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WalMart Lied: Must Remove "Made In USA" Logos From Products Made In China, Thailand
When it comes to amusing (albeit predictable) twists of fate, Wal-Mart has been the gift that keeps on giving this year.
In the wake of the giant retailer’s move to hike wages for its lowest-paid employees, the entire world has received a lesson in undergrad economics as $1.5 billion in extra labor costs has led directly to i) pressure on the supply chain, ii) reduced shifts and hours, and iii) layoffs in Bentonville.
Put simply, when you can’t pass higher labor costs on to customers because your corporate religion revolves around the idea of “everyday low prices”, someone has to make up the difference in order to keep margins from crumbling and that simple fact is costing managers their jobs and vendors their livelihoods.
When WalMart wasn’t in the news for “plumbing” and/or strongarming the supply chain over the summer it was making headlines for its stance on confederate flag merchandise in the wake of the tragic shooting at a church in downtown Charleston that left 9 African American worshippers dead. In the wake of the racially-motivated massacre, WalMart moved to remove all confederate flag merchandise from the shelves, on the way to insisting that the company “never wants to offend anyone with the products [it] offers."
That controversial decision riled some observers who view the flag not as a symbol of hate, but rather as a symbol of America’s southern heritage.
On Wednesday we learn that WalMart is once again at the center of controversy surrounding the “American heritage” of its products.
Here’s FT:
Walmart has withdrawn claims that some products it was selling were made in America after being pushed into an embarrassing climbdown by a US regulator.
The Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday that Walmart had taken voluntary steps “to prevent consumer deception” related to “Made in USA” logos that appeared on its products and website.
In the face of persistent criticism over its business practices, Walmart has made a commitment to buy an extra $50bn of US-made products over 10 years a central part of efforts to improve its reputation.
It even enlisted the support of the Obama administration and won praise from Penny Pritzker, the US commerce secretary, for its commitment to US-made products.
However, the FTC began investigating Walmart’s product labelling after it was alerted in June to problematic descriptions of approximately 200 items by a consumer watchdog called Truth in Advertising.
The watchdog said some labelling was false because it did not correctly describe the products’ origins or contained caveats that were “not prominent, clear, and understandable”.
As examples of products that were not made entirely in the US — contrary to their billing — it highlighted a sandwich bag that was produced in Thailand and a toy car that was assembled in the US with some imported parts, including a Chinese steering wheel.
That’s right. An American “toy car with a Chinese steering wheel.” Kind of like the FOMC.
In a letter sent to Walmart on Tuesday, the FTC acknowledged that the retailer had taken several remedial steps.
They included removing “Made in USA” logos from all product listings on its website; removing US-origin claims that appeared in website product descriptions; and introducing a procedure to remove new US-origin claims from advertising material submitted by suppliers.
The hilarious thing about this story is that given what we know about WalMart's push to convince suppliers to pass along savings from the yuan devaluation, it seems entirely possible that the company was squeezing vendors on Chinese-made products in an effort to extract every last penny of savings that may or may not have accrued to the supply chain in the wake of Beijing's transition to a new FX regime only to turn around and slap a "Made in America" sticker on those very same products.
Here's what then-senior vice president of the home category at WalMart US Michelle Gloeckler had to say about the Made in America initiative in 2013:
The $50 billion we’ve committed over 10 years is additional growth on top of the two-thirds we’re already spending to buy products that are made, sourced or grown in the United States. That growth will include dollars that we aren’t currently spending on products that we’re not offering today, as well as growth in existing products and shifting existing items to U.S. production. As an industry, with other retailers’ participation we could set our sights higher to drive $500 billion in new purchases over the next 10 years. That’s what an American renewal looks like.
No Michelle, this is what an "American renewal" looks like...
... and with that chart in mind, we'll close with one more quote from Ms. Gloeckler, again, ca. 2013:
The economics of manufacturing are changing rapidly. In previous decades, investment mainly went to Asia, where wages were low. The price of oil was low. And new factories sprung up out of the ground. Today, some of those investments are nearing the end of their useful lives. Meanwhile, labor costs are rising outside the United States. Oil and transportation costs are high and increasingly uncertain. The equation is changing. A few manufacturers have told Walmart privately that they have defined the “tipping points” at which manufacturing abroad will no longer make sense for them. Through our buying power, we can give manufacturers confidence to invest capital here. We can collaborate with manufacturers, make longer-term product commitments on basic goods and help connect them with the best resources so they can make the most informed decisions about capital investments. Instead of buying to a long-range forecast, we can buy to sales trends — maximizing sales. Our modeling suggests the United States can offer very competitive manufacturing options, especially given rising cost variables overseas. Based on historical facts and future predictions of other markets, we feel like the support of U.S. manufacturing from many constituencies is very positive — from other retailers, suppliers, the government and consumers.
