Wally World and the economoy

[southern dolly]

I haven't shopped at Wally World for years, I cannot complain about the economy, lost jobs, unethical work environments if I support the business by being a customer, that soes have this effect on the American workforce.


Wal-Mart’s imports from China led to loss of nearly 200,000 U.S. jobs from 2001-2006.

Wal-Mart claims it creates jobs across America, but a new report shows a much different reality.

The giant retailer’s reliance on cheap goods made in China has cost this country nearly 200,000 jobs since 2001, says the report, The Wal-Mart Effect, by the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

The report shows Wal-Mart has played a major role in creating a record trade deficit with China that has eliminated some 1.8 million jobs, mainly in manufacturing.

The U.S. trade deficit with China reached a whopping $233 billion last year, and imports for Wal-Mart alone accounted for $27 billion—11 percent of that total. This year’s first-quarter $46.4 billion total deficit is twice as large as in the same period last year.

The U.S. trade deficit with China between 1997 and 2006 has displaced production that could have supported about 2.2 million U.S. jobs, according to EPI. Most of these jobs (1.8 million) have been lost since China entered the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001.

Contrary to the predictions of its supporters, China’s entry into the WTO has failed to reduce its trade surplus with the United States or increase overall U.S. employment.

Says economist Robert Scott, author of the EPI report:

Now we know the impact that imports from China to the world’s largest retailer has on our nation’s jobs. What’s good for Wal-Mart is not always good for U.S. workers.

Click here to read the full report.

The AFL-CIO, domestic manufacturers and many economic experts maintain that one key reason the U.S. trade deficit with China is so high is because China deliberately undervalues its currency, the yuan, to keep the value artificially low so it can boost exports and discourage imports—running up the U.S. trade deficit and costing good American jobs.

An AFL-CIO report shows China’s fixed currency rate artificially lowers the price of its goods by 40 percent, effectively subsidizing China’s exports and putting U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage.

The bipartisan Fair Currency Act, introduced by Reps. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), would clarify that currency manipulation is an illegal subsidy under WTO rules. A similar bill was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.).

In 2004 and 2005, the Bush administration rejected petitions from the AFL-CIO and business and farm leaders that asked Bush to take action against China’s currency manipulation.

[TNBLOWFLY]

Dolly you are so right. Walmart has closed thousands of mom & pop markets, hardware stores etc. across the country, and personally I think the number of jobs lost as a direct result of the "made in China" products sold there are far higher than 200,000.
It is difficult, especialy in small towns to avoid shopping there, I commend you on your ability to avoid shopping at wally world.

[jel]

Since Walmart came in all of the local craft stores and fabric departments also shut down because they too could no longer compete with the low prices at Walmart. Now most Walmarts too have started to discontinue there crafts and fabrics. I think someone should open a craft and fabric store and if I were a betting person I would bet that Walmart would bring back the crafts and fabrics, not everyone has given up on crafts and sewing. With the rising costs of living people are going to have to start sewing clothes to wear, and do crafts to entertain themselves, as I believe that soon having a television will get to expensive to have as well. Think about it.

[i heard]

Is wal-mart looking at coming to Albany? I heard from a person who holds a higher job, or however you want to say it, in the county that with Cagle's doing so well and now a McDonald's and everything, they are seriously looking at Albany as a new location.

[pirate]

You can't blame Walmart for selling goods made in China.They are only selling what we as a consumer want,low priced low quality goods that can be used for a short time and then discarded.I don't know how many stores sell goods made in China but Walmart is not the only one.What about the dog food that was recalled because of the gluten from China?If you buy shrimp or catfish do you ask where they were grown?We get so many things from China that we never think about them until we see the label.

[southern dolly]

Pirate, when WalMart opened it's first door, their motto was made in USA only. that was a selling point they used up until a few years ago when someone filed suit calling it a misrepresentation. And yes, I do look as to where my catfish comes from if I do not catch it myself. Krogers sells Catfish raised in Ky.. And you are right, what we buy we never really know where it comes from. Call me a throw back from the protesting I did in the 1960's while in college, but, I cannot complain if I do not support and comply with the saying "Buy only USA". I am quite sure I do buy items from other places, China included, but I truely do, try hard to not. And I many times, do without just because of where it came from. I do research somethings, to be sure what the ingredients are and I understand, most people do not nor do they have time in this busy life they have. I just want to be responsible for ME and my sometimes fanatic diligence in buying USA. I owe this to the many workers who are no longer employed. I do not feel others needs to adhere to this police, just becaue I am, freedom of choice. We as the people are the only ones who can control our destiny,.

