Oh, the corporate sharks have it easy, really:
Since I’m from the U.S., my examples will reflect that context, but the pattern is probably pretty similar everywhere:

1. The “Big Lie” is that corporations are “private”. In truth, the corporation is a very special, very privileged type of business-structure, and incorporation is a privilege granted by the State.
For instace, corporations are (at least here in the U.S.) “legal persons”, and supposedly possess the same constitutional protections as REAL flesh-and-blood persons. This is actually really dangerous in that it precipitates corporate hijacking of the political process (”lobbying”). I can’t even begin to go into the negative consequences of “corporate personhood”, but there’s a lot of good information about it, and to be honest, it scares the hell out of me the more I read about it.

2. Another attribute that makes corporate capitalism so dangerous is the whole “limited liability” thing; the ‘veil’ between corporate assets and the “personal” assets of CEOs/board members/stock-holders ensures that no matter what the corporation does, THEY don’t really face meaningful consequences.
This is a double-win for governments, because whenever it wants something nasty done, it just contracts it out. (Read up on the role of Blackwater International in the Iraq thing.)
Corporations are explicitly designed such that they’re required to maximize profit at all costs, and unfortunately some of the fastest ways to maximize profits are: sacrifice quality/use crappy materials (bonus to this is that it increases the failure-rate of the product, and leads to more purchases. It’s the “break down the day after the warranty expires” syndrome.)
Another way to maximize profits is to pay your workforce as little as possible (sweatshops in 3rd world nations, etc.)
Another way to maximize profits is to keep begging for harsher “intellectual property” laws — longer copyright and patent terms, etc. (Gee, we’re not familiar with THAT one, are we???)

If all else fails,our corporate overlords can play the nationalism card. (”It’s all the fault of the Japanese!”, “Buy American!”, blah blah blah.) Nobody stops to realize that the jobs and wages that DO return locally are usually shitty and stacked in the corporation’s favor. (Walmart, anyone?)

And the best part of this scam is that anybody who complains gets branded a “red”, “Commie”, or somehow “anti-business.”
Our corporate overlords pass what they do off as “free enterprise”, when in truth it is actually a very carefully-crafted system of State-granted privileges, monopolies, and favors propping the whole thing up. People hear “business” and they think mom-and-pop stuff, but corporations are REALLY different from sole proprietorship/partnerships, etc. Last election, Nader was the ONLY one who even mentioned corporate personhood, and I personally think that’s shameful.

What’s really funny to me is the blatant hypocrisy of conservatives: they’re always bloviating about how wrong the “nanny state” and it’s “social safety nets” are, and how we should have “personal responsibility”, while at the same time, they spend so much time mollycoddling corporations, which are at base, nothing other than a “social safety-net” for capitalists, designed so they never have to take “personal responsibility” for what those corporations DO.

As I said, economic nationalism isn’t a fix for this, and until/unless we begin taking a serious look at how the PRIVILEGE known as “the corporation” is being used, we’re going to comtinue to have bad outcomes, “prison industrial complex” and outsourcing to 3rd world sweatshop type settings included.

“…corporate capitalism explicitly favors sociopathic behaviors — the maximization of short-term profit, and consequences be damned.”

This line pretty well says it all.

The only missing part is the way the sociopaths keep up the misinformation, in order to keep the public arguing the very same points you’re touching on here.

And your/Koltai’s proposed “solution” to things like ACTA is to increase the level of such provincialism, by confusing location with equitability. It’s always easier to blame someone else for social ills, which is exactly what “reader” managed to do:

“Nothing is actually MADE here anymore!”
People making this statement never stop to consider WHY:
The problem is corporate capitalist types who see the easiest “cost-cutting” measure as low wages, unsafe working conditions, etc. and economic nationalism/regionalism isn’t a fix for that, as I said.

2. “IF Wal-mart had a union would it be better?”
Possibly — provided that the Union actually did it’s job. But “at will” employment provisions ensure that if you don’t like the conditions you can just get the hell out rather than expect to actually get better conditions.

3. Did you ever stop to think WHY manufacturing/resource-extraction migrated away from the U.S.? It’s explicitly because other jurisdictions lack standards in regard to environmental conditions, worker safety, wages, etc. And Y’know what’s most fascinating about that? The REASON so many of those jurisdictions demonstrate such disregard for those things is specifically in order to ATTRACT corporate patronage, and GET “the local economy” going again.

