ABC correspondent Chris Cuomo unleashed a scathing commentary on Mattel CEO Bob Eckert in an interview on the August 15 “Good Morning America”:
“But fundamentally it comes down to where you’re having the toys made. They’re being made in China, you don’t have oversight, there’s tremendous pressure for them to cut corners and keep costs down, because that’s how you make money. So allow me to ask you sir, how much money are you saving having these toys made in China?”
Consumers are saving money – not just the company. But it isn’t all about saving money, according to one expert. Aside from the labor costs – 25 to 50 cents an hour in China versus $18 an hour for a toymaker in Missouri, according to ABC News – there are issues of product availability.
In the media’s rush to protectionism advocates, journalists have overlooked possible consequences.
“If you were to require that we have no imports from China, then we’d have to take those resources to produce some things to export to China and instead use those to make Barbies instead,” James Sherk, a labor expert at the Heritage Foundation, told the Business & Media Institute. “We wouldn’t be making as much computer chips or as much software or what have you. And on the whole, we would have less stuff in general.”
He also said U.S. labor is much more skilled and has more capital invested in it for tools (e.g. laptop computers, word processors, etc.) than Chinese labor, and the markets dictate which goods and service are produced where as a result.
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August 16, 2007 - 14:37 ET by Cool ArrowIgnore history and you're doomed to repeat it?
Upton Sinclair would just shake his head.
And the scare is over our children. Bonkers is an understatement.
~LYDSEXICS UNTIE!~
Chris Cuomo is an idiot. He
August 16, 2007 - 14:42 ET by bassndudeChris Cuomo is an idiot. He dosent understand the simplest economic principals. Kinda like running a goverment office, he couldent even do that. And if you cant do that? Why, you become a journalist. Present company excepted, of course.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
Jeff
August 16, 2007 - 14:51 ET by Paul DetrickWho is this Jeff Poor? He is a fantastic writer.
But the bottom line is that
August 16, 2007 - 14:52 ET by balboaBut the bottom line is that the company uses China because it's cheap.
"cheap" - the product or the labor?
August 16, 2007 - 15:24 ET by FastEdSimple question - when at the store, comparing prices, on a limited budget, not like the government, what do you buy - the most expensive, least expensive, or the cheapest with best quality?
Me thinks that we would get the best quality for the lowest price, (if we've been camparing or have bought before) and we'd shy away from the product that falls apart as we leave the store, or if we've been burned by an earlier purchase.
There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V
I'm not seeing your point.
August 16, 2007 - 15:35 ET by balboaI'm not seeing your point. I'm saying these companies use China because it's cheap labor, bottom line. I didn't say anything about the product.
don't forget quality
August 16, 2007 - 15:37 ET by TruthMongerdon't forget quality too:)
usually
Cuomo: "But fundamentally
August 16, 2007 - 14:53 ET by GalvanicCuomo: "But fundamentally it comes down to where you’re having the toys made. They’re being made in China, you don’t have oversight, there’s tremendous pressure for them to cut corners and keep costs down, because that’s how you make money. So allow me to ask you sir, how much money are you saving having these toys made in China?”
Actually, Cuomo is wrong. Mattel can exercise all the oversight it desires over Chinese toy manufacturers, to include onsight Mattel reps. All they have to do is put it in the contract.
It's not like Mattel is buying finished Chinese toy products; it's buying its own trademarked toys manufactured under license in China. Licensing generally requires some sort of manufacturer's specifications and quality control on the part of the licensee. If the licensee fails to perform, it loses the license.
Japanese car manufacturers
August 17, 2007 - 10:12 ET by Senior ChiefJapanese car manufacturers does. QA is priority 1. It protects and uphold their name...
Mattel
August 16, 2007 - 15:15 ET by allanfLet me undertand this Chris. You expect Mattel to raise its labor costs thirty fold so that it can produce toys in the United States.
Well markets don't work that way. If production costs are cheaper outside the United States, the shelves of Wal-Mart, Toys R Us and other stores will be stocked with less expensive products from China or some other nation. That's because retailers look for the best margins and prices.
It would not take long for Mattel to go out of business.
Allanf, I remember
August 16, 2007 - 19:05 ET by 4arrowAllanf,
I remember products from "occupied Japan" too. My mother nearly died from the lead in a fancy tea cup and saucer we kids bought her from the five and dime.
