US dependence on Chinese pharmaceuticals

[Christ_empowered]

Oh man. as a person who takes a prescribed psych drug and high doses of vitamin C --both of which probably come from China-- this is frightening. Check it out...

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/0...on-americas-dependence-on-china-for-medicine/

 

[for_his_glory]

The tariff sanctions with China has caused China to quit buying American lumber which affects hubby and I as almost all the lumber produced where he works goes to China. This has caused some layoffs and no more overtime. We lost two dollars and hour in pay because of the daily overtime. We are praying this will only be temporary with the trade market with China as they can't get this kind of lumber anywhere else.

 

[Pizza]

How did we get to where we are depending on China (or any other country) for medications?

 

[Northman]

We are praying this will only be temporary with the trade market with China as they can't get this kind of lumber anywhere else.

Sorry to hear about the downturn.

As someone who has worked in the forest industry for quite some time I am very interested in what type of wood this is that is unique to your area.

 

[King Dan of Great the 1st]

I have a fishing reel thats over 40 years old and its still going strong, made in USA. The last fishing reel I got that was made in China it broke after the first cast, I couldnt even wind the line back in.

 

[Christ_empowered]

they have serious issues with quality control, copying foreign good...I read somewhere a good bit of the Fentanyl in circulation on the streets comes from China, too. Thanks, for that (note the sarcasm). :-(

 

[ezra]

heck we have lived off china cheap products ..we put the screws to the american worker -no job

 

[ezra]

The tariff sanctions with China has caused China to quit buying American lumber which affects hubby and I as almost all the lumber produced where he works goes to China. This has caused some layoffs and no more overtime. We lost two dollars and hour in pay because of the daily overtime. We are praying this will only be temporary with the trade market with China as they can't get this kind of lumber anywhere else.

the big problem is we buy china junk with very little tariff .but they charge us out the nose to sell our product . for briggs the tariffs may be a glimmer of light MTD a mower manufacturer buys Chinese engines cheaper than ours . so were in hopes mtd will want to buy briggs engines and help us out.. we have a nail factory that is facing the same problem only they depend on Chinese metal for nails . lumber seems to be moving fairly good or so i been told by a couple different ones .connected to sawmills

 

[Michael74]

How did we get to where we are depending on China (or any other country) for medications?

They have a 50% savings rate, which gives them lots of capital to build factories with.

 

[ezra]

cheap wages no labor laws to protect workers ===cheap prices

 

[jasonc]

cheap wages no labor laws to protect workers ===cheap prices

Problem is that at times one cant afford the better stuff.it's not obvious to what quality is.my nissan had an oem radio built in china.it lasted about 8 years.

Parts that say made in America may only be assembled in america

 

[Michael74]

Problem is that at times one cant afford the better stuff.

Debasing quality while charging the same price is a form of hidden inflation.

 

[for_his_glory]

lumber seems to be moving fairly good or so i been told by a couple different ones .connected to sawmills

The lumber yard my husband works at took a big hit as it exports almost all its lumber to China, but China has pulled out because of the tarrif tax put on them and no longer buying lumber from them. Lumber is being sold to other companies, but China was their biggest buyer. A few men have already been laid off because of this. I'm praying hubby will not get laid off as his position is more demanding then some of the others.

 

[jasonc]

Debasing quality while charging the same price is a form of hidden inflation.

You can't ignore that made in America cars were junk and being out sold by foreign cars,thus a tariff was on them.

 

[for_his_glory]

Sorry to hear about the downturn.

As someone who has worked in the forest industry for quite some time I am very interested in what type of wood this is that is unique to your area.

Mostly hard woods like red oak, white oak, yellow poplar, cherry and hickory. These are all kiln dried before shipping.

 

[Michael74]

You can't ignore that made in America cars were junk..

Oh I'm not ignoring the quality issue. Bank inflation has debased quality among a significant fraction of US products. Joe and Jane average can no longer afford to buy quality, so factories switched to cheap stuff. Selling them for the same price that quality used to sell for. Hidden inflation. Debased currency equates to debased paychecks and pensions.

Check out what the US RV industry has come to.

Product quality and customer service was an issue when I first arrived on the scene in January 2000, and it’s an even bigger problem today despite the advent of technology designed to improve construction and service.

Appliances used to regularly last for decades. Once upon a time.

 

[for_his_glory]

Parts that say made in America may only be assembled in america

Exactly, but many do not realize this. With all the resources here in America there should be no need for imports.

 

[jasonc]

Exactly, but many do not realize this. With all the resources here in America there should be no need for imports.

Importing of goods is necessary as we can't do.it all.

One day we would run of out steel,etc a balence is necessary,the car makers then and now could make cars better they dont.
Jap,Italian ,french,german,swedis aren't made by slave labor. Often those are made ,sold in america .nissan,toyota of America are assembled in America .this isn't so black and white.

I'm general our work ethic sucks,we have blue collar jobs there buy few want to learn. So we must import labor legally.

 

[Michael74]

The US has become dependent upon imported natural resources. For example, once we were a net exporter of oil. During WWII, US oil helped the allies to victory. The axis had scant oil, and was not able to field enough planes, ships, and tanks to win. However, our conventional oil became substantially mined out. Recently, US oil production has improved. However, companies mining unconventional oil are not really making enough profit to fund needed investment in infrastructure. Its mostly been creative accounting used to justify loans.

The US is also dependent upon imported potash to keep our farms productive. Many other minerals are needed to keep machines productive. The whole point of empires during the 20th century was to give European nations a monopoly on importing natural resources from their empires. Imported natural resources allowed them to produce myriad products in their factories, and dominate the globe. Natural resources are needed as input for machines to produce products, and there are no more empires. Nowadays, its mostly those who produce trade goods more efficiently than the competition who get to import resources. Anyone can compete.

If China has a 50% savings rate, they can build a lot of new factories. If the west has a zippo savings rate, they have to borrow capital from others to build factories. There is talk of the west converting to a "service" economy, but that's just another way of saying going back to doing things by hand. There is a reason the US was only able to gather the resources to design one type of warplane (F-35) this generation, compared to myriad specialty warplanes in days of yore. The US just doesn't produce 50% of global GDP anymore like it did during WWII. "Service economy" means producing relatively few goods and services by hand, instead of multiplying the efforts of individuals with machine helpers.

 

[JohnDB]

America primarily exports food and intellectual property. (Movies, music, and software)

Manufactured goods have become a commodity like lumber or food. Energy is another commodity.

We import energy mostly from the South (Mexico, Venezuela, and etc). Some petroleum comes from Russia and Middle East but it mostly makes lubricants and some diesel. The oil from Canada makes plastics and vitamins and pigments.