Friday Thoughts is a light-hearted commentary.
BECAUSE NOT MANY toys are produced in America anymore, after Christmas, I decided to survey some of the children’s presents to see what country they came from.
The three items in my survey were a Poof foam football, a Slinky, and an American Girl doll.
Now what country would you guess the items came from?
I was a bit surprised at the results because the football and Slinky were actually made in the United States but the American Girl doll is made in China.
Is it just me or should a toy with the name “American Girl” actually be made in America?
Chris Walker
Editor & Publisher
hogan77 (anonymous) says...
Don't you know Mr. Walker... almost all of our toys come from China- and they all contain lead. At least, according to the CPSIA they do. Why do you think they made new rules and regulations that are going to break our ever so fragile economy even more? Gotta love this wonderful government we have....
January 9, 2009 at 5:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
No, it's not just you. I wonder how many American workers are NOT employed making the American Girl doll, especially now with a loss of over half-a million jobs in less than two months. God bless our suffering country.
January 9, 2009 at 6:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LifeGoesOn (anonymous) says...
toys are not made here because the U.S. worker wants so much more money to make them than those workers overseas, why do ya think nothing is made here anymore. Thats the sad thing about it all. I know i am willing to spend a little more for something thats made in the USA and pay a little more to the U.S. worker to make it, problem is, most times China can make the doll and ship it here for Far Less then we as americans can. they will work for 4 bucks an hour and americans want 15 bucks an hour to do it. Our Government is all about the mighty dollar, nothing more and nothing less.
January 9, 2009 at 7:46 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
joecitizen (anonymous) says...
i dunno, shouldn't a newspaper insert called "go emporia" actually contain news about emporia, and not cover pic ripoffs from us weekly, people and the like? what ever happened to the big hooplah about refocusing the gazette on emporia and the surrounding communities? looks like a whole lot of ads, and news from elsewhere to me. but what do i know, and why do i care, i'm just a subscriber........
January 9, 2009 at 11:49 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
spuds4all (anonymous) says...
HR 4040, the Consumer Product Safety "Improvement" Act of 2008. Is without question one of the most amazing pieces of manure ever to get signed into law. Kind and benign on the surface in reality it imposes such strict and unrealistic testing requirements for lead and other contaminates on any and all children's products that it will shut down entire industries. We're talking all children's products Clothing, Toys, Books. Furniture, CDs, DVDs. Anything that children will use is now banned unless it's brand new and/or certified toxin-free. Here's an excellent summary that explains it in English. This came about after Chinese-made toys contaminated by lead paint flooded the U.S. last year, rather than doing something sensible, like banning imports of Chinese-made toys unless they passed scrutiny, our government decided instead to ban all sales of children's items unless they pass inspection. "Inspection, means independent third-party testing and certification for each and every item sold. Every single pair of children's jeans that sells at Goodwill must be tested at a cost of $150 apiece. Move over to the next pair of jeans on the rack and unless they are exactly the same including the same size then you're looking at another test. So if these items can no longer be sold what happens to them? All these items must be thrown away. Not sold, traded, nor given. Thrown the environmental impacts are staggering. Walk into any thrift store and look at the racks of children's clothes, huge numbers of books, shelves of children's shoes, departments full of furniture. Now gather every last item and throw it in the landfill. Multiply this by every thrift store in every city as well as every mom-and-pop establishment specializing in used children's products and you have what amounts to a landfill crisis. With a deadline only weeks away (Feb. 10) can we get this law modified or better revoked. It's been acknowledged that some things don't contain lead, such as wood, cotton, silk, wool, hemp, flax and linen. It appears that products made of these items won't require testing. But wait, say you sew an organic cotton dress for a child, but you use polyester thread. Now the garment needs testing! And if you put snaps, a zipper, or buttons on that dress. Those individual components will need to be tested by third-party labs at exorbitant costs. And if you make another cotton dress, then that dress must be independently tested too. See how this works? Naturally, anything made with "mixed" fabrics will have to be tested. And books will be subject to testing because of the glue, bindings, paper, inks. Libraries can no longer sale used children's books. Used bookstores would have to dump all their children's selections. Amazon.com has already notified its vendors that they must comply with the new law by providing lead-testing certificates. There can be no more homeschool curriculum fairs because used books change hands all the time. See how this works?