When all the work has been shipped overseas for cheap labour with no pee breaks, who here at home will have the quid to purchase any of the goods. Maybe this is not of concern to you, just take the profit and run. History tells us that the impoverished get ugly.
Remember "Made in Japan"?
August 16, 2007 - 15:15 ET by ff_emt1Anyone remember what the definition of
"Made in Japan" was back in the 50's and 60's. It meant JUNK, just
like China now. But they learned, and almost shut down our auto industry along with many others. China
may have problems today, but look out 10 years from now.
A Democrat is someone who wants to put YOUR money where HIS mouth is.
and 20 years from now it
August 16, 2007 - 15:40 ET by TruthMongerand 20 years from now it will be "made in Africa" with the same quality challenges...
These toy defects represent less than %1 of the goods coming out of China over the past several years...
Demand perfection if you like - prepare for disappointment
Excuse me!? As the caveman
August 16, 2007 - 17:17 ET by SaseboSailorExcuse me!? As the caveman says on the commercial when the psychiatrist gets done babbling..WHAT!??
Chris Cuomo is an elitist snob from the MSM - But can anyone tell me what the hell this goverment "expert" is talking about? I've read that paragraph a half dozen times and if that isn't a bunch of BS blather I don't know what is. "those resources to produce some things to export to China.." What gobbledygook. "..we would have much less stuff.." Heavens to Betsy! What would we do without poison seafood, lead paint toys and the multitudes of other junk that is putting Americans in danger and out of work!
If anyone wants to try and translate this baloney, I'm all ears.
I think what he was trying
August 16, 2007 - 17:30 ET by Jeff PoorI think what he was trying to communicate is that if we started producing Mattel toys in the U.S. - even at our higher costs - we wouldn't be able to produce more profitable products that require a much more educated labor pool that the U.S. has over China.
For example - if we started producing Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels instead of importing them, we'd have to stop producing somethingelse - like microchips or any other high-tech goods China is unable to produce.
The market dictates how and where the products are manufactured and I think Cuomo was trying to oversimpify this by suggesting Mattel was just exploiting cheap Chinese labor. That may be true to a degree but there are much broader implications the media are ignoring.
Jeff I think your
August 16, 2007 - 19:13 ET by SaseboSailorJeff
I think your cause-and-effect logic is faulty. I don't get why we would have to stop producing one thing in order to produce another. Thats never been the way it works. If theres a market for both items we will employ more Americans and produce both items. I think there are much broader implications to this entire one-world so-called "free market" strategy. If we export all of our jobs to the lowest bidder, what are we as a country left with? I don't mind imports that are safe and of reasonable quality but I don't want to eat fruits and vegetables that are grown in fields of human waste. And yes, I will pay more for quality goods produced here in America because at least I know we have some control over the health and safety standards that we have spent decades developing.
We need country of origin labeling and then we will truly see a free market in action as people decide whether to buy cheap chinese toothpast with anti-freeze in it or good old Colgate - hopefully still Made in America!
I think you're missing the
August 17, 2007 - 08:32 ET by Jeff PoorI think you're missing the point.
Let's say an investor gives you $1 million to go into business. You have to pick what kind of business. You're going to go into something that suits your expertise and will make the most money for you.
There's a demand for $20 Barbie Dolls, but you would have to charge $50 to make money. But, with the same resources at your disposal, you can make $1,000 computers. Well, you're going to make the computers, right?
But if we started to require certain products to be produced in the U.S., not only would the price be jacked up, but we would have to use so much of our resources to produce those products here.
There are so many Americans that are willing to be employed and those that are employed will go work for the higher paying wages. We're already at nearly full employment.
A strawman issue.
August 16, 2007 - 19:09 ET by c5thenIf it weren't China it would be somewhere else (and will be in 10-20 years). The issue is that the Federal Government is spending less and less to inspect all of the imports while it spends more and more on trying to influence education and keeping statistics on who is making how much as well as sending more and more of our tax dollars to foreign countries trying to buy their goodwill.
If we paired back the Federal Government to just those things delegated to it by the Constitution, and got rid of the unconstitutional things like the Dept. of Education, Labor, HHS, Housing and repealed the unconstitutional Social Security Act, there would be all kinds of funds to devote to things like import inspection, border security, Defense, etc that ARE authorized by the Constitution.
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic
"If it weren't China it
August 16, 2007 - 19:34 ET by 4arrow"If it weren't China it would be somewhere else (and will be in 10-20 years"
How about North America? Do you have your getaway already planned? Traitor.
What??!!!
August 16, 2007 - 19:59 ET by c5thenThe issue is that we (the US) are too expensive to make most of the cheap stuff we want here in our own country. Or, we are too cheap to pay the expensive prices that we would have to pay.
What I was saying, is that in 10-20 years China will have grown out of their cheap labor status and all our stuff will be made somewhere else.
The particular problems with imported Chinese goods we are having right now are because the Government is spending $$ where they shouldn't and not spending $$ where they are supposed to. As an example, the FDA used to inspect 7% of all imported foods in 1995. Today they inspect less than 1%.
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic
we owe china a trillion bucks.
August 16, 2007 - 20:10 ET by upcountrywaterI remember hearing this:
THE BEST MONEY CAN BUY
now it's "The most that money can buy"
Entitlement over infrastructure every SINGLE time.
No it isn't. You want
August 16, 2007 - 20:52 ET by 4arrowNo it isn't. You want cheap labour. The middle class is going belly up as we "speak". Noblesse obliege. You made your fortune on this society. To take your business away and put your people out of work is wrong. To make your country fail is traitorous.
How much money do you need?
Noblesse oblige?
August 16, 2007 - 21:00 ET by Cool ArrowHow does your post describe the noble administration of power and wealth?
Who is it that wants to put people out of work?
Are you having trouble finding work?
~LYDSEXICS UNTIE!~
Me? Why is it always personal?
August 16, 2007 - 21:14 ET by c5thenWhy is Wal-Mart the largest retailer? Because the American public want's cheap stuff. Don't blame me personally, blame the 100 million people that shop there.
Lets take your scenario to the "100% mark" to see if it breaks down...bring back all the manufacturing into this country. Where would all the thousands of factories go? We are currently at less then 5% unemployment, where would the millions of workers come from? All goods would jump in price by a factor of 10 at minimum to 100 on the high end. Would people be willing to pay $290 for a pair of jeans? How about $79 for a pack of socks?
Or is it your contention that millions of service sector workers will jump at the chance to make minimum wage working in a toy factory?
The issue isn't that most of our manufacturing and textile business has moved over seas. That boat has sailed. The issue is that we are not inspecting enough of our imports to assure that they comply with our laws and regulations.
P.S. the "middle class" is doing better than ever. Who was it that just bought all those expensive houses over the last few years?
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic
" To make your country
August 16, 2007 - 21:54 ET by ckc1227" To make your country fail is traitorous."
And to believe your country is failing is idiotic.
"How much money do you need?"
And now the truth comes out, as it usually does. It's always about how much money someone else has.
"To take your business away and put your people out of work is wrong."
Yep, they should keep the business here where they pay the second highest corporate tax rate in the world, and end up going out of business completely because they can't compete with other companies that are able to provide cheaper alternatives, in the end costing everyone their job.
Next you'll be telling us it was wrong for 8 track tape manufacturers to stop making 8 track tape players because of all the jobs that were lost.....
ckc, your right. It makes
August 16, 2007 - 22:25 ET by bassndudeckc, your right. It makes no diffrence where the work is done. If it is done here, the corp taxes will go to the feds, and the feds will send it to China and other places. The only diffrence is now they do, do something for the money. Truth be known they could just sit back and hold out their hands and the libs will pay them for sitting.
I wish I had an 8 track that worked. I still have some great tapes.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
Talk about "man-made"
August 16, 2007 - 22:48 ET by elmcclinticLet me paint an odd picture for you. There is this huge die press, probably 8 foot by 8 foot, made of steel. Imagine it being all the way down, and then as it raises up, you see four human beings bent over sitting on each side of the press. As the huge piece of steel comes all the way up to the apex, these four humans sit upright, grab the part that has just been produced, and set the part aside. Then they bend over and let the steel cover them completely, and so the cycle goes.
Do I shop at Walmart? No
Do I read labels to see if it is made in China? Yes
Do I see women working in these factories? No, they have for the most part been aborted.
Do we cry for justice and decent working conditions as a prerequisite for our consumerism? We most definitely should.
Think about these human beings inside this machine the next time you see "made in China" on the label.
With all due respect,where
August 17, 2007 - 02:27 ET by 4arrowWith all due respect,where I live homes are not selling, men are out of work and money is tight.. If you are unaware if this, I am telling you now. No jokes. The trickle down economy is going to trickle up and rash your arse.