October 11, 2003
W.S.L.
The three letters “W. S. L.” are looming larger in our future with every day that passes.
They remain unseen because we do not, as yet, mark manufactured goods made in China and several other foreign nations with an informative, qualifying second line which reads:”With Slave Labor.”
Our current hypocritical stance is something to be ridiculed and changed if only to save our self-respect. Adding those words to Made in China credits could change our lives in many subtle ways.
There is no urgent need to actually print the letters on manufactured imports Made in China, but it is past time for American citizens to be told what we are doing each and every time we purchase such products. To make the idea common knowledge is essential. People will grasp its importance and come to know what the letters means.
Gradually the people will see it and would relate the letters to the words they are meant to signify - "with slave labor." The idea is to impress upon buyers in a meaningful way that they are buying a product made in China by slave labor standards even while they agitate against any such such manufacturing by other nations while we blatantly accuse them of using slave labor. We vilify American firms selling such products made at sub-standard wage levels in Mexico, Central America, Korea, South America India, and Tiawan. We castigate individuals who own such firms most unfairly since we continue to buy from a communist state where the products are often monopolies with all earnings going to supply the needs of such entities as the China's armed forces. Or other subversive branches of the captive society. They rely on our purchases to fund their armed forces through an elaborate system of industrial monopolies “owned” by the units taking all profits. I don't recall what the specific product line it is which supports the Chinese army, but it may well be that every time we buy a pair of shoes which are marked "Made In China" we are supporting the armies which may someday be used against us.
Not too many years ago, products made in China were of inferior quality. That no longer applies and it is not at all unusual to find them to be superior. We have exported not only the right to make an item, but the know-how which enables them to excel in efficiency as well. The notable disparity is in the fact that we have not exported high pay for workers. The industries flourishing overseas, pay their workers only a small fraction of what it costs in the United States. We sustain that situation when we buy products made in those lands.
Right now the important point may well be that we should not “blame” other nations for the situation in which we find ourselves. The real problem is in our own will to maintain stricter standards of personal and group conduct. The solution will be found at home - rather than abroad.
a.l.m. October 10, 2003 [c508wds]
