Read this in the paper a day or two ago. Mattel apologized to the Chinese Government for all the products being "recalled". Seems Mattel wants to keep the bastion of cheap labor happy insuring their profit margins. Perhaps that is just business nowadays.
My firstborn will be 6 weeks old tommorrow (I used to think it was rediculous for parents to keep track of age like that, but when you become one, it's just "par for the course") and I'm going to do my best to make sure his exposure to chinese toys is limited. I've got enough "hand-me-downs" that my mother saved from my childhood to keep him happy for years...other than that...I would appreciate most relatives just contributing to his college fund. Guns and fishin poles are always acceptable, of course
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Looney tunes deductive reasoning:
--Me smell Mohican burning
--Me last Mohican
--Must be me!!!
--EEEOOOWWW!!!!!
"Read this in the paper a day or two ago. Mattel apologized to the Chinese Government for all the products being "recalled". Seems Mattel wants to keep the bastion of cheap labor happy insuring their profit margins. Perhaps that is just business nowadays"
Yep, cheap labor is all that the scumbags care about. They charge just as muchfor their lead tainted made in China trash as they did for made in the USA stuff. Wish that US citizens would just refuse to buy made in China trash. Butfolks just have to pay for the modernization of that huge Chinese army that will be eventually used against us.
Location: On an Island in the west coast of New England
Posts: 13,133
RE: Mattel Toys apologizes to China
I saw the CEO of Mattel give his heartfelt apology to those scumbags. It made me sick to see one of our own sell out for the almighty dollar. He said Mattel was responsible and that the Chinese were only following the build requests from Mattel. If I owned any Mattel stock I would sell just on principle. Parents of all children will start to buy American made as a result of this and Mattel has chosen to keep their slave labor factories going. Wrong gamble if you ask me. Stockholder and board of director revolt and he will be out.
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Too busy with fishing to spend much time here.
It sounded to me like he apologized for a bit too much. But... The toy recalls weren't just about the lead paint issue. Some recalls were related to magnets that were too easy for toddlers to remove from the toys. Thiswas a design defect, which was Mattel's fault, not the fault of the Chinese manufacturers. To the extent that the Chinese got painted with a broad brush for problems that were Mattel's fault, I suppose an apology was due. China has enough problems of their own making without having to take the blame for things that were not their fault.
They charge just as muchfor their lead tainted made in China trash as they did for made in the USA stuff.
Quote:
Parents of all children will start to buy American made as a result of this and Mattel has chosen to keep their slave labor factories going.
Just curious guys, where are these US toys you speak of?Ive got 3 kids and my entire house is full of toys, I havent seen a "Made in the USA" stamp on one in years.Even the few manufacturers I have seen in the US import most of thier stuff these days.Googling it I found figures as high 95% of the toys available today are from China.
We have once again screwed ourselves over with outsourcing the manufacture of these, if every parent in the country suddenly decided to buy US made toys there wouldnt be enough of them to go around.Seems to me that maybe we put ourselves in the situation were in now having to sort through the cheap crap were sent from other countries to figure out whats safe and whats not.
"Seems to me that maybe we put ourselves in the situation were in now having to sort through the cheap crap were sent from other countries to figure out whats safe and whats not."
Absolutely, that is the whole idea. Personally, i would love to see some of these Chinese companies like Mattel become the target of class action lawsuits. Sue one or two of them into oblivion and maybe the rest will wake up.
"Seems to me that maybe we put ourselves in the situation were in now having to sort through the cheap crap were sent from other countries to figure out whats safe and whats not."
Absolutely, that is the whole idea. Personally, i would love to see some of these Chinese companies like Mattel become the target of class action lawsuits. Sue one or two of them into oblivion and maybe the rest will wake up.
Will suing them into oblivion increase US production of goods?
Location: On an Island in the west coast of New England
Posts: 13,133
RE: Mattel Toys apologizes to China
It is hard to buy American with almost everything including the vehicles. Parts are made in foreign countries and often assembled there. Look at hats, gloves and almost all clothing and you will find a really small tag which states where it was made. I guess it just starts small and a movement to buy only American could work after enough people get behind it. What it would do is require more money to be spent since US goods cost more to make due to the labor costs. Put higher import taxes on the things made abroad to give US manufacturers more reason to keep it here rather than to go off shore. One of the keys to our nations health is financial and buying American would in the long run create more jobs and force out the cheap competition. The only reason why something is made in China is cost...period. At some point we need to step up and take the balance of trade back in our favor. Someday perhaps places like Cabelas would state we only buy American.
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Too busy with fishing to spend much time here.
"Seems to me that maybe we put ourselves in the situation were in now having to sort through the cheap crap were sent from other countries to figure out whats safe and whats not."
Absolutely, that is the whole idea. Personally, i would love to see some of these Chinese companies like Mattel become the target of class action lawsuits. Sue one or two of them into oblivion and maybe the rest will wake up.
Mattel isn't a "Chinese company". It's an American company, incorporated in Delaware, with principle offices in El Segundo, California, andthat has manufacturing facilities in China. If you have a 401(k) plan, you probably own shares in the company, so "suing it into oblivion" probably isn't wise...
It is hard to buy American with almost everything including the vehicles
True CI. But, I'm not sure the problem lies with just "buying American". I, myself,would buy a product from any country that was a "sound" product. Americans don't always produce the highest quality (cars, for example), but usually because of Q/A controls we can at least assume SAFETY is not an issue, at least not on the scale that these Chinese products have been lately.
The chinese though, in particular seem to have no regard for safety of their workers or consumers and that, to me, is the most dangerous ingredient, especially with something liketoys.
Imo, companies who profit from the cheap outsource labor in any countries should receive the bill to pay forour government inspectors to make sure safelty concerns are alleviated.
__________________
Looney tunes deductive reasoning:
--Me smell Mohican burning
--Me last Mohican
--Must be me!!!
--EEEOOOWWW!!!!!
Mattel Toys apologizes to China
) and I'm going to do my best to make sure his exposure to chinese toys is limited. I've got enough "hand-me-downs" that my mother saved from my childhood to keep him happy for years...other than that...I would appreciate most relatives just contributing to his college fund. Guns and fishin poles are always acceptable, of course