See how it works?
1. Find jurisdictions with the lowest mandatory standards in regard to wages, environmental protection, etc.
2. Outsource everything to those locations.
3. When everything possible has been migrated to slave-labor, people will start lamenting the fact that “nothing is made here anymore.” (”Mom and Apple Pie”, “Der Fatherland”, etc.) Bonus: if there’s some marginalized group such as undocumented mexican immigrants, blame them.
4. “Gee, let’s do something to attract business and revitalize the local economy. I know! Deregulation! If businesses weren’t getting strangled by all those pesky worker-safety and consumer protection laws, they could just get on with manufacturing. Oh, and let’s not forget the “greedy unions” and their over-inflated wages. Let’s make all employment “at-will” so the companies can pay the least amount they can get away with.”

The above is the entire essence of “economic policy” according to the Republican/Conservative mindset.
Like I said (and you completely ignored) “where” something is made and “how” it’s made are related SPECIFICALLY because stuff is made in places with the lowest standards, solely as a cost-cutting measure, you understand.

The whole “local economy” thing is nothing but a sugar-coated “mom and apple-pie” bait and switch, so that people don’t bother about stuff like product standards/worker safety/consumer protection. Outsourcing/use of slave-labor/disregard for safety are ALL examples of easy cost-cutting measures intended to maximize short-term profit, and the way “where” and “how” something is made are related is explicitly this: goods and services will be produced wherever the standards are lowest.

Or didn’t any of you bother to watch the link to that documentary on corporations?

Oh trust me, I get it — it’s much easier to put the blame on the Japanese, or the “greedy unions” or “red-tape” involved in environmental protection law, or to get distracted by the lack of GOOD employment in your local area, than to actually ask yourself WHY all the jobs go to third-world countries (and have to confront the fact that businesspeople, in the main, simply don’t consider anything but maximizing short-term profit-margins, because social/political/environmental “costs” involved in such profit-maximizing behavior won’t be borne by the companies themselves.

Here’s a rather good article pointing out the real issues which “made in America” (or it’s equivalent) is intended to conceal:

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0218-01.htm

Basically, the article comes to the (rather frightening) conclusion that corporate capitalism explicitly favors sociopathic behaviors — the maximization of short-term profit, and consequences be damned.

So next time somebody trots out this “where was it made”, ask yourself: WHY did the company in question choose that location.

A sociopath is a sociopath, whether “local” or “foreign”.

And no, I wouldn’t shop at Wal-Mart. It’s not because they don’t have a union (actually, I’m rather anti-union, to be honest. I’ve seen nothing but crap come out of them. I am a union member, of course, but only because my job requires it. I compare it to 1920’s style mafia, going into a shop and saying “Pay up, or else!”). Nothing they sell there seems to be worth the gas to get there. My top priority is almost always quality, then US-made, then cost (in that order). Walmart ignores the first two entirely. So I don’t shop there.

Oh, and their treatment of their employees doesn’t seem to be that great, either.

I honestly hadn’t thought of the environmental issue. Thanks for bringing it up. It opens a can of worms, of course, but sometimes that’s a good thing.

To have the “made in American” crap on it I believe only 55% of a FINISHED product needs to be made in America.

They classify stuff into percentages:

Example, when I was a *** for some place i got tossed all this bullshit stuff to make proposals for.
Break it down to component level, work out the time, work out the labour, work out the ingredients (and where they came from). Submit proposal to US feds/US state/US city, get approval or get knocked on the head saying they want a greater percentage. blah blah blah.

Tell me Henry, is “how it’s made” any better? Did you ever stop to realize what “made in America” really is down to the chemistry involved?

I think you took it out of context.

“How it is made”… hmmmm one basic industrial examples.

The finishing on a product (ie plating)

Do you think that connector that has copper or chrome plating came from Vermont?

Plating doesn’t cost much (aside from the import of the raw chemicals and the electricity) but mass production of a connector shell in Vermont? puh-lease.

That’s one of the first things sacrificed in “made in America” due to costs of mass production. They send it to some place that has very lax environmental standards (Porta Rico & Mexico was a favorite for this). The expense of maintaining environmental reg’s don’t compete with those places and companies jumped on it (including the states).

a) cheap labour
b) no problem dumping hex chrome, nickle, cadmium and lead in the river or dumping at greater concentrations allowable here and in the EU
c) no health issues. Got a problem? Out you go.
d) money
e) wages
f) no need to educate workers on hazards

That’s just the plating on a useless connector shell, and its cheaper to ship it back and forth than do it in Vermont, as an example.

(Material wise, they probably weigh the amount of plating on a connector and calculate the weight and thickness constitute 0.0005% foreign made, negligible, hence made in America.)

How many mass produced non-critical parts do you think are plated in America or the EU Henry?

Whatcha got to say about how its made?

Are you saying there should be a new standard? Forget the “made in America” load of bull and have a label called “Made by human standards”?

