That's kind of hard to do.  China is everywhere.  You'd have to be naked and living in a tent to avoid China.  Globalism has been here for quite some time.

There are still plenty of non-Chinese products out there.

Obviously we can't completely get rid of these imports - my point is to limit them by being a bit more selective in where we shop.  I'd rather buy something made outside the U.S. if I know it's not coming from China.

Hey FSG,

 I tend to avoid Walmart like the plague, but there are a few exceptions that I find there.

About twice a year, I replace the cheapo sleeping bags that are used for my backyard critter shelters. I do my best to buy American made products.

The cheapo sleeping bags at Walmart are made in the USA ! I know, very surprising for sure.

All the cheap bags I’ve found at Big 5, Sears, Target, and Kmart are made in China.

Seems you have to really check the product tags everywhere these days.

BTW: Just bought me a pair of New Balance tennis shoes. It’s the only brand I can find that’s still made in the USA. Awesome shoes too.

Too late, FSG...I have been thumbing my nose at ChinaMart for years. I am not a "buy American" fanatic, and occasionally find I am buying from China again, despite my best efforts. But that place is my second largest business hate, the first being Mor Furniture.

I'm sorry---but my pocket book says I can't boycott Wal-Mart...sorry.....

And to think Walmart used to have a "buy American" ad campaign oh so many years ago. Must have been BEFORE greed took over.

Scwaine - here's a good read on Walmart History, including the BS that was the "Buy America" campaign:

www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/se crets/wmchina.html

Given the sheer numbers of products they sell, it would not surprise me if they were also the largest seller of American-Made products.

Seriously, at this time, to try and convince people not to spend money on cheap stuff will be hard. Hat's off to you.

Just hope China keeps buying American T-bills.  Without China, Obama and the worst rated Democrat led congress wouldn't be able to run up a deficit FOUR TIMES greater than any in history.

Ron - are you ever going to formulate a response to multiple myths of yours I've debunked in the past, even as recent as your last major rantings?

Oh, that's right.. you post the same thing day in, day out; proof can be seen with that graph of yours.  I wonder.. do you have that graph on your clipboard so that it takes a mere second to right click your mouse and select the "paste"option, thereby once again proving that you are the King of repetition?

Since the last union contract. WalMart now offers higher pay and benefits than the major supermarkets.

And my best guess would be that WalMart will employee over 2000 people in Bakersfield after the new stores open.

They can afford it, tkozy, considering that they're still posting record profits even in the current economy.

5 of the 10 richest people in the world are Walton's.

Call me Quick Draw McGraw, Bobby....Facts are facts.  A deficit FOUR TIMES greater than under Bush.  And remember all the screaming about how high the deficit was??  Thank goodness for the Chinese...

Mexico,

You confused by all the colors again?

That Bush 2009 budget is a disgrace. 

And I think that 1.85 trillion was spent on Bank of America and Haliburton  Not Albertsons or WalMart.

We know for certain it wasn't spent on Health Care or Veterans

Ron, get a new schtick.. yours is old.

If you're going to post "fact" - why not admit that not all of the spending was under the Obama Administration's direction.

Check the trend starting when the worst rated Democrat congress took control in 2006.  Oh, thats right, its all Bushs fault...

Glad to see I'm not the only one getting tired of seeing Ron post the same nearly 6 month old graphic over and over and over again.

It's not all Bush's fault, and neither is it all Obama's fault.

That's my point.

Then again, I don't expect someone such as yourself to get that.  Do me a favor, Ron, if you don't have anything meaningful to post about the subject at hand, don't post in my blog.  I'm tired of wasting my time reading your drivel and then actually responding to it.

 5 of the 10 richest people in the world are Walton's.

Sickening. They should go live in China.

spam code: EATTR

I already boycott them. I also urge everyone I know and talk to to do the same.

Are you suggesting we get in a trade war with China?  And just what do you think would happen to this country if China decided to call in the bonds they've purchased, and notified the US they would not be buying future bonds?  You think that would be a good thing?? China owns Barak.

AMEN - to you Florida, I have been boycotting Walmart for many years now.  I don't like the cheap junk that they sell.  Try to buy kids clothing and see how many times you can wash them without them falling apart, in the end that makes them more expensive because you have to go buy more!  Dumb/dumb!!

  Globalism has been here for quite some time.

That doesn't mean we have to accept & support globalism.

I  agree 100% with FSG. I hate wal-mart. Boycott that [edit.] hole. Wal-Mart uses child slavery overseas.

Death to the New World Order.

Are you suggesting we get in a trade war with China?

Yes.  I'm suggesting we go back to basics and support local manufacturers.  We cannot survive as a service economy for much longer.

And just what do you think would happen to this country if China decided to call in the bonds they've purchased, and notified the US they would not be buying future bonds? 

I don't know, and neither do you.  Do you have a better idea?

You think that would be a good thing??

If it really came down to it, we'd tell China tough toenails.  There's going to come a time in the next number of decades when China poses a direct challenge to our hegemony, so I wouldn't be surprised if armed conflict ensued.

 China owns Barak.

