a word a bout China  

Let's Be Rational.
Let's re-approach this before some of our emotions get the better of our rational. Consider this simple question:
What country's companies engage foreign resources for these presumed bad products?
Yes, there is a whole industry of knockoffs and counterfeit products for the China market but remember that everything made in China and sold here is under the auspices of American companies.

Oh, what a wonderful life.

Nice!
Nice photo find woodywoody. I love Edward Burtynsky's work. A great documentary he directed is Manufactured Landscapes that includes how Chinese manufacturing is taking its toll socially and environmentally.
Here are links:
http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/WORKS/China/Large_Images_Book/CHNA_MAN_17...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Burtynsky
http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/Introduction/Manufactured_Landscapes.html

Yup
Great doc and photography... Truly powerful stuff. I hate to think about what happened to the three old computers I recently dropped off to be "recycled".

Manufactured landscapes...
by Edward Burtynsky's should be a must for every student in design or designer but that being said I agree with Nate in pointing the finger at ourselfes. The working conditions of Chinese workers are at least to a large extend dictated by Nord American and European companies who aswer the call for "rolling back" the prices. As long as consumers are not prepared to pay a price that is close to what they would have to pay their neighbour for doing the same thing, we will collectively force other people into this kind of working conditions. Why is it that we are willing to pay $60.00 to put on the winter tires (that's what I did yesterday) or $240.00 to have a tooth fixed (the day before)but we still want to go to Wall-Mart (that I never did)to buyproducts that can only be on the market for that price because someone is exploiting someone else...
I also wonder if those who are so keen on buying "classics" from so called licenced sources also have the same respect for intellectual property when it comes to other producs (drugs come to mind)

Should be a must...
For everyone.
Regarding drugs, major pharmaceutical companies (the ones developing new medications, not generics) have been setting up manufacturing plants in "developing" countries (China, India, etc.) in recent years in order to remain competitive in the market.

I agree with you
I hope Chinese factories can reduce to a half at current record.
there is too many inferior reproductions with low cost materials.
It affect european manufacturers ,even good producers in China. they are forced to go for a price war.
all business men need low cost , high quality. what can they do in future?
To get rid of inferior producers
Cut the happiness of "made in china" users.

We can thank Walmart... and ourselves... 🙂
There was a documentary on a couple months ago about all the jobs going overseas. They interviewed a plant manager who ran a plant that made, among other things, DVD players. The plant got $4.00 for each DVD player. Walmart, the middle man, makes all the profit on this... after shipping, of course.
I have a friend whose family owned a ball bearing factory. In order to make ends meet, they eventually had to send business overseas. But after three or four years, they saw that the bearings produced in their name were inferior, so they started bringing production back to the USA again. SO that's pretty encouraging, I think.
With regards to China's role in it all. I figure we open up factories over there. Once they've learned how to manufacture something using our processes, whats to keep them from going out and opening up businesses of their own to compete with us? It happens on a small scale here with migrant workers. But I think its coming back to bite us in the ass in a big way now... anyway, just my opinion.
With this new president, I'm hoping for some great changes in our country. I think some jobs will eventually come back here when people understand that the quality just isn't the same. Just my two cents worth... I may be entirely wrong...
Chris C

Is this discussion
not being a tad bit dismissive of the American companies that build factories in China to supply the Chinese themselves? Instead of focusing on Chinese companies supplying inferior (and sometimes dangerous), products for export, can we not also appreciate those American companies that have expanded into China and that remain one of the few bright spots for potential growth of our own economy by supplying global markets?
I worry that we may be painting all companies that have anything to do with "China" with a very broad brush. Wal-Mart cheepo Nelson clocks aside, let us not punish the very large industrial companies like Eaton or Caterpillar or GE that maintain and operate Chinese plants that employ Chinese workers that provide transformers or circuit breakers or steel or other manufactured equipment for the Chinese to use to power or build their own infrastructure.
One of the only markets showing growth lately has been those companies large enough to expand into a global arena to provide their products to growning nations.
I worry with an Obama presidency that his vow to add taxes to companies expanding overseas or to otherwise penalize them that he is not taking into account American companies that are providing goods to the countries into which they are expanding.
As Heath lamented in another thread, electricity is not universal. Transformers and circuit breakers in China are not compatible with the same in the UK or continental Europe or the US. If a US company has a plant in China making circuit breakers for the Chinese are they now in danger of being overtaxed or penalized for their success in that endeavor?

I believe Riki
What you're describing is a different corporate concept/phenomenon from "shipping jobs overseas" in its most common interpretation whereby entire departments of companies are laid off because the job can be accomplished much cheaper elsewhere (e.g. telephone-based customer service coming from India).
The pharmaceutical industry is doing something similar to what you describe, in that they are building plants in "developing" nations in order to be able to supply those markets at a lower cost. However, if some of those supplies are brought back to be sold in the US, then one might argue that would be "shipping jobs overseas", to a certain extent.

But Woody
it would be entirely possible to build Chinese-compatible products here in the US for export to China, albeit at a much higher cost, due to US labor costs and considerable shipping expenses. However, it would be conceivably possible. Large companies are fully capable of just building the plant in China and employing the Chinese and incurring smaller shipping costs.
That's just good business practices. My worry, however, is that those companies will be punished monetarily for having the wherewithal to do exactly that because they will be lumped together with all of the retail cheepskates that just want to use cheap Chinese labor to make their kid's onesies that will catch on fire at the drop of a hat that will be shipped back to K-Mart or Dollar General or wherever.
I just realized as I was typing this that I have used a number of "Americanisms" and I apologize. Onesies are a type of baby underwear and Dollar General is a discount retailer outlet.

Come on, Riki honey...
You cannot honestly affirm the approach of companies like GE. The simple truth is that the operation of these companies is in their own self interest first. What is the value in aiding the Chinese growth of an economy and country devoid of basic humanistic value? Should those inside our borders not be more important than those who could rise against us? Joint ventures with countries which operate and govern in civility are one thing. This is something else entirely.