.A.

Not all clothing products are produced in sweatshops - and you can still buy clothing that supports U.S. family farmers.

http://www.safedenim.com/c-10-denim-jeans.aspx

TedP

SolidState · #28

Thanks Ted! I love reading about better options.

Pinetreebbs · #29

phillipsted wrote:My family grows cotton in SW Oklahoma and they are members of the Plains Cotton Cooperative. The PCCA purchased a denim factory in Guatemala to produce denim clothing for sale in the U.S. market. The Denimatrix factory has been acknowledged by the U.S. Secretary of State for its "corporate excellence". Plus, every pair of jeans is manufactured with cotton grown by my family or other farmers in the U.S.A.

Not all clothing products are produced in sweatshops - and you can still buy clothing that supports U.S. family farmers.

http://www.safedenim.com/c-10-denim-jeans.aspx

TedP

Thanks Ted.

Here is South Carolina a lot of textile job have disappeared to lower oversea labor rates and out of our older, dangerous and worn out factories. Yes it has been and still is a tough transition. On the bright side, children born in this area are no longer condemned to working in those awful places and suffering white lung. Further, many of those older textile workers and their children are now busy making diesel engines, BMW cars as well as Michelin and Bridgestone tires.

I like that future a lot better than what we had in the past.

tr4022 · #30

Pinetreebbs wrote:Thanks Ted.

Here is South Carolina a lot of textile job have disappeared to lower oversea labor rates and out of our older, dangerous and worn out factories. Yes it has been and still is a tough transition. On the bright side, children born in this area are no longer condemned to working in those awful places and suffering white lung. Further, many of those older textile workers and their children are now busy making diesel engines, BMW cars as well as Michelin and Bridgestone tires.

I like that future a lot better than what we had in the past.

Hey, that's great news, Pinetreebbs. Glad to hear things are looking up a bit for the economy down there, at least somewhat.

Ted, great link. Thanks for sharing.

Sincerely hope my post doesn't result in harsh words and bad feelings between forum members.

Tod

Monocrom · #31

WOTANSON1 wrote:Not in the factories the vast majority of US manufacturers use in HK and Mainland China. In fact those factories are much healthier to work in than the ones in NYC, which is why they are not used by many companies. There is no one more anti-communist than myself, and I'm not a "stoner," nor is my wife and I resent your implication, you have a nice day there "friend."

1) You've been to both and can claim with certainty that the sweat shops in NYC are significantly worse?

2) My dad was locked up in a ****-hole for 15 years simply for publicly saying to a neighbor that he felt the Soviet government could do a slightly better job of taking care of the people than they were doing. Yeah . . . Orwell got a bit too creative with "1984." In reality, it's MUCH easier to get brutalized in Soviet Russia. Just make a mild comment to the wrong neighbor who then turns you in. Just so that he himself might avoid being punished if a neighbor turned him in. I'll leave out the atrocities he suffered. He got the last laugh on them though, he got out and he was just fine. No extreme psychological trauma. Made himself a success in America. No offense, but I've got you beat on that anti-Communism thing. Though if you're ever in NYC for an Anti-Communism rally. I would genuinely appreciate a PM.

3) I did not refer to you or your wife as "stoners." Take a look at my previous post again. I used the stoner reference only as a comparison that many would understand. (Not as something many could relate to.) There was no name-calling in my other post.

4) Some clothing businesses care. Quite a few, don't. Just a terrible fact of Life.

Have a nice night. :)

Monocrom · #32

WOTANSON1 wrote:I also realize you are trying to infer that my wife is some sort of criminal, that she's doing something illegal by doing what she does, you sir, should be ashamed.

Nothing to be ashamed about. I don't infer anything about anyone. I say them outright. My blatant honesty has gotten me in trouble from time to time. But I don't play around like that. I don't infer.

Don't believe me? Fair enough. Feel free to look through my previous posts both here, and my thousands of post on the WatchUseek forums. (Same user-name.) In real life and on internet forums, I blatantly tell it like I see it. Nothing even remotely implied.

bh49 · #33

phillipsted wrote:My family grows cotton in SW Oklahoma and they are members of the Plains Cotton Cooperative. The PCCA purchased a denim factory in Guatemala to produce denim clothing for sale in the U.S. market. The Denimatrix factory has been acknowledged by the U.S. Secretary of State for its "corporate excellence". Plus, every pair of jeans is manufactured with cotton grown by my family or other farmers in the U.S.A.