[southern dolly]

TNBLOWFLY wrote:

Dolly you are so right. Walmart has closed thousands of mom & pop markets, hardware stores etc. across the country, and personally I think the number of jobs lost as a direct result of the "made in China" products sold there are far higher than 200,000.
It is difficult, especialy in small towns to avoid shopping there, I commend you on your ability to avoid shopping at wally world.

**********

a compliment , I feel so blessed. thank you. it is not hard to avoid WalMart, I hate crowds, waiting in line and generally, poor service. and they do not have enough electric chairs for all us old people. thier restrooms are usually nasty, too. lol

[southern dolly]

upper b -ville wrote:

it don't matter what the topix is you can count on southern dolly putting her two cents in on it.there are a lot of people enjoy shopping at wal mart,for clothes at reasonable prices,and lower prices on food products,and the super wal mart they are building will have a larger variety of material and other things,crafts and things.if the rain ever stops they will have the wal mart finished soon,and columbia is fairly close.

**********

well, I appreciate the fact you keep track of my comments, evidently you feel I should not have a comment on anything without your prior approval. As for my two cents on this particular topix, I started it, so, that is why I am here. Yes, I do realize that many, manypeople enjoy shopping at WalMart, and like I said, their choice, same as it is mine not to shop there. Or, do you feel I have lost that right of choice .

[Whoever]

Yeah walmart is so big I cannot believe they would come and supply 300-400 jobs at the least for a community. That they would also have lower prices and cost these other stores that are use to making 3 times that amount from the consumer. Yeah I do not want to save money by shopping at walmart. I myself could not be happier that they are building a new one 20 minutes from here in Columbia. Having fresh fruit and vegtables that are fresh and not rotted, being able to shop and not have to worry about checking the dates on the food. To be able to buy diapers, formula wiithout having to pay unreal amounts. Yeah walmart sucks...Thats just crazy!!!!

[gtpkr]

as far as jobs go you do not have to cross the ocean to see who the culprit is that has cost many more jobs than china...all you have to do is go to a factory that has a union shop and thank the unioin reps...more jobs have been lost to unions pricing emploees out of work than china has taken...then the afl-cio has the gall and the nerve to do a study of how many jobs china has cost the us....like a fox guarding the chicken house...thanks back to whomever had the floor

[KY Dave]

Yeah, be happy about Wal-Mart selling the toys your kids play with painted with lead based paints.

Be happy about your $4 prescriptions made with ingredients from China that are killing babies in several states.

Be happy that the unions have protected the people from these problems, but now the Republicans don't care enough to even check the items being imported.

Yeah, cheap prices may save you money while costing you or your loved ones their life.

Really good thinking there, I'd say!

[Whoever]

What kind of facts do you have about the prescriptions Dave. I can see the lead paint but that involved more then Walmart, but the prescription plan if you do not have a medical card then this is a very cost effective savings for all communities as me and my entire family use the plan. We are not dying and have used walmart for 15 years now. Thats just silly to say a comment like that. Please explain

[KY Dave]

Here is a link to one article...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FDA_HE...

and here is an excerpt from another...

WASHINGTON (AP)-- U.S. health officials have ordered all imports of the blood thinner heparin, and its raw ingredient, stopped at the border for testing to detect a contaminant linked to 19 deaths.

The Food and Drug Administration announced the move Friday, the latest step in its widening investigation of hundreds of allergic-type reactions linked to Baxter International's heparin injections.

The FDA found the contaminant in 20 of 28 samples of raw heparin that the agency tested from Baxter's main supplier, a Chinese factory owned by Wisconsin-based Scientific Protein Laboratories.

A different brand of heparin also has been recalled in Germany after 80 patients there got sick, and the German manufacturer said Friday that it was narrowing down the source of contamination to another Chinese supplier.

FDA announced some good news Friday, saying it had learned of no additional deaths and just two more allergic reactions since Baxter recalled the last of the suspect heparin late last month.

Scientists don't yet know exactly what the contaminant is, except that it mimics heparin so closely that standard drug-purity tests won't catch it. Nor is it certain that the contaminant is to blame for the allergic reactions, although it is the prime suspect.

But the FDA is "very close" to identifying the substance, a step that should help tell if the contaminant got into heparin by accident or by fraud, said FDA drug chief Dr. Janet Woodcock.

Heparin is derived from pig intestines, and China is the world's leading supplier. Tiny family-run workshops near slaughterhouses send batches of raw ingredients to larger middlemen before they reach factories like SPL's in Changzhou. The FDA hasn't yet inspected those workshops, saying that was something under discussion with Chinese officials.

