Death by China Documentary ~ Scherry Notes for Class Reference

Black Friday - Getting a deal more important the country of origin.

Clinton said if you believe in the following you should support China joining the WTO:
prosperity
openness
peace & security for Asia and the world
"This is the Right Thing to Do!" Clinton

What the Vision was in 2001 (Never occurs but this is what was sold to us.)
we will have more influence on China if we allow this.
Economically this is equivalent of a one way street bc it requires China to open its
markets to the US. The US now able to sell and distribute American goods in China that
are made by Americans in the United States.
By exchanging goods, China this would democratize China and free the Chinese people.

Polluting for Profits

16 of worlds' 20 most polluted cities are in China
Less than 1% of their urban air meets the quality standards set by the European Union
They exist at a level that the US was in in 1910.
air pollution Look up the level of pollution that exists air / water/ soil
not the same regulations in China
Cancer Village
Water supplies are tainted b/c of heavy metals and chemical run-offs from industries.
Bao Steel Company is dumping pollution into river and this gives them an economic
cost advantage of 5% which is greater than their profitability.
$40 / ton
5% cost advantage is significant
Global Pollution
spreads by the jet stream back to the US
carbon emissions / particulate matter

Worker Abuses
When workers in China are abused the American workers have a more difficult time
competing with them.
No OSHA
No Social Security
No protection
You go to prison if try to form a labor union.
China losses 130,000 lives to accidents *# reflects reported figures #is much higher
There are no child labor laws / min wage laws/ not followed
products are made in work camps
quota met or solitary confinement
not producing = no food
x-mas lights made in prision camps
prison camps making lots of products sold in the US

Currency Manipulation
Pegging the China
25 to 40 cent advantage to every dollar
Their exports have an advantage.
Acts as a huge subsidy to benefit China exports to US.
An American car in China will cost $30,000 vs. the $25,000 that is charged in the US.
This gives China a huge trade advantage.
China blocks US exports.
They fix the value of Chinese currency to help Chinese workers.

Counterfeiting & Piracy

They are cheating on copyrights and patents. If China gets a hold of your technology or
product they will copy it.
Disney DVD's are one thing to pirate, but think about the high tech industries!
Google came into Chinese market had dominate market share. So China hacked its
network and stole the source code to make their own version of Google called Baidu.
Companies have their intellectual property stolen.
Sometimes the intellectual property isn't enough and the entire company is stolen such as
the Fellowes company.
American companies have to keep this in mind when moving to a communist country.

Illegal Export Subsidies

Produces 45% of the steel. Has high manufacturing cost but is growing at a rate 7% a
year. They produced of 100 million tons to 700 million tons per year. This means they
are flooding the steel market world-wide which will drive down cost of steel to a point
that American companies cannot compete.
Steel industries in China is state subsidized to cover the cost deficit in production. This
means that US companies are competing with the Chinese government, not their steel
companies.

SCOREBOARD
China's entry into the WTO has been a losing and a very dangerous proposition for the
United States.
America has surrendered its manufacturing base to China.
We don't mass produced consumer products anymore!
Human Rights abuses
Rapid military build up = preparing to kill Americans
not one cell phone made in US
flight panel displays for military not made in US
military relies on adversaries to supply them w/ key components
Green Industries
Clean Energy Economy
Obama predicted hundreds of thousands of new jobs.
However, China is producing the solar panels that green industries require.
we don't make computers / printers
99% of shoes are imported
Boeing Airplanes 50,000 employees
20,000 now move to china
Apple employs 26,000 people in the US.
They employ 700,000 workers in China because key manufacturing jobs are sent to
China.
White collar workers are now in China's crosshairs.
software
If jobs for production move to China, the support jobs will move to China.
The corner of American capitalism, the JP Morgan building, is owned by Chinese
company.
Economic growth hasn't led to democracy, it has lead to a stronger totalitarian
government. Instead, the totalitarian government now has more money to ensure power.
50,000 internet police
keep people away from democracy
Cyber cops sold capabilities to China to enable them to catch people speaking out with
the help of Cisco, Yahoo, and Google.

Cisco claims they have to follow Chinese law, same with Yahoo.
Yahoo helped to send Shi Tao to prison for sending one email about Tianamon Sq to a
New York NGO regarding the remembrance day and he rec'd 10 years in prison bc/
Yahoo gave them the IPL.
Harvesting Organs
Get organs from prisoners in Labor Camps
Worth more dead than alive.
body burned = cannot investigate
organ sent to Shanghi to be sold
People told they are getting organ from a convicted murderer.
When you coddle dictatorship they beat us more
When you are tough and predictable on human rights, they beat us less
China's miliatry power is growing rapidly
5X population of US
= Likely that their military can be 5X larger
Becoming more modern, well-equipped, technologically advanced military.
China may not pull the trigger or launch the missiles they support other nations such as
Pakistan with missiles and nukes
Also, North Korea, Iran
China refuses to listen and respond
Threat to US is growning

