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Anonymous
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By the time GW gets thru "globalizing" the US economy- we might be thinking 36 cents an hour is big money :shock:
China's toy sweatshop pays 36 cents an hour
Christmas product safety recalls continue along with import mania
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Posted: December 20, 2007
3:33 p.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON – As consumer safety recalls of Christmas products made in China continue at a torrid pace, a new report shows the average Chinese worker making toys is paid a meager 36 cents an hour – just 2.5 percent of what U.S. toy manufacturers pay domestically. Today, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the latest recall of a Christmas import – a holiday candle set that tips over and whose exterior coating is flammable. The snowman and Christmas tree candles were manufactured in China.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission warned the candles should not be used because of the fire hazard they pose. Instead, they should be returned to the retailer for a full refund.
Chinese-made toys accounted for 94 percent of the CPSC recalls this year. Most of the recalls were related to excessive and dangerous levels of lead used in cheap paints.
The surge in product hazards and safety recalls in recent years coincides with the relocation of toy production and other manufacturing plants in China and other countries. About 74 percent of toys sold in the U.S. are now made in China. In total, 87 percent are made overseas.
In 1970, 86 percent of U.S. toys were made in the USA, employing some 60,000 American workers.
While the shift overseas has been tough on U.S. workers, the profits of toy companies have soared as a result. Toy profits have risen from $50 million in 1970 to $930 million last year.
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U.S. toy production has declined 70 percent since the establishment of the North American Free Trade Agreement and World Trade Organization and more than 500 percent since the 1970s, claims the report.
From 1972 through 1982, when most toys were made in the U.S., there were never more than 12 toy recalls in any year. This year there were 120 – almost all from China. -------------------------
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59309