Two weeks ago, the FDA urged all remaining U.S. heparin manufacturers to start using more sophisticated tests to be sure their products were contaminant-free. Friday, the agency said worldwide testing had begun.

The added hurdle for imports "will improve our safety net," Woodcock said. "We will get a much better picture of whether there's any contaminant existing, and we can trace it back" to its source.

Most of the actual import testing will be done by five of the nation's leading heparin manufacturers, which will be cleared to sell their products once the FDA receives those test results.

The FDA itself will test any remaining shipments that arrive from abroad.

The FDA wouldn't name the five companies that will do their own testing, and acknowledged it has no plans to do spot checks of the quality of those companies' tests.

USNEWS.COM

It's not just Wal-Mart, a lot of drug ingredients are made in China and are NEVER inspected. The ingredients are brought to the USA and put together with those uninspected ingredients. Then they are sold as FDA inspected drugs.

I've posted about it before on here, sorry you haven't read it.

[KY Dave]

Here is another article that gives more info about the medicines and ingredients from China...

Of all counterfeit products that have reached America's shores, it's estimated that half originated in China.

Chinese counterfeits have killed before. Last year, more than 100 Panamanians died after officials unwittingly mixed diethylene glycol -- anti-freeze -- into 260,000 bottles of cold medicine. The deadly chemical came from China, and was sold as "99.5% pure glycerin" -- a compound widely used in pharmaceutical products. Haiti experienced a similar episode in the mid-1990s.

Jolted by this rash of incidents, Chinese officials have begun cracking down on counterfeiting.

China's increased enforcement actions are welcome. But more must be done. After all, a recent investigation conducted by British journalists with the Times of London demonstrates how easy trading in counterfeits is.

Posing as drug wholesalers, the reporters negotiated with a Chinese counterfeiter to buy 200,000 tablets monthly of three popular drugs: blood thinner Plavix, prostate-cancer drug Casodex, and schizophrenia med Zyprexa.

The counterfeiter guaranteed that he could produce exact copies. To prove it, he provided the reporters with samples of fake Viagra tablets made in his factory.

But Pfizer, Viagra's manufacturer, analyzed the pills and concluded that they contained "overdose levels" of the drug's active ingredient.

The undercover reporters didn't actually order the fake drugs from the counterfeiter. But their investigation demonstrates that a real wholesaler easily could.

Many Chinese already suffer at the hands of counterfeit medicines. The London-based International Policy Network estimates that counterfeit and/or substandard medicine kills up to 300,000 Chinese annually.

To protect the health of both its citizens and the world's, Chinese officials must intensify their anti-counterfeiting efforts.

For starters, the Chinese government should increase counterfeiting penalties.

Currently, the fine imposed on counterfeiters equals only two times their sales volume. Given the lucrative nature of the counterfeiting business, such a fine is too small to deter would-be criminals.

Second, China should expand the authority of its Food and Drug Administration.

Right now, China's Food and Drug and Administration has the power to regulate only pharmaceutical companies -- not the many chemical companies that manufacture the active ingredients used in fake drugs.

In fact, the managing director of a large Chinese pharmaceutical company estimates that uncertified chemical companies produce half the active ingredients used by Chinese pharmaceutical firms.

Because no Chinese agency has exclusive jurisdiction over them, many are making dangerous counterfeits.

The United States can help speed reform in China by taking swift action itself.

The federal government should authorize the FDA to issue an "import alert" for all Chinese pharmaceuticals and medicines. Such an alert would allow inspectors to detain dangerous Chinese goods at the border if they were not produced according to "current good manufacturing practice," as Congress defines by law. This import alert could be relaxed if the Chinese decided to allow regular FDA inspections and an FDA office in China.

Chinese manufacturers depend on the U.S market for much of their sales and would thus have every incentive to ratchet up quality standards to pass U.S. inspections. American consumers and competent Chinese firms would benefit, while makers of dangerous goods would finally be subject to oversight and penalty.

China must create an effective regulatory structure to monitor its drug industry and to halt the advances of counterfeiters. Had the Chinese government acted earlier, the children who died from tainted cold medicine in the past decade might still be living. It's critical that the Chinese government not let history repeat itself.

[KY Dave]

SHANGHAI -- China's drug-safety agency, responding to questions about oversight of an exported blood-thinning compound, said checks of pharmaceutical ingredients made in China are ultimately the responsibility of countries that buy them.

