Look Around Your House

[Lenny]

On the news today, the author of a new book titled "Made In China" was interviewed. Since all the recalls of products made in China she decided to look around her house and in stores to see how many of our products were made in China. She was so amazed, that she wrote a book.

This morning I decided to look around the house. The very first item I picked up said "Made In China" and since then almost everything I picked up from electronics to kids toys said "Made In China. Even the coffee cups and dishes. I guess that why they call those items China. Hee Hee Ha Ha. Although I did find something that said "Made In Taiwan."

Look around your house and see how many items you can find that were made in China. You'll be surprised!

I recently had the oil changed in my American made Saturn Ion. While I was waiting for it to be done, I spoke to a salesperson about wht the new 2008 Ion will look like. He told me there would not be anymore Ions made. Saturn has merged with a German company called Opal. They will be imported all Saturns from Germany from now on. The Ion will be replaced by a car called "Vista." There goes another American car to the foreign market.

This goes to show you how tied in to the world market we are.

[CQuinn]

I make it my mission in life to avoid buying foreign made products.
I try to buy fruit/vegetables from local sources, clothes from US manufacturers; however, I do buy lamb from Australia. The Aussies are always there for us. I never buy anything from France,
I'd go naked first. And AOL that I use is on it's way out with their Indian customer service reps.

[Fran Gyomory]

I try to stay away from anything from China because they use slave labor, mostly children, in their manufacturing industry. Sad thing is that you can't buy much of anything, including produce, that doesn't come from outside the U.S. It is frightening that so many food products come from foreign countries where there are no controls over what they use on produce. Makes me want to grown my own fruit and veggies and become a vegetarian.

Sad commentary on the state of this country's import/export business.

[Fran Gyomory]

OPAL used to be made by Buick. Helen and Tom had one, I think, many, many years ago. It died and lived in their garage for a while before being junked.

Even American cars are "assembled" in Canada. Not much made in America anymore thanks to the unions that forced wages to a point that many companies moved abroad for cheaper labor.

[Lenny]

I had a Buick Opal Station Wagon in 1969 when I first moved to Florida. It was called Buick Opal, but it was made for Buick by Germany which still makes automobiles. This is the same German company that will make the new Saturn Vista beginning with the 2008 models.