Wrong.  China owns US. 

I'm not surprised that a conservative sheep such as yourself would defend Walmart - they do cater to a disproportionately high percentage of conservatives (more than 70% of those who shop at Walmart identify themselves as conservative, and almost 80% of Walmart shoppers polled voted for Bush in 2004).

http://www.americansworking...

rwestfall - thanks for the link.  There are also plenty of quality products made in other countries - Canada, Japan, Europe..

FSG, Where did you get your stats on numbers of conservatives that shop walmart? Never seen or heard of that before. I can't stand the place myself.

I misquoted one thing, actually.. not sure the exact amount that id themselves as conservative, but it is a large amount..

Actually used wikipedia, which I rarely quote:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmart

I have been supporting a Wal Mart boycott for years also. My reasoning was not because of the concern over Chinese goods, which are going to be hard to boycott under current circumstances, but because of the deleterious effect Wal Mart has on neighborhoods.

They have a strong tendency to clear a community of all the "Mom and Pop" shops, thus decreasing foot traffic for the one-person-per-car-five-acre-parking-lot model. The decrease in foot traffic causes an increase in crime. The boarded up small shops are magnets for crime of all types. The decrease in the availability of jobs is extreme - even if Wal Mart DOES pay more than the other chain stores (highly questionable claim) - there is a decrease in the total number of jobs available in the community when Wal Mart moves in.

If you doubt these trends are real, look at the effect the White Lane Wal Mart had on the neighborhood around the Valley Plaza and Ming Ave. Look at the effect Wal Mart had on the East Hills Mall.

The Wal Mart on Rosedale has not had as clear an effect on the surrounding community, because there wasn't as much up there when Wal Mart opened. Nonetheless, you can already see some boarded up businesses farther down Rosedale - at Calloway and farther west.

Wal Mart is bad for neighborhoods. And now we have one northwest, south and east. And another coming in southwest. I wonder if the Marketplace will survive it, or is their market suffiiciently removed from the bargain hunting that Wal Mart appeals to that they escape the shock? We'll see.

Funny how all the liberal run stores keep going bankrupt... I wonder why.

It's a shame they didn't let that Wal-mart on Panama open when first planned.  Then we could blame them for Home Base/Camping World closing across the street.  

Camping World didn't close. It moved to the Auto Mall area, around Wible and Harris.

Ron:

Like the myth of the conservative monopoly over the radio waves, your statement about liberal run businesses is as wrong as it is transparently put here as bait only.

You used to bait much more effectively. Getting tired?

Conservative monopoly on radio: FM radio was overwhelmingly Liberal from the sixties to the eighties - when it become overwhelmingly corporate. Conservatives fled to the only radio waves available to them - AM. There in the radio backwoods, they festered with their hate speech and anger while the left moved on and conquered the internet. Now the right has followed them there - of course: the internet is, for all practical purposes, infinite, so there can be a powerful presence of all viewpoints there.

Yet, somehow conservatives try and re-write this very obvious history to a victory for them, as AM Talk radio is still dominated by rightists. Interesting they don't hoot and holler about their monopoly over quill pens as well.

They do, on the other hand, recognize a Liberal bent in Hollywood. Thus writing off most media in the English speaking world with one fell swoop, but jeez, they got AM radio. Hurrah!

Forbes.com rated top Liberal media types and they dominate every other sphere of the media world. http://www.forbes.com/2009/... .

Liberal businesses: wonder what those are? Recent studies have it that among the super rich, the richer you are, the more likely to be liberal.

The super stars of industry are Liberals.

What are you talking about ron? Successful door to door salesmen? Those are the Rush Limbaugh hordes, and granted are quite conservative. Hardly the measure of business acumen, though.

Recent studies have it that among the super rich, the richer you are, the more likely to be liberal.

Once again, stealing from the poor....

Recent studies have it that among the super rich, the richer you are, the more likely to be liberal.

What companies do they own so we can boycott them for making more money than they need??

I hear that 0bama is relying on Chinese kids for his health care overhaul.

He's going to reduce costs with youth in Asia.

 WalMart, the place where labor laws and environmental protection rarely find a way into the big box. It used to be that WalMart did not give rat's patootie about what most people thought of them. But, when your competition today is Goodwill Stores, Salvation Army Stores, Dollar Stores, Box Lots, 99 Cent Stores and Target you might need to put on a more friendly veneer than the one you have been coating yourself with for decades while killing good paying jobs throughout the country, teaching your employees how to receive public assistance since the company will not give you benefits, and outsourcing most of your supply chain to counties where labor laws are figments of the imagination for workers.

WalMart  has been the ultimate retail evil in this country for decades. I will never purchase an item from WalMart.

If WalMart is the "ultimate retail evil", and it is backing 0bama's health care scheme, what does that say about health care reform?

Don't think about that too much.

Try reading the link in my post, dril, if you don't understand my post about WalMart's new found heart. Apparently your video is a nice fx of your reaction to most of the stuff from the left.

So dumping all their employees into a government run health care program is now called "having heart"? 

Now that is some fine comedy.