China's food and drug agency noted that the company in question is majority U.S.-owned, its production technology was supplied by Scientific Protein and all of its output was exported to the U.S. It also said that U.S. regulators "verified" in 2004 that Scientific Protein's China venture, Changzhou SPL, was supplying heparin.

The heparin case highlights regulatory gaps that have opened as drug companies have become increasingly global in their purchase of ingredients. China is supplying more of the international pharmaceutical industry's raw materials.

Lembit Rago, head of drug safety for the World Health Organization, says many Chinese manufacturers don't "have an understanding of international regulations or the training" to comply with them. Consumers in the U.S. and European nations are protected in part by their own regulatory agencies, Dr. Rago says. For other countries without the capacity to check drug quality, "it's a much bigger problem."

Yan Jiangying, spokeswoman for the State Food and Drug Administration, said that in China, producers of active pharmaceutical ingredients must be drug companies that are "registered and certified" by her agency. She said foreign buyers should check this certification and importing countries "should make strict tests" on ingredients and drugs.

Ms. Yan also says that her agency is working to "further strengthen cooperation" with the U.S. FDA on the monitoring of exports of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Andrew von Eschenbach, the FDA's commissioner, has said his agency needs a bigger budget to fulfill its responsibilities. Among its biggest challenges: coping with a rising number of drug imports.
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This is the classic example of why companies leave the USA and move to foreign countries to manufacture their products. There is little to no regulation and they can also dump into the enviroment anything they choose. Cheap labor is a benefit too.

Wal-Mart, K-Mart and several other companies are major importers of these foriegn products without regulatory oversight.

I hope I have explained it to your satisfaction.

[news]

So what you're trying to say Dave is, buy your Chinese made drugs from you local drug store and pay more instead of trying to save money at Walmart? Your rants are really getting far fetched to say the least. If you like paying up to 3 times the amount for goods you need (and some you can't use if you go to IGA) continue to support the local rip offs, let them sell you things made in China. And ranting against Walmart and blaming the republicans? Wasn't your idol Hillary once a part of Walmart? Jobs leaving? Could it possibly be because the Unions have forced wages to completely unreasonable levels and to the point that industries must find cheaper labor or go out of business?

[gtpkr]

so please tell us what you would do .if the manufacturer is in a foreign country the us fda has no jurisdiction....the only place the us could dictate policy is here.therefore the meds would be made by american workers. who probabaly would be union.ergo overly expensive meds for people who can barely afford them now.and the fda said the ingredients were linked but not proven to be the cause of death.and while one death is tragic, 19 deaths compared to the number of people taking heparin in the us is a very small fraction.also you must take into consideration the statement about reaction to the meds as a cause of death.anaphalactic reaction to a med has nothing to do with contamination but rather the human body's ability to assimilate the meds into the system.wal-mart cannot be held responsible for china's misgivings any more than overpaid auto workers being blamed for vehicle recalls and failures.just my thpoughts on the subject...

[KY Dave]

You're welcome to take the chances you feel necessary to survive in this economy. It's your life or a relative, not mine.

I just wanted to say, "Buyers Beware!" about the Wal-Mart drugs.

As Wal-Marts predatory pricing drives out the rest of the pharmacies, you'll see Wal-Mart's prices raised. You'll have more and more problems affording even the imported drugs.

I don't understand why you think drugs made in the USA would be manufactured by union workers and if so, why that is a scary thing. Labor costs aren't the largest part of the price anyway.

FDA approved drugs are sold in the USA at much higher prices than the same drugs in Canada for instance. Ever wonder why?

Price protection/control by the political party in power is the reason many people have started buying their prescriptions from Canada.

[Mr Amazing]

news wrote:

So what you're trying to say Dave is, buy your Chinese made drugs from you local drug store and pay more instead of trying to save money at Walmart? Your rants are really getting far fetched to say the least. If you like paying up to 3 times the amount for goods you need (and some you can't use if you go to IGA) continue to support the local rip offs, let them sell you things made in China. And ranting against Walmart and blaming the republicans? Wasn't your idol Hillary once a part of Walmart? Jobs leaving? Could it possibly be because the Unions have forced wages to completely unreasonable levels and to the point that industries must find cheaper labor or go out of business?

Hillary wasn't just a part of Wal-Mart, she was on the board of directors and received a huge amount of stock which she sold before announcing her bid for the presidency. I wonder why her and Bill don't want their tax returns and other papers released? Makes you wonder what they don't want you to see huh?

[furnandeux]

parking at walmart is often inconvenient - AND, they fail to enforce the 20 item limit on the speed lanes -