DEATH BY CHINESE JUNK

Lead Paint on toys Thomas
I want to be careful of products / safe and human rights violations and US jobs are all tied
together
When buying from Wal-Mart think about the product you are buying:
1. It might break down or kill me
cost me a job
money goes to finance military build up of military regime comperable to 1930's of Hitler
ddd
$50 Billion good of Wal-Mart bought from China
91% of Wal-Mart products are from China.
If Wal-Mart was a country, it would be China's 4th largest trading partner
This lost manufacturing base affects local economies such as school funding which loses
the tax base that manufacturing provides.

"If you put it in your mouth or in the hands of a child, don't buy from China"
Toxify Me Elmo
Residential pipes made in China can leak toxins into your water supply.

Making tires more cheaply in China:

$4 a tire cheaper in china
shortly thereafter
Transportation agency found the tires unsafe.
CHEMICALS ON FOOD
Their produce sprayed with Alar (sp) chemical which not allowed to be used in US.
Lead Paid
Chocking Hazzards on toys
Baby Formula
Pet Food tainted = death
Heparin medicine leading to complications that led to death.
Toxic Toothpaste
Price is too good to be true = probably is
Policial system in China doesn't punish manufacturers for bad products.
No Free Press to blow the whistle.
3.5 million fish farms
hormones
Talapia 85% comes from
USDA 1% inspection
65% of 1% rejected
cannot confiscate rejected fish.
so they go to another port and can get in to US that way
Hard to shop and find the products you need and want that are not made in China.
(Unable to find a microwave that was not made in China)
This creates a dilemma for Americans.
Creates risks for families and loss of jobs.
Shipping dollars instead of goods. Consuming more than we create.

The Multinational Shell Game

US Multinationals have hijacked our economy.
They knew all along that they were going to move their plants to China.
Multinationals - self interests and profit motives drove the debate to have China join the
WTO and those were more important to multinationals.
Plywood Company ~ Dan Slane
2002 moved his Bowling Green Kentucky production to China.
50% cheaper production costs my moving to China.
He was able to do this because of China manipulating the currency and having no
environmental issues.

Sell product at cost, and every month the Chinese government sent him a check for 17%
of the goods he exported. This gov't subsidy became his profit.
Slane says he doesn't have a choice, unlike General Electric does.
Move or shut the company down.
Small domestics vs. multinationals would be a good topic to investigate.
He is a member of the US - China Commission ... WHAT IS THIS?
Obstacles to passing legislation to stop _____ is that it is too costly and time consuming,
especially when the lobbyist from the large manufactures overwhelm Congress with
campaign contributions and influence in a number of ways.
National Association of Manufacturers stopped the Ryan-Murphy China Currency bill.
Eighty percent of members are a small to medium sized manufacturers but the big
multinational manufactures which make up 20% exert the most control!
Boeing, CAT, Coca-Cola, General Electric .... are they really American companies???
Executive Suite looks like the United Nations. (top executives from all around the world)
Maximizing profit is KEY ... best for their shareholders.
Kick the can down the road... CEO's only want to make their numbers while they have
the power... get their bonuses ... knowing they are going to be out of that job in 3-4 years.
They know they are leaving a "mess" for the next person.
CEO's linked their compensation to shareholder value.
Campaign laws (lack of limits) allow multinationals to have a lot of influence trade
policies.
Hard to find information on the industries that are gone. Gov't doesn't track it. Can you
find any information???
China - once able to master the technology will make it difficult for US to compete.
One day after Boeing signed $19 billion deal, 1,000 American workers were laid off in
California.
Why American Manufacturing Matters
"Cannot be a world power if you don't make anything but hot air." AFL President
Richard Trumka.
Less than 9% of the American Need to have 25% of our population in manufacturing.
Every 1 manufacturing job support 12 other jobs
Communities cannot sustain themselves without a manufacturing base.
Middle class incomes allow small businesses.
With a good job, people can:
raise family / small pension / vote for levies / donate to church
Must hold on to the R&D!
R&D moves with manufacturing.
We are teaching the country (China) how to compete with us."

The best jobs program is trade reform with China.

People are afraid to stand up to China for fear of a trade war.
Why don't we take China to task?? Find out!!
Multinationals have a hold on Congress.
It almost takes a movement. (Tea Party)
Americans have to demand action.
On every level people can boycott on some level.
Policy choices represent the wishes of the rich / elite multinationals.
We need to have balanced trade.
C + I + G +/-NE = GDP
if we have a negative export total it reduces our GDP.
"We are now exporting 100 Billion dollars of goods to China each year." Obama
Research Representative Tim Ryan to find good information.
Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California
People's Democratic Republic of China