purchasing items

[lessjamie7]

Punish China. Lol.

I will punish China right after I find a woman to punish junior post covid.

Priorities.

LJ

 

[lessjamie7]

The chinese workers worked in Milano and made the all expensive stuff there. Because they made on Italian land, the companies (dolce gabbana, giorgio armani....etc) could use the "Made in Italy" label. Technically those are chinese made luxurious stuffs, just playing games with the laws and your wallet . The time of the Chinese New Year the workers went back to China to celebrate. When the New Year is finished, they went back to Milano and brought THE GIFT to Lombardy. The rest is just one version of the history of COVID!

The pitfalls of materialism.

LJ

 

[lessjamie7]

Absolutely I was already actively boycotting Made in China products and I will be doing so at a greater level now....no reason to buy made in China products but rather support our economy and other countries that have been negatively impacted...
I spoke to several people that share these same sentiments as well....The China town business is most likely going to see a tough road to recovery...

Thankfully Rolex and AMG are not Chinese Brands.

LJ

 

[lessjamie7]

Products which are made in China are a lot cheaper than the same product being made elsewhere. Now ask people if they are willing to buy these products made elsewhere and having to spend 3X-5X more on their monthly expenses? We all the answer to that question will be a NO for the very high majority if not all of people.
There are a lot of products that are either Chinese made or made in other countries that have Chinese parts in them, these people that think this is possible should all stop using every single piece of technology, electronics, houseware, textile they own and go buy the equivalent in Canadian made with a higher price and in many cases inferior quality.

The question is not really whether or not someone is willing to spend 5x what it cost to buy made in China as opposed to made in Canada the question is do they really need all that materialistic useless shit to begin with.

Most of these purchases scratch an itch that is only temporarily resolved then the itch comes back and the spiritual void in people comes back so they buy more and like a crack addict it goes on and on and on like an incurable fucking disease.

Obviously I am not talking about absolute necessities.

I am talking about the shallowness of materiality and consumerism most of the shit people buy they don't even need.

LJ

 

[lessjamie7]

Evidently, it is not 100% avoidable but the more you can avoid it the better...I’ve found plenty of affordable items made elsewhere....to those really willing to make a point I’m sure they will pay twice for something not made in China and I’m sure many people are going to be checking labels a lot more carefully now...hopefully we can pull out the manufacturing there and move it elsewhere....hmm here’s a good idea a Not Made in China store...the antithesis of dollarama...

Sign me up, good post BTW.

LJ

 

[lessjamie7]

These are simple facts that many either don't understand or choose not to believe. The cost of producing products in Canada is far too expensive relative to other countries. Even if people worked for free we would still not be competitive with China because our skilled labor force is simply not large enough.

The other issue many seem to forget is with the food supply especially fresh meat. The label might say Product of Canada, but it doesn't tell you where every ingredient especially animal feed or fertilizer come from. Not sure if anyone recalls, but there was a huge recall of pet food around 2007-08 that came from a Canadian company called Menu Foods that was the largest in North America. They made pet food for a wide variety of brands expensive and cheap. I wouldn't be surprised if they were (and still) labelled as Product of Canada.

The ensuing investigation revealed that the ingredients making up the pet food was contaminated with melamine, which is typically used to make laminate flooring, dry erase boards, etc. You clearly don't want to ingest it let alone give it to your pets. One guess as to which country those ingredients came from. It would not surprise me in the least if ingredients are still coming from there.

I remember that scandal vividly because I had a fairly young golden retriever that suddenly died of apparent organ failure around that time. I have no way of knowing if contaminated pet food killed him, but it's very, very likely.

The economic reality is that most products be they clothing, textiles, electronics or food and their ingredients are made overseas and just finished in Canada.

It has taken decades for that business model to evolve and yes there are definitely issues pitting Canadians and Americans' income against the cost of locally produced goods. It has resulted in the situation we are in now where the economics dictate production logistics, the solution would take as long to remedy with production costs being somewhere matching the income of the average western civilian but how do we get there from here.

It has to start with a plan that I personally have not seen, most of us here with our extravagant hobby can bear the cost of some costlier items but for the average Joe it would be a pretty tough argument to get him to pay double what he has to for some bare necessities.

It would be interesting to compare production standards between Canadian and Chinese manufacturers and see if Made In Canada would result in a product working twice as long as the same item being Made In China.

There are certain commodities for which each country should be self-sufficient so in the face of adversity they are not donkeys following carrots like the US asking the CCP for respirator masks.

LJ

 

[lessjamie7]

I read China owns over 1 trillion of the USA's national debt. I wonder how much of Canada's it owns.

Not anymore that's why Trump signed off on 2 trillion in relief, just like the Mexicans paying for the wall the CCP is going to pay for the Virus.

LJ

 

[lessjamie7]

Rampant consumerism, people refusing to live within their means is a part of this problem as well. Nobody does without anymore. And we drive ourselves into debt to keep up with others.
This Pandemic may (and certainly has for some of us) force us to re-examine our shopping obsessed culture and get back in touch with actual needs over wants. Discipline.

That's why I laugh when I see someone wearing a wristwatch the size of a frisbee. Or $1000 LV plastic sunglasses where the logo is bigger than the lenses, hilarious.

LJ

 

[doggystyle99]

The question is not really whether or not someone is willing to spend 5x what it cost to buy made in China as opposed to made in Canada the question is do they really need all that materialistic useless shit to begin with.

Most of these purchases scratch an itch that is only temporarily resolved then the itch comes back and the spiritual void in people comes back so they buy more and like a crack addict it goes on and on and on like an incurable fucking disease.

