For years Americans have become addicted to cheap prices for Chinese made goods. In fact, even if you wanted to buy an American tennis shoe, you would be out of luck. Ditto for many areas of goods that were once considered the backbone of American greatness. Last year, sensing that the party was almost over, the Chinese dumped 4 times their previous exports into America as a final parting gift.
Now, the yuan has been set to float. This will raise costs for American consumers but the good news is that maybe people will buy other goods from America that are better made anyway, or maybe manufactures can begin making these products locally now that it might make sense and profit to do so.
In the short term, it may mean inflation, but this will mean jobs for US workers and a lowering of the trade deficit with China. Click the post for an article from the Winston-Salem Journal (www.journalnow.com)
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I don't know that this is a bad thing. Walmart puts tremendous pressure on suppliers to lower prices, which forces jobs overseas (for example, masterlock in Milwaukee). In reality, this amounts to large amounts of money for Walmart due to the large volume of goods they sell. In reality, by the time you take into account transportation and other added costs of doing business in China, the savings to the consumer isn't that much. I read an article, that Walmart was saving something like a quarter by buying T-Shirts from China versus Anvil an american T-Shirt company. Walmart makes billions of dollars every year, but they coach their employees on how to qualify for Medical Assistance through the individual states, rather than providing healthcare. They make huge profits, while we pay for their employees health insurance through our income taxes. Walmart is not good for the U.S. economy. Hopefully the change in currency will bring more jobs back to the U.S. and help with our trade deficit. Persoanlly, I refuse to shop at Walmart.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good thing for the US producers.
ReplyDeleteI remember advertisements when Walmart started out that they carried only "Made in the USA" labels.
Walmart is not the only discount store that carries goods made in China however I try to avoid WM. (I thought Masterlock went to Mexico?) With that said I have become a habitual label checker. I try to avoid purchasing any item that is made overseas. It is disapointing when I am not always lucky enough to find the product with the made in the USA label.
You may be correct on the masterlock relocating production to Mexico. I remember the story that it was due to price pressure from Walmart. I was assuming it was probably China, but I don't recall. I didn't see it in its entirety, but the PBS's Frontline "Is Walmart Good for America?" was an interesting show. I noticed it is available for viewing online at:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/
Count me in as another Walmart boycotter.
ReplyDelete