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But lies are the only thing left that is is truly made in Murikistan. We need protests.
An American “toy car with a Chinese steering wheel ...
... and the USA is American made with a Kenyan steering wheel.
I thought there was a town in China named Usa.
Don't give them any ideas!
… That’s right. An American “toy car with a Chinese steering wheel.” Kind of like the FOMC.
What a gem! ATTATyler! ;-)
Looney
Boycottz, bitchez!
As long as my "Al Sharpton Action Figure Doll" is made in the USA I'm ok with it.
Usa, Japan. Founded on April 1, 1967. Wikipedia article says "There have been false claims that products made in this town and exported to the US in the 1960s carried the label "MADE IN USA", for it to appear as if the product was made in the United States."
But many years ago when I was a kid, an uncle showed me small ceramic cup that said "made is USA" on the bottom, that he said was Usa, Japan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usa%2C_%C5%8Cita
Back in the Sixties a Japanese town changed its name to USA.
They got over that "Made in America" thing after Sam died and are busy killing off everybody they buy from. I see hard times coming to Bentonville.....
1986 was a very long time ago
https://youtu.be/AJzPpVIIG_o
Cracking - You better believe it, "Made in the USA". If I worked for Walmart I'd try and get a trade mark of the flag and font with wording and then go back to my boss and ask him if he's still gonna fire me due to wage increases
They merely meant the sticker was made in the USA.
The whole place is corrupt to the core. Not talking about Walmart, but the entire USA.
I saw that Maytag is now pimping that their washers are "assembled" in the USA. That is now the rage I guess.
pods
And by "assembled" they mean taken out of the shipping container and put in a box.
Ala vinted in Napa Valley (but made of grapes from Fresno). Same 'ol same 'ol. And the big ag machines wonder why people are growing thier own gardens and sourcing local organics - can't trust a thing you find in the grocery chains.
I've been noticing milk at all the local stores suddenly is sourced, according to labels of multiple brands, from "farmers who promise to not use growth hormones or antibiotics." . . . at no extra cost. Considering the price of organic milk, I'm seriously doubting the claim.
Any opinions from people with dairy farming knowledge?
No dairy farming knowledge here, but I don't drink milk that didn't come from a single family-owned farm. In Northern California, Straus family farm and St. Benoit Creamery are the only ones I trust.
Of course there's no extra cost. It's just a marketing ploy.
It's ALREADY illegal to use growth hormones or antibiotics in DAIRY cattle.
If a cow needs antibiotics for an infection, the milk is dumped. (they have to keep milking otherwise the milk will dry up). Every tanker of milk is checked for antibiotics. So if a farmer does try to cheat, his entire batch is dumped.
Wrong. Antibiotics are permitted in daity cows and in milk. BGH is also legal and used by a lot of dairies. Buy organic if you don't like it, or don't drink milk. No adult needs milk, especially from another species
Or try <<gasp>> unpasteurized milk. Tastes better, way better, and doesn't need to be "organic" because the discipline necessary to keep unpasteurized milk clean far outweighs the marketing going into "organic". And no, you don't need it, just like you can survive on potato soup if you have to, but it is perhaps one of the only true "superfoods" out there.
Plus TPTB hate it, a cast-iron guarantee it's got something going for it.
Assembled in the U.S.A means somebody put the Maytag nameplate on one of the washers that came from the same factory as Whirlpool (yes I know they own Maytag) or Frigidaire.
Well, they make the cabinet in the USA. Just some bent metal.
The compressors and drive engines are made in Honduras. I have a Frigidaire fridge and took a look inside becuase th ecompressor sounded like it was going to blow up. I saw "Made in Honduras". Really, WTF!!!!
The most imporant part of the appliance sourced from a real 3rd world country.
Hounduras is probably second world. EBT USA is third world
Yep. bacterial dysentery (shigella) outbreaks are a badge of third world status. In Santa Clara, Silicon Valley, no less.
