I wonder what on Earth has moved people like Erin to make such statements?!!
So it is still better to poison our children for a better bargain?!
"Rock Bottom" prices come with "rock bottom" intelligence and emotions. Erin Burnett either does not have children, cannot remember her own childhood or is simply another one of the greedy hypocrites who do one thing to make money (i.e. say the things their news media conglomerate wants them to say) and do the opposite in private, such as desperately trying to protect their own children by NOT buying Chinese products.
We have all become totally mindless by that incredibly stupid greed of getting the best deal, no matter what. And it seems that US Americans are the best at this. In other places there are values beyond just making a buck or saving a penny for the price of slowly contaminating the whole planet and the future of the next generations.
It is really true: Greed corrupts us all.

Yes because clearly raising prices is the solution to all problems....

No one is saying raising prices is the solution. Raising prices is a consequence to manufacturing things that aren't dangerous. Manufacturing things that aren't dangerous is part of the solution.

Yes because clearly raising prices is the solution to all problems....

Strange, I didn't see anyone making that argument. What I saw was someone asking that the cost of dangerous externalities be accounted for in the price of a product for the sake of better outcomes for humans and the planet -- a basic treehugger belief.

Please stop flamebaiting at this website with your insults to treehugger values.

Thats the unfortunat stance of most peoiple. as long as its cheap they will buy it, even if they don't need it. thats how walmart has made its fortune, line the shelves with useless cheap crap and convince people they are getting a cheap price and they buy it.

i'm tired of the rhetoric from people with little to no understanding of the nature of manufacturing in Asia. It is only the American companies to blame here, not their contract manufacturers. Every manufacturer is ultimately responsible for their own quality control and a factory will only do as guided, and will make it's own decisions where not guided. To blame china for this is ludicrous and a complete farce. Of course these problems are coming from there, they manufacture everything that isn't too large to ship across the ocean. Volume is practically the only limiting factor when choosing Asian vendors. It's a completely misleading statistic.

The concentration should be on the laziness of American companies who fob off all aspects of their production to these companies without sufficient involvment in the development of their own products, and no due diligence on their own part to ensure the parts they are selling are safe.

There are ways to make safe product in China, we do it every day.

Yes, it's important to not totally blame Asia. After all, it's kind of the same thing with Latin American drugs. We lecture these countries to enforce their laws, and they in return tell us to get a handle on domestic demand for the substances.

I must admit that I was really not that surprised. After all, it’s not uncommon for disgraced officials in China to commit suicide in response to the immense amount of public shame their actions bring on both themselves and their families

Uh... what? Care to cite examples of this happening? Because last I checked, it WAS uncommon for disgraced officials to kill themselves in any country, INCLUDING China. In fact, the only other casualty I can think of recently was the head of the SFDA, which the state executed - he certainly didn't pull the trigger himself.

Also, though China's lax manufacturing quality controls are a major problem, they are a problem that American manufacturers are fully aware of. In fact, it was probably a problem that American manufacturers wanted, since it means a lower overhead and more profit on all consumer goods. To lay the blame completely on China, a just-out-of-third-world-status whose growth is outpacing its ability to regulate (much like any emerging industrial nation, including our own), is about just as ridiculous as that Erin Burnett comment.

Well said dd,

What I have found most frustrating through this is the inability of consumers to understand just how Wal-MArt and others defy economic gravity.

All the inputs are going up. Alumnium, petroleum, plastics, woods, etc. yet, the costs of products at the store are going down. How does this happen?

Well. A buyer makes their yearly trip to China and tell the factory to cut costs by 5%. Never mind the fact that the RMB depreciation has made their goods 10% more expensive without the cost of aluminum going up 30%.

so what do they do? They look for ways to save costs (especially if NO ONE is looking). Water based paint becomes oil based paint. Oil based paint becomes water based paint.

American consumers want the low cost goods to be safe, and this can be accomplished through hiring a team for China based quality control monitoring and management. It is what I have done for several clients, and we have had less than a 1/10th percent failure rate.

The problem is that to few companies put a team into China, and it isn't until 1000 pets fall ill that something is done.

Never mind that fact that IAMS never visited the factories. It is China's fault.

R
www.allroadsleadtochina.com

Long ago, in a culture far, far away, 'Made in America' meant quality. And her goods were durable. There was pride in manufacturing as well as ownership.

And I honestly miss that.

On the other hand, when I shop for "green" goods, they are almost always made in the USA, never China. They last a long time, they are usually backed up by good customer service and friendly people doing business with heart. (I'm excluding big corporations)

I don't make a lot of money, so I sure as heck am not going to work all day for a few precious dollars, only to buy junk products from overseas. I don't work for junk.

I want to get the best value I can, like everyone else. But to me that means something other than quantity. It means quality. Even if that means I have to work a little harder, or a little longer, to get it.

I bring home less money than nearly all of my friends, but I have nicer things. It's not hard to do.

I'm gettting to where I'll research a product more and more before I buy so make sure it comes from a reputable company and part to determine if I really need said product or not. Its helped to cut down on clutter since we don't buy a much stuff and when we do buy something its usually quality stuff that will last a long time.

Concerning toys in general (and that includes adult electronic toys too), people should proababy get a grip on reality with how many "things" they need for themselves and their children to play with.

I grew up owning only a few cherished toys. I used to look forward to visiting my grandparents partly because they had a few other toys I really loved. Like a simple wooden truck I used to put the cat in and push down the hall (it actually loved this). Since we didn't have many toys we sang, danced, played the piano and made up games outside to keep ourselves busy.

Today most of my friends children have a roomful of plastic junk. I fear for their health with all the toxic fumes! (seriously, I've done research on it and have sent them copies).

When they come to visit me they seem thrilled to play with the wooden building blocks I bought for them and the rock collection I have on display. Or we go outside and "pretend". They never seem bored without their plastic toys.

Maybe if the products did increase in price people would think twice before buying more plastic junk that only ends up broken and in the trash, or after a short time the children get bored and discarded it. I am always surprised at how much junk is in peoples homes! Our home was an average size in Japan and anyone who came over commented on how big our house was. We told them it wasn't big, we just don't have a lot of things cluttering up our space. Because of the fact that toys and other items are so cheap people don't even stop to think if they need it or not! And when their kid is begging for some cheap $5 item most people give in because of the price. It is a shame at the amount of trash people buy!

It's refreshing to see a balanced discussion like this that analyzes the causes of this phenomena. If you want to see real scare mongering and a hang'em high attitude, (complete with high 5's over the suicide mentioned above) check out the Chinese Poison Train posts at Cosumerist.

So, what happens to the millions of lead laden toys that get recalled? Are they going to somehow be melted down, recycled, have the lead safely removed? Are they going to get dumped in a landfill somewhere in Kentucky? Or, will they all be shipped somewhere for sale in markets where child safety is not carefully monitored?

What happened to the two batteries recalled from my MacBook? Where are the millions of batteries just recalled from Nokia going? Is someone somewhere brushing their teeth with dodgy toothpaste that was once on the shelves in Minnesota? Where does the trail go after a recall?

I think Erin Burnett is missing the point (in more ways than one, of course).

Having these recalls, and having to pay for medical bills of those who get sick because of these products greatly increases the "cost" of these items.

Sure you get a cheap toy for your kid, but when they get hospitalized for lead poisoning; well that toy just all of a sudden became very expensive.

Has anyone at Tree Hugger asked why we need all of these toys in the first place? Shouldn't the kids be out playing in the trees? Are we really that shocked at how widespread the problem with defective goods from China has become? This is Capitalism at it's worst but, fortunatly we have the ability to change the way we do business with China. Our regulatory system failed our children miserably and that is a disgrace to the U.S. just as much as it is to China. It's our comapanies that are using the Chinese work force to manufacture our goods. They barely have a regulatory system. We can try to improve our relations with China are only providing us what we asked for, cheap toys! Turn off the TV!

Has anyone at Tree Hugger asked why we need all of these toys in the first place? Shouldn't the kids be out playing in the trees? Are we really that shocked at how widespread the problem with defective goods from China has become? This is Capitalism at it's worst but, fortunatly we have the ability to change the way we do business with China. Our regulatory system failed our children miserably and that is a disgrace to the U.S. just as much as it is to China. It's our comapanies that are using the Chinese work force to manufacture our goods. They barely have a regulatory system. We can try to improve our relations with China are only providing us what we asked for, cheap toys! Turn off the TV!

I think the USA is 100 percent responsible for china cutting corners and using contaminating materials to make toys. the US pays pennies for the manufacturing of toys and foreign products and sells toys tand other merchindice to the American people at outrageous prices. Certainaly china is not the one making the billions on their product it is the USA!! to blame china is the escape goat here. the US needs to pay china better not by increasing the price on the consumers but by shoving out more money by the huge hogs like toy r us, walmart, kmarts etc.