Then what? Force the spear fisherman to use a fishing rod (with chrome plated eyes) that was made in America?

I think you took it out of context. As another reader above pointed out, “buying local… Tom, Wal-Mart hates u”.

Walm-Mart is “local”, but I understood it for what it was as well. Will you buy from, and support Wal-Mart Henry?

What if Wal-Mart had a union? Would that make it better?

I believe you are the one equating “made in America with buy local”. Made in America is not necessarily buying local (or even country wise, ingredient wise). Someone some place is being exploited. If not for labour, then their lax laws or their resources (which includes cheap human resources).

That’s human nature and that’s Mass production while keeping shareholder profits up, while misleading people with labels.

However I agree with you on the buy “IPHQNE” thing.

Anyhow “where” something is made is indeed related to “How” something is made (lots of times, and for reason).

my 0.02

But one major problem I see with a lack of provincialism is the same problem we see right now, where all or most of the goods are produced where it is cheapest to do so. Even if it’s not a good general policy, and absolutely not a good absolute policy, “buy local” is a way to help keep *some* of the wealth from completely going overseas . I don’t mean to say that it’s not possible to have a world without provincialism, just that it’s not here yet. Like it or not, the local economy is a factor, and right now, the local economy isn’t doing so well.

The national debt is also something to be concerned about. When (it’s not a matter of if, IMO) china decides to demand the payment we certainly owe them, we’ll be pretty much (if not completely) bankrupt. It’s not that having things made in china is inherently bad, it’s that *everything* is made in china, and therefore, we are sending our money out the window as fast as we can manage. Being dangerously far in debt isn’t a good thing. Buying things made in the USA (and, preferably, finding some way to create an export business) is one possible way to stabilize the situation until a better way is found.

That’s my .02

“Consumer preference for local goods give local producers more market power and allows local producers to lift prices to extract greater profits. This occurs because firms that produce locally-produced goods can charge a premium for that good. Consumers who favor products by local producers may end up being exploited by profit-maximizing local producers. For example, protectionist policy in America that placed tariffs on foreign cars gave local producers Ford and GM market power that allowed them to raise prices of cars, which negatively affected American consumers who faced fewer choices and higher prices [2]. However, in most cases where no cartel is formed, the market forces will create competition for local products, and cause prices to drop.

Because locally-produced goods can attract a premium if consumers show a preference towards it, a firm has an incentive to pass foreign goods off as local goods if foreign goods have cheaper costs of production than local goods. They are able to do this because the line between foreign-made and locally-made is blurry. This brings up the issue of the definition of local goods. For example, while a particular car may be assembled in America its engine may be made in another country, say, China. Furthermore, while the engine may be made in China, the engine’s components may be made in several other countries, e.g. the pistons may come from Germany and the spark plugs may come from Mexico. The components that make up the spark plugs and pistons may come from different countries and so on.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_nationalism

ACTA is motivated by ONE thing: corporate/State collusion to “protect” those companies which it favors, at the expense of everybody else.

Provincialism is bullshit, and everytime I see somebody advocating the “buy local” or “buy American” or whatever, I can’t help but think back on that “Goobacks” episode on South Park, with the Redneck dudes and their “They took our jobs!” thing.)

1. The “solution” to the perils of corporate globalization is NOT economic nationalism (exemplified by the “buy American” bullshit). My concern isn’t “where” something is manufactured, but (wait for it): HOW it’s manufactured — whether the workers in question receive equitable wages etc. And Y’know what? Economic nationalism isn’t a “fix” for that.
Does Koltai’s prescription that we should boycott companies which “have operations” in other nations go for — let’s say — Europeans who should boycott American companies with “operations” in THEIR nations?
The worst offenders in regard to bad treatment of their workforce are actually LOCAL companies in many cases, anyway — prime example, various temp-agencies local to my area which staff various warehouses and small-scale warehouse work etc. with inmates on “work release”, so as to undercut even the relatively meager wages payed to temp-workers.
The REAL solution there would be to abandon the “war on drugs” (seeing as the vast majority of such work-release worker/slaves are jailed for nonviolent offenses involving marijuana, but I digress.)

2. The main reason companies are trying to stamp out “cloned” products via things like ACTA? THEY DON’T ACTUALLY LIKE MARKET-COMPETITION. That’s the whole reason for the enhanced copyright and trademark “protection” at the national level. I honestly couldn’t figure out whether Koltai was for or against economic nationalism, but if he’s FOR it (exemplified by his sad little sop to the “you SHOULD buy local” crowd, then he’s bad wrong, on this one.