The sticker printed in asia, only attached to the product locally.
All's cool, All companies lie it's just about getting caught that concerns them.
1. UBS Gold/Platinum Bond shortfall of 20 tonnes
2. EDF Meter cheating
3.GAN Insurance Fraud (lack of due dilegence)
"All companies lie it's just about getting caught that concerns them."
Ah, yes the Hiliary defense,"you don't have any evidence", ie, I burned it (I think).
I'll let you imagine the billboards and murals along the highway here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_Square
+1 "Assembled in USA" means connecting the 2 or 3 major components together with a few nuts and bolts. 99.9% of all components are made outside of the US, LOL.
Lying sacks of shit.
Seems everyone is lying these days. Or cashing out. Or both.
Lying is the Wall Street way.
Obviously, the exorbitant pay of the fat cat shelf stockers are to blame.
Lying is the Wall St., Banksters, politicians, gubbermints, medias, military, police, religion, corporations, trolls, husbands, wives, celebrities, Hollywood, Hillary and Bill's way...did I miss anyone or anything?
There, fixed it for ya. ;)
Michelle's bio reads like a quota monkey programmed by the USSA edumacation system to fail upwards without actually having to think. Her talking points make me think she (or her boss) simply paid for a BCG subscription and in proper drone-group-think fashion, simply parroted the programming.
There will be no business case, much less actual renaissance of US manufacturing until Dow Chemical's costs for bribing local officials in Tianjin or Bopal for exemption from regulation reach parity with the cost of buying US congress critters. And even if a mirage of renaissance appears, one would have to bring back the entire supply chain, not just the end "assembly" plant. Neither a Toyota nor a VW is a US car, even if was manufactured in the US. A few decades ago a Ford or GM was an American car, regardless of whether it was manufactured in the US, Europe, or SE Asia. ...Now, not so much.
Or to recycle some snark from 2011 when the BCG hopium was published...
If Bentonville is looking to cut costs, I would recommend cutting the BCG susbscriptions, and the heads of any personnel who wasted shareholder funds on the tripe. A ZH subscription can yield an infinitely higher ROI.
Make the Walton family refund the money people paid for this lie!
It's all crap anyway.
And the materials are still from China, even if it truly is "made" here.
Thanks to Obama and the EPA is has become impossible to manufacture a lot of raw materials in the USA. Sometimes the production of a material is very dirty and requires dangerous chemicals.
If you make it impossible to use those chemicals, you don't have manufacturing of the end products.
very simple
Yup. The last primary lead refinery closed in the US about 2 years ago becasue they couldn't meet new EPA standards without major investment. They just gave up and moved.
Also, remember the BP oil spill in the Gulf? One (two) of the largest and most advanced oil skimmer ships in the world were on site 4 days after the blowout, from Holland (and Norway). Yet Obuma and the EPA wouldn't let them operate, because they could only clean out 99.9% of the oil, and the EPA requires cleaning 99.9985% (15ppm).
Yet one of those skimmers had a thousand times the capacity of the entire US skimmer fleet combined. Because the US fleet had to haul all their skimmed oil (95% water) back to shore for processing to meet EPA critera.
Obummer finally relented and allowed the skimmer ships to operate, but only 4 MONTHS AFTER the blowout, and after the equipment was fitted to a US ship, and US crew.
FYI. It is impossibile to make anything in the USA, as you have to source all the parts within the country. There is a good article why Martin guitars had to take off the made in USA label, even though they build all the guitars here, and even sporting a factory tour.
PENNSYLVANIA'S OFFICIAL TOURISM WEBSITE lists the Martin Guitar factory in Nazareth as a "must see" destination, encouraging visitors to "experience the intrigue and excitement as highly skilled craftspeople transform wood into music." Watching firsthand the complex process that turns rough lumber into beautiful guitars, the thousands who visit BTMeditorial each year leave with a deep appreciation of the instrument maker's art. An exceptional factory, a manufacturing tradition dating back to 1833, and credit for creating the modern flat top acoustic guitar are reasons Martin is a genuine American institution. Yet, as of this year, the company no longer labels the guitars that leave its Nazareth plant as "Made In USA." A reasonable person might ask, "how is this possible?" The answer lies with a poorly drafted California statute and the aggressive lawyers who exploit it.