Obviously I am not talking about absolute necessities.

I am talking about the shallowness of materiality and consumerism most of the shit people buy they don't even need.

LJ

Not only does China manufacture so many goods that we as Canadians and the rest of the world use on a daily basis they also produce so many materials that are needed to assemble products or for manufacturing of other countries.
Textile, technology, electronics, houseware, building materials are just a very small number of them which are needed in our daily lives, yes a working person in 2020 does need the necessities such as clothes, flooring, phones, TV's, computers, blenders, fridges and so on to be able to have a life.
The question is are people able to afford to spend 3-5X more for all of these products that are necessities to be able to live and work in 2020?

 

[doggystyle99]

It has taken decades for that business model to evolve and yes there are definitely issues pitting Canadians and Americans' income against the cost of locally produced goods. It has resulted in the situation we are in now where the economics dictate production logistics, the solution would take as long to remedy with production costs being somewhere matching the income of the average western civilian but how do we get there from here.

It has to start with a plan that I personally have not seen, most of us here with our extravagant hobby can bear the cost of some costlier items but for the average Joe it would be a pretty tough argument to get him to pay double what he has to for some bare necessities.

It would be interesting to compare production standards between Canadian and Chinese manufacturers and see if Made In Canada would result in a product working twice as long as the same item being Made In China.

There are certain commodities for which each country should be self-sufficient so in the face of adversity they are not donkeys following carrots like the US asking the CCP for respirator masks.

LJ

China over the last decade has started to produce alot more higher quality/price products and has shifted from producing the low quality goods that were not durable and of low quality which they were happy to produce back in the 1980-90's, these manufacturing have started to go to places such as Vietnam and will be shifting mostly to Vietnam over the next decade. It's all in China's longer term plan of producing higher quality products and high value industries, essentially building up the Chinese middle class and making China less dependent on foreign consumer demand.
Exact same tactic the USA was using a century ago along it's globalization policies as well building up the middle class which the USA has gotten away from over the last 40+ years.

 

[SchlongConery]

The question is not really whether or not someone is willing to spend 5x what it cost to buy made in China as opposed to made in Canada the question is do they really need all that materialistic useless shit to begin with.

Most of these purchases scratch an itch that is only temporarily resolved then the itch comes back and the spiritual void in people comes back so they buy more and like a crack addict it goes on and on and on like an incurable fucking disease.

Obviously I am not talking about absolute necessities.

I am talking about the shallowness of materiality and consumerism most of the shit people buy they don't even need.

LJ

If ONE. good thing comes of this pandemic I hope it is a re-set of vulgar consumerism and cult-like worshipping of "premium" brands.

Never mind the price of red soled shoes, this whole mentality of wannabe rich/working poor people who create the whole. Chinese knock-off industry of fake Louis Vuitton bags, phony Rolex's etc.

And I won't cry when all these Instagram "influencers" have to get a real job instead of shilling for items that >50% of the price is to pay for "branding". Hopefully, that era of vulgar consumerism is on its way out.

 

[Indiana]

I’ve stopped playing Chinese Checkers

 

[lessjamie7]

I’ve stopped playing Chinese Checkers

I gave away my bone China.

LJ

 

[Ceiling Cat]

My Cantonese Chow Mien and Shrimp with lobster sauce is made in Canada!

 

[explorerzip]

It has taken decades for that business model to evolve and yes there are definitely issues pitting Canadians and Americans' income against the cost of locally produced goods. It has resulted in the situation we are in now where the economics dictate production logistics, the solution would take as long to remedy with production costs being somewhere matching the income of the average western civilian but how do we get there from here.

It has to start with a plan that I personally have not seen, most of us here with our extravagant hobby can bear the cost of some costlier items but for the average Joe it would be a pretty tough argument to get him to pay double what he has to for some bare necessities.

It would be interesting to compare production standards between Canadian and Chinese manufacturers and see if Made In Canada would result in a product working twice as long as the same item being Made In China.

There are certain commodities for which each country should be self-sufficient so in the face of adversity they are not donkeys following carrots like the US asking the CCP for respirator masks.

LJ

A product's lifespan greatly depends on how people use or abuse them. Products are designed such that they tend to last only for the length of the warranty. Once the warranty expires you can be reasonably sure that the product is going to fail. If you use a product properly then it should lasts far longer, but if not then you can be sure that it will fail. The reason companies do that is very simple: to get you to continually buy new products.

There's no business reason to make products in Canada that last twice or more as long as a foreign made product. Companies will have a tough time charging double or more vs a foreign made product. The only exception to that rule is with luxury goods like Apple that can get away with charging more than double versus similar products that are also made in China.

 

[lomotil]

Materialism, morbidity, realism, mortality, deletion

 

[harryass]

yip, when I upgraded my cell phone about 7 months ago, there was no fn way I was going to buy Huawei (or made in China phone) because of the two Mike's China is still holding hostage on fake charges.

 

[kkelso]

I wonder if in the states the move will be to require a huge, shiny, "Made in China" sticker prominently displayed on every product. A little tough to define, but I'd get behind that.

KK

 

[lomotil]

The US Treasury has been "made in China" for some time now.

 

[Goodoer]

If ONE. good thing comes of this pandemic I hope it is a re-set of vulgar consumerism

That is one of the best things about COVID... I buy only things I need and make my own food rather than taking the easy way out by eating out... I'm saving a fortune.

(I have gained a problem in that I should work on my nutritional cooking. I find I'm eating more too.)