Not all clothing products are produced in sweatshops - and you can still buy clothing that supports U.S. family farmers.

http://www.safedenim.com/c-10-denim-jeans.aspx

TedP

Are they available at at stores or only on the web?

phillipsted · #34

bh49 wrote:Are they available at at stores or only on the web?

Good question, BH. And I'm really not sure who is stocking them in U.S. stores. These jeans are sold in several domestic stores as their "house brand" jeans - so you may not be able to tell by the label. However, if you look at the label and it says "Made in Guatemala from U.S. Materials" (or something similar), it is likely our cotton.

TedP

rosconey · #35

all american clothing has a card with each pair of jeans with a number-go online and see were the cotton came from ,the mill that made the denim and the factory that sewed it together -

45 bucks is right on par with the brand names made off shore

Blue72 · #36

Everyone can debate all they want but America created its own demise. Adam Smith, Hayek, Friedman, etc...economic theories were correct. As long as American politicians continues to regulate and increase costs for doing businesses here. Countries with greater economic liberties will thrive.

I also find it Ironic talking about manufacturing in New York City. It is virtually non existent compared to 50-100 years ago!

SolidState · #37

If you think American 'regulation' has more to do with it than currency manipulation, you're missing the point of both major political parties in the USA talking about getting "tough on China." If you think China has greater economic liberty because they offer workers no protections nor living wages, you're absolutely uninformed, and if you think the workers pay lower taxes than we do, again, you're woefully undereducated about the property 'rights' of the Chinese.

People fought the Vietnam war to prevent communist currency manipulation with trade partners because of the necessity of the market to set prices in capitalism. When you have one country whose market sets prices doing business with another whose government sets those prices and you have no regulation (tariff system) in place to equilibrate the currency offset, you get this kind of thing. Countries not suffering from this "Faded Glory" such as Germany and Sweden have far MORE regulation of their trade markets, not less.

Blue72 · #38

SolidState wrote:If you think American 'regulation' has more to do with it than currency manipulation, you're missing the point of both major political parties in the USA talking about getting "tough on China." If you think China has greater economic liberty because they offer workers no protections nor living wages, you're absolutely uninformed, and if you think the workers pay lower taxes than we do, again, you're woefully undereducated about the property 'rights' of the Chinese.

People fought the Vietnam war to prevent communist currency manipulation with trade partners because of the necessity of the market to set prices in capitalism. When you have one country whose market sets prices doing business with another whose government sets those prices and you have no regulation (tariff system) in place to equilibrate the currency offset, you get this kind of thing. Countries not suffering from this "Faded Glory" such as Germany and Sweden have far MORE regulation of their trade markets, not less.

Currency manipulation and patent laws is a huge problem. However, as a businessman operating in the United States I know our regulations are worse. Hong Kong has lead the charts in economic freedoms for a very long time now, while the U.S. has declined, matter of fact it has just declined again and it's not even in the top ten. The United States also has the worlds highest corporate tax rate, forget about adding any other taxes and fee's imposed on top of that.

Plus here is a homework assignment for you. See what it takes to set up a business in Hong Kong compared to New York. It's a complete joke and goes against everything our founding fathers stood for when applying John Locke's principles to the Declaration of Independence.

Then when you are done submit a product to some manufacturing agents in Hong Kong and New York. In Hong Kong I bet you will get samples from at least 10 different manufacturers. In New York please let me know where you can even go, and if you do find an agent I am willing to bet they outsource it oversea's.

The two presidential candidates can fight China all they want. We will just end up like Italy, because its just not China, it's the consumer demand for low cost items that will replace America, China, or whomever stands in the way how economics works....as the several hundred year saying goes. You can't tax and regulate the Rich ....they just move!

As far as Germany and Sweden, think how much stronger they would be without those regulations. Their big industries and relatively lower population have sustained the impact of their regulations. It is only a matter of time before the disease hits them the same way it hit Greece, Italy,UK,Ireland,Iceland,etc....

Blue72 · #39

P.S. I would love to see our two presidential candidates address our own currency manipulation regarding QE, QE2, and QE3. It didn't even come up in the debates.

Monocrom · #40

****, it won't even come up during the next 4 years regardless of who wins.