California's Unfair Competition statute states that for an item to be designated "Made in the USA," "any article, unit, or part thereof," has to be "entirely or substantially made, manufactured, or produced" in the U.S. The California Supreme Court has interpreted this rule to mean that a "Made in the USA" designation requires that 100% of every piece of every part in a product must be made in one of the 50 states. Martin guitars, despite the labors of 600 craftspeople in Nazareth, don't make the cut because they incorporate imported woods, Asian and European built tuners, and synthetic nuts and saddles from Canada.
The California statute has been on the books since 1961, but until recently, Martin shipped "Made in the USA" guitars into the state without incident. State regulators apparently were willing to apply a more lax "reasonable person" standard in assessing country of origin. Not so local trial lawyers. In 2006, they mounted a class action suit against Leatherman Inc., alleging "deceptive and fraudulent advertising," because the company had labeled its hand tools "Made in the USA" although some component parts were imported. Leatherman was hit with a $13.0 million judgment, although it was later reduced on appeal. In 2012, Lifetime, a maker of basketball hoops and backboards, faced a similar legal assault. They settled for $485,000 and paid another $325,000 to a designated charity after burning through $500,000 in legal fees. No one disputed that their hoops and backboards were produced at a Utah factory: their crime was using some bolts and washers imported from Asia.
Faced with legal risks of this magnitude, Martin CEO Chris Martin took the prudent course, and earlier this year, replaced the "Made in the U.S.A." designation with "Crafted in Nazareth from components sourced from around the world." Martin's standing with guitarists worldwide, which rests on 182 years of quality production, won't suffer because of a labeling change. The instruments that have delighted generations remain much the same. Yet, the change is galling to a proud organization that has been an integral part of America's musical culture. It's like asking an artist to remove his signature from his painting... Is there really a large contingent of Martin customers who claim injury because their guitars contained a few bits of imported plastic and metal? If so, we'd like to meet them...
I like Martin guitars. I would buy one if I ever needed to replace my 80's vintage Washburn.
I toured the Martin factory last year. It's a great craft operation. I don't think anybody can apply their methods to a manufacturing facility.
Watch the 3:1 distribution, restocking fee disappear under slow product turn cycles.
Lowe's and Home Depot are experiencing the same. Poetic Justice!
The Lie was made in the USA.
No. It was made in London but assembled in the USA.
taking advantage of people's willingness to pay more for made in usa products. that's fucking low.
Saying WalMart could not raise prices to cover the $1.5 billion in extra labor costs is stupid. This is how every other fucking business handles these issues. Of course, it is WalMart tradition to squeeze the suppliers. They really do expect others to cover their costs, even if it means bankruptcy for the suppliers. If raising the price of a pack of hot dogs by 2 cents makes you non-competitive maybe you're in the wrong business. I'm glad we do not have a total monopoly in the retail sector...yet.
Suggesting prices should be raised just to be more PC indicates the speaker probably has no real business experience.
If you don't like Walmart don't shop there. That is freedom. If you mess up other people's experience that's PC crap socialism. I don't want prices 2 cents higher.
Let the customers decide Walmart's fate.
Appropriate name, China-Mart.
A product was allowed to contain up to 15% foreign made parts and still qualify for the Made in USA label as long as final manufacturing was done in the US.
Does anyone else know how fucking hard it is to find parts made in the USA for a final assembled product? I've tried to manufacture products in the US but there weren't any parts available. In order to have a totally made in USA product I would have had to design and source a bracket that I can buy from China for $.10. Actually making the bracket in the US would have cost more than the entire profit from the sale of the product due to finding a vendor and manufacturing a custom part with really high minimums. I was making 5000 final pieces but I would have had to run an order for 100k brackets.
It was probably impossible to find a steering wheel for the toy made in the USA.
Paying someone in the US to assemble a product is hard enough. Labor cost in the US is the top expense in manufacturing.
Don't worry O's new trade deal is going to fix all of that.
Yep, Americans will get paid $15 an hour to make product for China, but the dollar will fall to the point that $15 is equal to 1 Yuan.
Thank you for the example. That's what people don't understand. Sure you can have everything made in America, but people simply won't buy your product becaue it will be priced many times higher as the same product assembled using imported components of the same quality.
Expecting US workers to price- compete rural farmers is unrealistic. Globalism created that particular arb, and corporations like Walmart bellied up to the trough and gorged themselves.
