So here I am at Elmers Flag & Banner.....Always a very interesting store to walk around....and I'm looking at labels on the flag merch ...You wouldn't believe how many USA flags are made in CHINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I throw in the towel. Have a good day.
I'm going to Nicks Coney Island for a double. PROUD TO BE MADE IN AMERICA!!

****Last year in the Martha Stewart holiday section at Macys it was all made in China, Every Sku!

China isn't really all that powerful. They're a boogie man that people like to throw out, to show how far America has fallen. But in reality, China's biggest problem is China. They've got 1.3 billion people to feed and house, and their current economic prosperity is only benefiting a small portion of the population. In order to keep their population employed and happy, China needs the West to keep buying their goods.

So if we go down, China goes down. We're all in this together. (Except maybe Japan, who experienced their own housing recession in the 80's and appear to be weathering this financial storm quite well.)

China's power is only as good as their title to our real property.

Beware their agents who we know as asset managers.

Our Governor Ted is looking to sell them part of Oregon for helping to make us a jolly green giant.

My father, who lived and worked in the China of the 1930's and then, after WW II, the late 1940's, always said, "The sample case is mightier than the sword".

My brother was the Reuters video guy in China for a few years ending with the return of Hong Kong. One time he missed his daughter's graduation because he was being detained by the authorities. He always gave me the impression that police states really suck.
You know Taiwan is concerned with how things are unfolding. That is for sure.
I was proud of Guns and Roses for pissing off the media over there with their album Chinese Democracy. Wait 'til they find out our next ambassador to China is Slash.

Yes,China is rising, and may supplant the US as the globe's dominant superpower by the end of the century. China's economy is poised to be as large as the US economy in 2035 and twice as large in 2050. Whether we can live in peace with them and whether their political system will evolve into something respecting human, political rights and the rule of law are profound questions for our next generations. What kind of future our children have will depends to a large degree on what kind of future they have with China. China's build out of coal power plants (one added per week) threatens our climate.

We need to engage China in new ways. Oregon has less than 1% of its public K-12 students studying Mandarin. We should get that up to 5% by 2015. We have no high school students studying abroad in China. We should get that up substantially.

I've read that Japan is revving the acquisition machine back up. And of course the "sovereign wealth funds" (oil sheiks) now own about half of everything.

Back in the eighties the Japanese were buying everything over here. Then their economy tanked. Everything is cyclical.

"They'll buy it." (... and hire the indigenous locals as keepers of the plantation estates.)

That's the socialist way.

The only good Earth is the sharing Earth.

China isn't really all that powerful. They're a boogie man that people like to throw out, to show how far America has fallen.

their GDP, oil consumption, college educated population, overall growth, capital access, and scientific knowledge are all equal America's--and mostly higher.

anybody who's lived a while, or read a history book, knows that America's reign as a superpower has been very, very brief. people who saw its beginning are still alive.

So if we go down, China goes down. We're all in this together.

i disagree. while we go "down", China is going "up".

In order to keep their population employed and happy, China needs the West to keep buying their goods.

no--that's a common fallacy. for example, most Chinese goods go places other than the US. the truth is, the US needs China to loan it money more than China needs the US market.

They've got 1.3 billion people to feed and house, and their current economic prosperity is only benefiting a small portion of the population.

yes, and no. their middle class is growing very fast, but inequity is still higher than here.

and China's opening markets every day in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, the pacific, and Africa.

most of all, i think the concept of "superpower" is over. done. China may seem to be imitating the American model, but it's only superficially true. they're doing something different.

their GDP, oil consumption, college educated population, overall growth, capital access, and scientific knowledge are all equal America's--and mostly higher.

Not quite. Our GDP is still about 30% higher. And their college educated population as a percentage of their total population is much lower than ours.

no--that's a common fallacy. for example, most Chinese goods go places other than the US. the truth is, the US needs China to loan it money more than China needs the US market.

True. I should have said China needs the West (including Canada and Europe) buying their goods in order to survive.

China's a powerful country relative to most of the world. But they aren't so powerful that they can take over the mantle of "superpower" anytime soon.

Their biggest concern is keeping their people happy, and they need America to buy their goods in order to do this. Hence, they keep loaning us money.

Not quite. Our GDP is still about 30% higher.

sources say otherwise. that is, unless you rely on Wikipedia. and remember--2008 figures are far different than 2007 or 2006.

And their college educated population as a percentage of their total population is much lower than ours.

i meant in quality, a more useful comparison than quantity.

China's a powerful country relative to most of the world. But they aren't so powerful that they can take over the mantle of "superpower" anytime soon.

what I'm thinking is--they don't *want* the mantle. they're doing something different. and unlike the US, they're no longer embarking on a global land and power grab--they're focused on economics.

Their biggest concern is keeping their people happy, and they need America to buy their goods in order to do this. Hence, they keep loaning us money.

i still have to disagree on the last part-they're not loaning the US money chiefly so it can buy Chinese goods. they're loaning the US money because the US wants lots of money, badly, and will pay a high price for it. in other words, China's found it's profitable just to loan the US money.

I know that there are decent Chinese goods out there, but besides the fact that I'd prefer to support local business, I haven't had very good luck with Chinese-made purchases.

Toxic toys, melamine-laden dog food, umbrellas that fail and self-destruct at an alarming (and sometimes amusing) rate. They're not really cheap, either, and sometimes the only option at Rite-Aid, Walgreens, etc.

The fats of my three most recent China-made umbrellas:

1) Developed a disconnect mid-stem so that if it is not opened with a hand on the top and the bottom it shoots the top part across the room like a James Bond projectile weapon.

2) Worked reasonably well for two weeks and then abruptly became non-waterproof. This is the one I still keep in reserve at work, heavily Scotchguarded and ugly as sin.

3) Came with what looked like a very useful carrier that snapped onto a belt or pack but its promise was short-lived. Within 1/2 hour, after opening it, going to the PO, closing it, opening it, going to Powell's Books and closing it, it refused to open and remain open again. I walked home wrapped in what looked like a loose lime green shroud (it was that or hot pink or tiger-skin) and returned it today for a refund.

Can anyone recommend a source of high-quality umbrellas in Portland?

Real Portlanders don't use umbrellas.