The problem is NOT “where” something was manufactured, but HOW it was manufactured:
Hint: let’s assume that the “buy America” crowd gets their wish and the “made in China” stickers are no longer ubiquitous. Result?
“America: Every man his own contractor” (”At-will” provisions and an almost total absence of collective-bargaining power have been ubiquitous Stateside for a long time.) China: still slave laborers, just for “chinese” outfits instead.

A REAL solution would be to google for whether a given “legit” company supports ACTA, and then BOYCOTT THEIR PRODUCTS. BUY an “IPHQNE” — demonstrate that you’ve actually bought into the capitalist notion that market-competition is a good thing by SUPPORTING THE COMPANIES GIVING YOU GOOD PRODUCTS AT A GOOD PRICE, instead of the companies which want to collude with government to STOP such competition.

Or am I missing something here?
Remember also that appeals to economic nationalism and fear of “foreign competition” were one of the biggest selling-points during Hitler’s rise to power in Wiemar Germany.

It’s a really short step from “Excuse me, was this made here”, to “Excuse me, but was this made by White Christian Americans?”

” The biggest scam of all, however, is probably ripping-off music. It is so rampant — it’s estimated 99 per cent of all the music downloaded across the country is done illegally — that this month Google convinced four major music companies to let it distribute their songs for free. Now, anyone who accesses Google.cn from a computer inside China can legally download music from Sony, EMI, Universal and Warner. ”

hmmm, why would they do this ? …

” Google hopes the plan will increase its market share in China and the music companies expect they’ll gain more from advertising on the website than they ever did from selling their music here. ”

They admit that downloading is akin to advertisment ?

Interesting.

I just wanted to add that I always search for a USA-made product before I start looking anywhere else. I usually settle for lower quality if it’s made in the USA, even when a better product is available overseas. I just can’t find them very often

Nothing is fucking made here any more. (excuse my french, it’s a hot button for me.)

I am a computer geek. Almost everything I do is based on technology of some sort. But it doesn’t seem to matter. If I go to my local computer shop, I probably couldn’t find a single item that was made in the USA. If I go online, maybe I could find *one* (try, for example, finding a USA-made video card… good luck.).

I use caffeine powder (easy to get hold of, and cheaper than energy drinks. And yes, the caffeine itself is made in the USA. Checked.) in my crystal light in the morning. To use that, you must have a scale that measures to within about 10mg, because 1 gram of caffeine is nearly toxic, you only need about 1/10 of that (one cup of coffee) or a little more. I tried, for many hours in fact, to find such a scale made in the USA. I could find labratory-grade scales that measure to 1/10,000 of a gram, for well over $1000, but any scale even remotely within my price range (which I set at $200, by the way. I wasn’t trying to be cheap, but I can’t spend an entire month’s wages on a scale) was from china.

I recently purchased a small refridgerater for my room. My requirement was that it fit on my shelf. I found about 4 brands (Sanyo, Danby, Haier, and one other) that made refridgeraters that fit (physically). All of them were from asian countries, most of them were sold at walmart.

The bottom line is pretty clear. In the USA today, it is impossible — literally, as far as I can tell — to live on USA-made goods. There just aren’t any. And that is where we need to start.

1. Read the story here:
Celine Dion wanted:
http://www.montrealgazette.com/News/Dion+wanted+fortune+told+fancy+bags+merchant/1491843/story.html

Pay attention to the name “Louis Vuitton”

Reference 1: Do a P2Pnet site search on “Louis Vuitton”

heh readers write from today (above): http://www.p2pnet.net/story/20272#comment-971733

Reference 2: Look at the newest ACTA leak on wikileaks (and of course the article above by Tom)
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Classified_US%2C_Japan_and_EU_ACTA_trade_agreement_drafts%2C_2009

Reference 3: Refer to the mention of Google and the Music Kartels in the same Montreal Gazette article on Celine Dion (near the bottom).

Reference 4: Do a site search on china and music kartels using google on this site.

Poor Celine. But She is innocent!

If this was you or me, the FBI would surround your house and put all you got under a microscope.

> If 1.3 billion start to starve – what will their real options be?

Counterfeiting AK-47 and wage guerilla against the “civilized” west.

Wal-Mart hates u

Are you saying people are being exploited for profit and long term company sustainability?

Couldn’t be. Not in this day and age… right?

Don’t want to see fake 20 iPods and Louis Vuitton bags being sold on street corners? Then stop outsourcing your production overseas. If people were paid more than 35 cents an hour to make these things, they wouldn’t have any intensive to create a black market in the first place.

Its called the “Motocycle Diaries”, when Che left uni and traveled Latin American which supposedly shape his path.

Its not a hollywood movie. Its Spanish and all subtitled.

Worth watching/reading.

You will see the correlation to this story…