Ron, it would be one thing if what you describe were part of any plan being discussed, but, as usual, your comment bears no relation to reality in the slightest.

Ron, it would be one thing if what you describe were part of any plan being discussed, but, as usual, your comment bears no relation to reality in the slightest.

Oh really, Adam?  Four out of five of the bills have a "play or pay" provision.  If companies don't want to provide healthcare, they just pay a penalty and the employee either gets healthcare out of pocket or choses the public option.  http://www.economist.com/wo...  (Warning:  This article shows that Walmart provides better benefits than their competitors.  Liberals use extreme caution when clicking this link.)

So Adam, could you please cite in the bills currently being considered where employers are mandated  to keep their current healthcare plans????? 

 "You'd have to be naked and living in a tent to avoid China." Sounds good to me! In fact, I pay money to do that. But not to Wal-Mart or the Chinese, I assure you. As for dirtyshirt's comment, I agree 100%. Wal-Mart is bad for communities. They come in and kill off everything else like a toxic weed.

If you've ever been to Oklahoma City, you would notice this effect in full force. It is nearly impossible to avoid Wal-Mart in Oklahoma City. They have numerous "super-centers" and several "grocery only" stores. You pretty much have to shop at a Wal-Mart for groceries and basic supplies.

Here in Bako, I never go to any of the Wal-Mart stores in town, mostly because they're disgusting and crowded with people speaking anything but English...which includes the locals. Years ago, the last time I was in the Rosedale store, I saw something that perfectly captured an image of Wal-Mart for me. There was a really, really fat woman in one of those scooter chairs. She had to be in her 40's. Next to her stood a monstrously fat boy and girl, probably in their late teens. They were parked in the cereal isle. On a tray in front of the scooter woman was an array of McDonald's wrappers. Both the "children" were holding McDonald's drink cups. The girl, in a raspy voice, turned to the scooter woman and said, "momma, I'm gonna get me more fries." The scooter woman said, "get me some too". Off she went. So convenient, having a McDonald's in the Wal-Mart.

Those are the people we'll be paying for with Obama's health plan. Perhaps Wal-Mart should open a chain of hospitals.

And it's Walmarts fault that this lazy liberal and her kids are fat?  I say raise taxes on fat people. But then, that would break Obamas promise not to raise taxes on those making under $250,000.....

ronmexico... I seriously doubt they were "liberals". I'm sure they were dyed in the wool republicans. I agree with you on a "fat people tax" Want to make America healthy? Tax people $100.00 for every pound of fat over their BMI, or every percent over 8. But, the AMA and drug industry would fight that one. Gotta have unhealthy people so Wal-Mart can sell those pharmaceuticals.

If mexico had the common sense to argue in a sensible manner. In a sociable manner. He may garner some respect from the opposition.

But alas. Mexico is nonsensical and unsociable.

There goes another butterfly mexico, A pretty butterfly. Now gather your pecans and chase it off to the woods and play.

Still waiting for a response on the "pay to play".  Guess the Obamabots are too busy playing with their pecans to respond.

I shop at WalMart for certain items but then I also shop at the 99 cent store and Grocery Outlet. I guess that makes me a low brow Conservative.

Three weeks ago Michael Winship wrote this on pay to play:

"This week, the Center for Responsive Politics reported that in the second quarter of this year alone, the pharmaceuticals and health product industries spent $67,959,095 on lobbying, and the insurance industry $39,760,477. Another $25,552,088 were spent by lobbyists for hospitals and nursing homes. That’s a total of $133,271,660 in just three months, and that’s not even counting the lobbying money spent to fight health care reform by professional associations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce."

That is the real pay to play in this country, Ron!

Business Week reported three weeks ago that a pay to play aspect involving business might not even be included in a final bill, or bills, of health reform.  So, as usual, your panties are in a bunch over things that have not even been decided, or are nowhere the dire solution you seem so intent on finding. I note the article from the Economist you cite predates the Business Week article by twenty days.

Another interesting piece of news that should alarm anyone interested in this issue is the total lack of competition in the health insurance market today. Business Week, for the week of July 23rd, had this to report:

"Each year the American Medical Assn. (AMA) surveys the commercial health-insurance landscape and finds little if any competition. Its latest report says that, out of 314 metropolitan markets, 94% are controlled by one or two companies, or fewer. In 15 states, one insurer has 50% or more of the entire market."

Maybe you don't mind duopolies or monopolies controlling price, goods and services, Ron. Most rational individuals would say that this set of current circumstances leads to gross abuses of the system where only a handful are rewarded while everyone else suffers. If the reality of our sickness business were not so ugly there would not be the demand for a complete overhaul of this industry and all its subsidiaries. You cannot argue against health reform and be considered anything other than an a devout apologist for the insurance and pharmaceutical cartels.

The American ideal is competition. The American reality is the exact opposite. WalMart and your health care professionals epitomize this current American reality.   

Its latest report says that, out of 314 metropolitan markets, 94% are controlled by one or two companies, or fewer.

Then why doesn't the reform bills address the cause of that?? Why is the government preventing me from buying insurance from outside of California??