20 years later that ponzi scheme is imploding and will take the swine with it. To the slaughter pigs. Capitalism is going to eat you to the bone.
Anopheles:but people simply won't buy your product becaue it will be priced many times higher as the same product assembled using imported components of the same quality.
Well, the joke is on you then. Not the same quality, not the same materials....etc....
Made in America……….
by robots that were made in china.
And retailed to you buy an illegal alien cashier.
"Labor cost in the US is the top expense in manufacturing."
Most of the cost is the 300-500% mark ups going to the middle men.
I never had a problem buying American products when they were made years ago. Even with the lower prices due to slave wage foreign production, USA poverty is steadily increasing. All the social contracts in the USA relied on a reasonable wage base which has cratered making many programs that were once possible now impossible.
The whole economic problems in the Western countries is globalism. Heck, even Japan outsources to China and others. Sony Camera's made in Thailand and so on which is why their economy crashed and will never recover until they bring their production home.
You cannot have a first rate economy with a third rate wage base. The financials will survive in any economy as they're nothing but thieves anyhow. Proof? Wall Street, Japan, China, UK, EU. All have great financials but extreme unemployment and low wages.
And allowing illegal immigration from really poor economies will only exacerbate the situation. But then that's a political thing as the pols are trying to change demographics. In Europe and the USA they seem to be very successful. PC is so ingrained in the west that citizens even considering this subject are demonized. Thus PC is a tool used by pols to keep your mouth shut.
This story is twenty years old, and Americans were so outraged that they've made these greedy lying fucks the largest retailer in the world.
BAC, Wal Mart and McDonalds exist because the Sheep demand it, and it's not going to change.
Keeping the masses occupied and ignorant is the game, and the criminals are winning.
I wish Home Cheapo would be forced to label their hardware correctly. Nothing like spinning the head off of a grade 8 bolt with a hand ratchet.
Too funny.
egad you ain't shitting. the heads on their #14 countersink screws will twist off with a battery pack set on a low setting.
I've had foreign screws spin off going into plastic! Stainless steel hardware that slam to magnets,,, Sad and funny.
You are a victim of Crown Bolt Corporation. They actually lease the store space to Home Depot and Home Depot gets a percentage of each sale.
Almost all of Crown Bolt's products are made in China and India. They purchase a bolt from China for $.02 and sell it for $.75 at Home Depot.
Absolute scumbags.
Items may be repatriated and regain "made in america' status but they will not be made BY americans. During the same period that saw offshoring of formerly US manufactured items domestic businesses increased investments in automation so now that the walmarts of the world will source from american manufacturers the robots that assemble and pack them will be made in china.
Independent skateboard trucks - best-in-class trucks, made in Santa Cruz, CA.
Bones skateboard wheels - best-in-class wheels, made in Santa Barbara, CA.
About the only good things I can think of that are still made here. Killer products, proud to rep them.
p.s. didn't mean to forget Shorty's hardware - best-in-class hardware, made in Santa Barbara, CA. One of the few remaining 100% skater-owned and operated companies left. Very proud to rep shorty's HW.
+1 Skateboarder. For 35 years, I only represented and sold "Made in Amercia" tooling and machinery component parts...They stacked up to anything made anywhere in the world!
Bones roller skate wheel bearings are and have always been made in Switzerland - I own a pair remember that one set of 4 bearings cost more than US$100.
Anyone can make the rest - it is the bearings that make the ride.
Can't disagree with the bearing assessment - Bones Swiss are THE best. No way anything close will be manufactured here.
Don't underestimate the the design and quality of Independent trucks and Bones wheels (especially the Street Tech Formula which is flat-spot resistant) - they cannot be beat. Makes you feel good, when you're riding them, that at least two excellent things are still made here in the USA.
I'm reserving judgement on this one until DoChen chimes in.
Skateboarder ":Don't underestimate the the design and quality of Independent trucks and Bones wheels (especially the Street Tech Formula which is flat-spot resistant)"...................
Dude... pm me or something... you caught my attention. I'd like to learn more.
Getin old fucking sux.
I spent YEARSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS on my skateboard mid 70's to early 80's.
Best fucking time of my life.
Clean.
Simple.
Fun.
USD 100 sounds like an outrageous sum for four relatively basic bearings, 4 Swiss bearings for 4 Swiss McDonalds "meals" sounds more reasonable (or 40oz of real beef). There's a valid, if unpalatable, reason those bearings are that expensive.
"Bones roller skate wheel bearings are and have always been made in Switzerland - I own a pair remember that one set of 4 bearings cost more than US$100.
Anyone can make the rest - it is the bearings that make the ride."
Yup, my German made bearings were $12.50 a side ($25 a wheel) back in 1980.
Not chump change back then.
You're not bullshitting, you speak the truth!
I have a friend that took a part-time job (while looking for full-time employment). She worked at a sports novelty distribution center. Her job was to remove the "Made in China" stickers and replace them with "Made in USA" stickers. Her boss told her there was a loophole in the law that allowed them to do that.
I would like to use my fist to make his face Made In USA black and blue... and red.
fucking cheating asshole
It's illegal to rebrand prducts overseas. What they do, ship it into another port under lower taxes. Replace the label and send it to US.
I personally know someone who was brokering from Asia Aluminum and relabeling 'Made in USA' . He laughed at me when I told him, wait for a supplier audit. He was busted and fined. Also receive a WTO fine.
He wasn't laughing after the fraud was determined through supply chain based on 6061-T5 aluminum flaws. They found out he was brokering and relabeling.
Choke up 1 for Main St America.
It's not main street. The globalization only requires a PO box to set up business. We did the same in IRAN to contine business throughout 25+ years of sanctions.
Why do you think we laugh at Netanyahu. The fucker gets USAID money but cannot double dip in Iran.
I don't know why this is surprising. I don't know a single person that works a job where they actually make I mean really manufacture anything. I know a couple of people that assemble shit in factories but those companies get all their products from overseas. Assembling parts from other countries is not manufacturing, it's part of the manufacturing process. In real terms we literally manufacture nothing in this country.
As a product-design engineer, I have participated in my fair share of made-from-scratch prototypes and production products here in the USA. Don't know where the raw ingredients for the PCB fabrication come from, but when we send our designs to the local fab-house a few streets away and get our finished fabs back, and send them to the local assembly house a few miles away and get our assembled boards back, we are proud of the "Made in USA" text in silkscreen on the PCB. Of course, that text never goes on the fabs that have to get made in China for volume-pricing, even though the assembly is all done here.
My 2c probably tells you that any volume-based product cannot be made here without breaking the bank (as others have pointed out).
Skateboarder +100000000%
I still skate on my 32 Santa cruz wood deck, 4" Tracker trucks _ Rad pads...and RR 6's...they wheels are a little beat up now.
My bearings are German made bearings and they are sealed and fucking SILENT 35 years later...
I keep scouring EBAY for some nice vintage OJ's......
I let some REAL Road Rider 6's slide by at $360.00 last year... they were NOS, not the re issued stuff.
I still have my Skyhooks from 1978 which was when I built that Skateboard from pieces...
oh yea, I'm a 52 year old toad with a beer belly thanks to Founders Dirty Bastard beer.
You sound disgusting, get in shape.
"You sound disgusting, get in shape."
Hey man, I am in shape. Round IS a shape...
lol :]
I still have my Kryptonix board/tracker trucks and kryp green wheels. :)
IR: fucking GREEN with envy.....
Kryptonics wheels were like fucking gummy bears.
I soooooooooooooooooooooooooo fucking envy you.
Your assembled boards are loaded with parts from India and China. There ain't no electronic components made in the US (to my knowledge), anything electonic "made in the US" is lying. They're "assembled in the US", from overseas components.
Since Clinton NFTA, United States is simply a assembly exercise under peripheral Core state logistic hub. To create low cost service generated JOBS. (just over Broke).
Joe Biden quoted Jobs as a three letter word.
It is all just a misundertsanding, they were talking about the "sign" that says "Made in America" was made in America, not the products on display.
Made in China, finished in USSA... or better still I saw on a T-shirt - assembled in Puerto Rico from imported components. Funny shit.
1) There is forced slavery where one is chattel.(Owned outright)
2) There is the person so poor they'll work for just a little food.
Both are slaves but,,, the second is the best choice as the international (aka USA) corporations abusing these poor souls aren't concerned about their health and quartering as slave owners were.