January 10, 2009 at 1:11 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
LifeGoesOn
I don't think that average American worker's wages are what is to blame for jobs going over seas. I think it's more likely that our companies are way too top heavy and have to pay huge salaries out to all those "chiefs". There definitely seems to be a trend of bottom up budget cuts to solve the financial woes of businesses and it just isn't working.http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/flsa/ Is $15 an hour really too much to ask for anyway with minimum wage being just under half of that? Should factory workers make minimum wage like a high school kid flipping burgers?
January 10, 2009 at 2:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
glarson (anonymous) says...
JoeCitizen:
goemporia is a separate publication from The Gazette. It is a total-market circulation product for advertisers, which is why it is heavier on ads than The Gazette.
Goemporia is free circulation and goes to every household in the 66801 ZIP code. It also is distributed through newsracks in outlying towns.
As for content, it is aimed at the younger generation who do not yet have the habit of gathering their information from newspapers. That explains the reliance on short, quirky stories with an entertainment slant. You'll notice, however, that we also include public comment from the Web site and local photos. The name of the publication ties to our other Web site: www.goemporia.com, again aimed at entertainment in Emporia.
Gwen Larson
Managing Editor
January 12, 2009 at 7:30 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LifeGoesOn (anonymous) says...
Observation
When you said
“Until we get hungry and decide as individuals to work for less, I guess we will get our toys from China. If we choose as individuals to work for higher wages than others in the world will work for, then the orders for American made toys and other goods will few and far between”
that’s basiclly I was trying to say, nothing more nothing less.
seriouslyfolks
$15 an hour is not too much to ask, all I was saying is China Makes toys cheaper than we do and there lies the problem
you yourself said
“too top heavy and have to pay huge salaries out to all those "chiefs".
This was whole point, It is all about the money!
January 12, 2009 at 10:22 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
LifeGoesOn
OK I got what you were saying and I'm with you on that. Greed is the dominate motive in this country for sure. It will be the downfall of capitalism if we don't learn from our current mistakes.
January 12, 2009 at 10:49 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
spuds, thank you for that great explanation. That is a terrible bill with regard to costs which likely will be passed along, as usual. What next, garage sales? Craft fairs?
January 12, 2009 at 1:26 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LifeGoesOn (anonymous) says...
observation, I forgot, You also said "They work under a system where the worker gets their needs met, and they are required to work at the rate of their ability" They still make money at a per hour rate.
. According to the official announcement from National Bureau of Statistics, the average wage of China's urban workers is 24,932 Yuan per year, about 99.31 Yuan every day.
which I think works out to about 1 to 2 dollars an hour, not 4 as I said eariler sorry,
and if we look at it in terms you look at it
"They work under a system where the worker gets their needs met"
I guess we can say the same for Americans, we work under a system where our needs get met, some better than others!
January 12, 2009 at 4:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
olddog (anonymous) says...
Posted by glarson:
Goemporia is free circulation and goes to every household in the 66801 ZIP code. It also is distributed through newsracks in outlying towns.
How often & what days is Goemporia delivered to every household in the 66801 zip code? I don't get it and have asked around and several people I know say they have never got one either. Do you have to be a subscriber to get it?
January 12, 2009 at 4:50 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
OutsiderJ (anonymous) says...
Spuds et al.,
The CPSIA has clarified the meaning of the bill. Goodwill and the Salvation Army are not going anywhere. They are encouraged to avoid products that may contain lead, but do not have to get used items tested. Just thought you would like to know.
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/pending...
January 13, 2009 at 10:14 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Thanks for the info, OutsiderJ. I always forget about snopes.
Speaking of Goodwill and other industries, last week, I took several bags of clothing to the Salvation Army. I noticed in their back room that there are huge clear bags of what appears to be clothing strapped to the ceiling. Then when I heard about this lead-wool-cotton-polyester thing, I wondered if this was involved with all those bags. I suppose I could have asked, but I didn't.
January 13, 2009 at 10:42 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )