OT Do you care were the products you buy are made

[Growltigger]

I feel quite strongly on this, and I admit, take a similar stance to Dogscoff.

I boycott companies. I do not shop at several supermarkets which are either owned by companies which have policies I disagree with, or are particularily notorious for giving farmers a poor deal. I do not buy Proctor & Gamble products (they test non-medecines on animals) or Nike/Adidias products (slave labour in Eastern bloc/Asian countries), I do not eat at McDonalds, I do not buy petrol from Shell or Texaco, the list goes on. I boycott a company once I become aware (and I do read the FT and Times every day) that it has unethical policies.

I am a bit of a hypocrite here though because I smoke (although I currently trying to give up)

That being said, I tend to gravitate toward products from countries which I feel are well made. For example, my cars are diesel (low sulphur of course) but are both German (except for my old land rover). My household appliances, from the iron to the fridge, are all German (Bosch and Neff). I buy these due to reliability, and that post-WWII, the german companies have done more than most to introduce to decent practices in their factories, following on from the slave labour accusations justifiably made from WWII.

In relation to food, I buy local products. I always buy organic meat (not just free range, but organic). I buy organic vegetables, I buy organic wheat, and make my own bread (only way to get my nails really clean). I recycle pLastic bottles, tin cans, glass and has the famous compost heap which devours all vegetable waste from the kitchen. I dont buy food products grown in countries I have an ethical problem with.

Buying organic may not avoid all the BSE problems we have had in UK, but it does obviate part of the risk as the organic certification I buy require the herds to have been BSE free at all times.

BUT organic meat tastes better to me. It certainly has a better texture. I am slightly hypocritical here to cos I do go shooting pheasants. But I do always take away and eat what I shoot

I also bank with an ethical bank here in the UK, and my pension funds are invested in what I consider to be ethical investments. I do not invest in arms, tobacco or anything like that. Took bloody ages to sort out, but I feel better for doing that!

I do boycott US products, but primarily as I think the food produce is inferior (american cheese? YUKKK) and the beer has obviously been recycled - must be pure though after passing through so many kidneys before mine!!! I dont really buy electronic goods but those I have are made in Germany or Holland. I check place of manufacture of these quite carefully.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Just a little comment General W.
The work system of many American penal facilities is also labelled as Slave labour by many human rights organisations.

sitting around uselessly in a dark, closed in, small area doing repetitive things is not good for a person.

anyone else see the irony?

if you read the bible, ancient Isreal had some good laws for theives. basically, the theif would have to pay off twice what they stole. with no theives in prison, we could shut down jails.

[ January 14, 2004, 11:11: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[tesco samoa]

I too do as the little tiger and the dog do.

I boycott certain companies..

Nike, Gap, Shell , Mcdonalds, Coke... etc...

I know I cannot boycott every clothing company that uses the industrial complexs all over the world. So I just pick and choose. And I stick to it.

I have never owned anything by Nike. Never given shell any of my money. Same with Gap and its stores. Mcdonalds. Going on 12 years now. Coke products 8 years.


I do like a world economy from the little I understand. But it is one of those situations where if your lucky you can look at it from the top, middle ( my location lower middle) and the bottom.

Problem is most of the material i read comes from the top and supports the top.

Not balanced and I am not sorry to say this. It is very complex And there are many many sides to the picture.

[dogscoff]

basically, the theif would have to pay off twice what they stole.

So in order to pay the fine they'd have to steal two more of the same thing from someone else? I see a problem here...

[Ruatha]

Originally posted by Kamog:

quote:

---

Last year 30% of the worlds population took the step up from poverty, 17.7 billions now have the same living standard as the "west".

17.7 billion doesn't sound right because that's more than the population of the whole world.

---

oops, Yes, I did exaggerate a bit; 1.7 billion!
(keyboard entering error)

[Wardad]

Globalization

International Thinking At Its Best!

Question: What is the truest definition of Globalization?

Answer: Princess Diana's death.

Question: How come?

Answer:

An English princess

with an Egyptian boyfriend

crashes in a French tunnel,

driving a German car

with a Dutch engine,

driven by a Belgian who was drunk

on Scottish whisky (check the bottle before you change the spelling)

followed closely by Italian Paparazzi,

on Japanese motorcycles;

treated by an American doctor,

using Brazilian medicines.

This is sent to you by an American,

using Bill Gates's technology,

and you're probably reading this on your computer,

that uses Taiwanese chips,

and a Korean monitor,

assembled by Bangladeshi workers

in a Singapore plant,

transported by Indian truck drivers,

hijacked by Indonesians,

unloaded by Sicilian longshoremen,

and trucked to you by Mexican illegals.....

That, my friends, is Globalization.

[DavidG]

[quote]Originally posted by Phoenix-D:

quote:

---

Originally posted by DavidG:

Where do you think the Chinese are getting fish from? Can't our boats go there?

If they're inside Chinese territorial waters, no. Notice you also said east coast fisheries- having to go down to Panama THEN cross to where the Chinease fishermen are fishing isn't going to be profitable.

---

Yea you're probably right. But why China? If I want to eat many kinds of fish I basically have to buy Chinese. Seems wacky. Of course my beef probably has more to do the BS involved in actually getting products on the shelf in grocery stores. there must be other countries exporting fish but they are not making it to my neck of the woods.

[primitive]

If it�s white fish it�s usually Russian, and only sent to China for processing.

The Russians are now doing the same ****ty stuff in Northern Pacific as you crazy Canucks did outside Newfoundland 15 years ago: Fishing the ocean dry.

Enjoy the cheap Russian/Chinese fish when it�s available. In a few years it will be over.

[Wardad]

I can remember the "Be American, Buy American" sloga and campaign. It was well intended.

Since u would expect to pay more, a lot of companies were busy changing labels. WalMart got caught "washing" clothes from from China.

[DavidG]

Originally posted by primitive:
The Russians are now doing the same ****ty stuff in Northern Pacific as you crazy Canucks did outside Newfoundland 15 years ago: Fishing the ocean dry.

Who us? (I'm pretty sure that was all those evil foriegn ships fishing just beyond the limit. )