The second choice has been redefined as Globalism where the poorest of the poor are used to make products sold at many times their cost but still "cheap" as far as the first world public is concerned... for now. Globalism is another pretty word for slavery and at some point in the future the USA will get to participate after the great reset and enjoy the same poverty as their Asian and African neighbors are now.
Some are already there.
Let's not forget that a year or maybe it was 2 years ago they were busted in Mexico for bribing local officials.
That is also a violation of US law. Whatever happened to that investigation?
When I lived in India, my girlfriend there was making necklaces for DKNY. The components cost about $1. She spent about 15-minutes on each necklace, tying knots, putting on beads. She stuck these in a box and shipped it to Philadelphia to be put in a little bag with a "Made in the USA" sticker on it, shipped to Macy's or some other higher end retailer, and sold for over $100. Made in America!
Just recently I was shopping for some trinkets for my youth softball team to give at our end of season party. I went to a local jewelry store and found a little leather strap bacelet with an I love softball charm attached (coated zinc) for $25 each.
I went on amazon and found the same thing for $17 each. I went to AliExpress and got 50 of them for $7.50 and $4 shipping.
Retail sales are getting smashed down big time where I live. The last report showed sales were up less then 1/2% but the three managers I know here of fairly large B&M stores say, "it's a bloodbath.'
Zero profit and plunging sales numbers despite Barry's "robust recovery" bull-only mantra.
It's the deepest middle class depression since 1920's.
Guys, do you think relableing is our biggest problem?
Net-n-yahoo from Israel thinks the Palestinians are to blame for the holocaust! You can't make this shit up. It appears everybody has gone 100 percent ape shit lately. Just look at Merkl destroying her country before our very eyes.
Anybody still have doubts we are living in a Matrix-like bizarro reality?
Cuz you've done so much WWII research by watching the History channel you know all the facts. Maybe there's truth in it,
Cuz you've done so much WWII research by watching the History channel you know all the facts.
That's rich!!! Never mind that the "History Channel" is owned and operated by the same MSM cartel that pushes out their propaganda 24/7 on their various neus channels. "I saw it on the History Channel so it must be true!!". Yeah, right . . . .
Net-n-yahoo from Israel thinks the Palestinians are to blame for the holocaust!
When will someone do us a favor and ace that bastard?
One of the provisions of the new TPP treaty they're trying to push down our throats is there will be a ban on any "Made in America" requirements nation wide. Of course that won't apply to the MIC assholes though . . . . I can see it now (NOT) new M-1 Abrams tank made in Taiwan. But you can be damned sure that all the other crap we are allowed to buy will be made somewhere near there.
Everyone in the USA should go out of their way to buy only products made in the USA . . . . even if they cost more than the overseas equivalents. Otherwise in 10-20 years the only jobs left in this country will be working for McBurger Wendys or for your local criminal bank.
'McBurger Wendys or for your local criminal bank'
I am sure all their stuff is also sourced from foreign suppliers. Furniture, some of the food, most definitely picked by foreigners, the packaging, cleaning products, stationary, staff, e.t.c........
Boycott Walmart. It's easy to do. Shop the stores and shops in your town or city. The hardware store will offer products they stand behind and expert advice as well. Shop for local produce at farmers markets and co-ops.
...and in a similar story, the federal reserve must drop the word 'federal' to stop people from thinking it is part of the government. from now on the federal resrve will be call the 'shister jew bank that fucks you over bank'....
Das Rayciss. Everyone knows this is all Volkswagen's fault.
I worked in the J.C.Penney supply chain from 2003-2013, when I retired. By law, country of origin must be printed in fairly large letters on the carton that contains multiple items. At JCP, China is #1, Vietnam next, followed by Cambodia and Bangladesh. Once I thought I saw a kitchen appliance labelled "proudly made in USA". On close inspection, I saw that it said "proudly assembled in America from blah blah"
Not once in 10 years did I find an American product. But I don't single out JCP. Kohl's, Target, Sears, Macy's, Walmart all sell the same stuff.Look at the net profit margins for the companies. They are making very little money. Some, like JCP can't make a dime any way they try because of debt and high operating expenses. They have the customers and the sales volume, they just have have too much overhead. They ring up a $100 sale, they lose about $3.50.
You can't be a retailer in America selling merchandise made in America.
BTW, when I retired, I moved to China, where my SS check goes 5X as far. Despite what you read in this forum and in the western press, life is good in China now.