Tag: Made in China

Bombs and Bulldozers Are Us

W.J. Astore

More Weapons to Israel to Power a Genocide

I recently ordered a few items from Amazon. Random stuff like a shower caddy, an iPhone case, and lamp sockets. It won’t surprise you to learn they were all “Made in China.”

I ordered some clothes from a fancy online retailer. The clothes said “Designed in California” but they were, of course, Made in China.

What is America making? What are we sending overseas? Bombs and bulldozers for the devastation and dismantlement of Gaza and other Palestinian Territories. Consider this article from Ken Klippenstein (excerpt follows), which details roughly $10 billion in “foreign aid” to Israel.

Here’s what Klippenstein had to say:

*****

While the entire news media is focused on Trump’s suspension of arms for Ukraine, the administration is arming Israel to the teeth. The nature of the bombs being sold indicates Israel’s military is preparing to continue its bombing campaigns in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen; as well as preparing for possible war with Iran.

Included in the sales are tens of thousands of controversial 2,000 lb. bombs so heavily criticized during the Gaza war for their destructive capacity, and thousands of “Hellfire” missiles that are used for targeted killings.

When I visited the Defense Security Cooperation Agency website’s section for major arms sales to see a breakdown of the weapons, I was immediately struck by the fact that five of the last six sales were to Israel.

Screenshot of DSCA’’s “Major Arms Sales” landing page

The U.S. bombs and missiles being sent to Israel, almost all made by Boeing, are included in:

  • February 28 sale worth $2.04 billion, including:
    • 35,529 MK 84 (general purpose) or BLU-117 (hardened) 2,000-pound bomb bodies (or combination of both).
    • 4,000 I-2000 (hardened) 2,000 lb. advanced penetrator warheads for 2,000-pound bomb bodies.
  • February 28 sale worth $675.7 million, including:
    • 201 MK 83 MOD 4/MOD 5 general purpose 1,000-pound bomb bodies.
    • 4,799 newer BLU-110A/B General Purpose 1,000-pound bomb bodies.
    • 1,500 KMU-559C/B Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) anti-jam enhanced GPS guidance kits to attach to MK 83 bomb bodies.
    • 3,500 KMU-559J/B JDAM guidance kits to attach to MK 83 bomb bodies.
  • February 7 sale worth $660 million, including:
    • 3,000 AGM-114 Hellfire Air-to-Ground Missiles, aircraft, helicopter and drone carried, used to attack vehicles and individuals.
  • February 7 sale worth $6.75 billion, including:
    • 2,166 GBU-39/B 250-pound Small Diameter Bombs (SDB) Increment 1.
    • 2,800 MK 82 General Purpose, 500-pound bomb bomb bodies.
    • 13,000 KMU-556 JDAM Guidance Kits to attach to MK-84 (2,000-pound) bomb bodies.
    • 3,475 KMU-557 JDAM Guidance Kits to attach to BLU-109 (2,000-pound) bomb bodies.
    • 1,004 KMU JDAM Guidance Kits to attach to 500-pound GBU-38v1 bomb bodies.
    • 17,475 FMU-152A/B multi-function fuzes for bombs.

*****

Holy shit! Nearly thirty-six thousand 2000-pound bombs! That is 36 kilotons, roughly the equivalent of the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. And that’s not including the assorted 1000- and 500-pound bombs tossed into the mix.

This is an astonishing amount of ordnance for Israel to continue its ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza and the West Bank.

President Trump, of course, has the full support of most Democrats in sending this stockpile of destruction to Israel. Call it bipartisan genocidal enablement.

America sure is an “exceptional” nation. No nation is better at bombing others—or supplying the bombs for others like Israel to do so—then flattening what remains with “Made in USA” bulldozers.

Honestly, I wish my country made shower caddies, iPhone cases, and lamp sockets instead of bombs and bulldozers. Don’t you?

Is China Winning? It’s Our Own Fault

W.J. Astore

At his first presidential press conference yesterday, Joe Biden had this to say on China: “They have an overall goal to become the leading country in the world, the wealthiest country in the world and the most powerful country in the world. That’s not going to happen on my watch.”

Sorry, Joe, it’s happening and it’s partly your fault.

Here’s a symbol for you. I have an American flag t-shirt. It’s made by a company called “True Grit” (John Wayne!) and the label says “Authentic California.” But was the shirt made in California? Ha ha! It was “Made in China.”

My t-shirt label says it all

Why is China ascending while the USA descends? Here are five reasons:

  1. America’s wasteful war on terror has cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $6 trillion with nothing to show for it.
  2. Politicians like Obama/Biden prefer to bailout Wall Street and the banks rather than ordinary Americans. For example, the bailout of Wall Street in 2008 was a trillion-dollar mess, Matt Taibbi notes.
  3. The Covid Bailout passed by the Trump administration in 2020 (the CARES Act) funneled $2.3 trillion mainly to the banks and corporate America, with a surge option of $4 trillion for big business, notes Matt Taibbi.
  4. Bad trade deals like NAFTA, advanced by Democrats like Bill Clinton and Joe Biden, ensured that American jobs would go overseas to countries like China having much lower labor costs.
  5. Tax cuts for the richest Americans under the Trump administration starve the government of funds, ensuring little investment in the homeland even as the rich get richer.

Now, imagine if this money had been invested in America. We’re talking $10-12 trillion for infrastructure, essentials like roads, bridges, dams, high-speed rail, renewable energy, better schools, and so on. Imagine how much more advanced and healthy America could be if our priorities changed.

Our government has been captured by the special interests, specifically corporations, banks, and the military-industrial complex. It’s socialism for the rich and dog-eat-dog capitalism for the poor. The plutocrats, kleptocrats, and militarists are cashing in even as America hollows out.

What we need is a true Marshall Plan — for America. A reinvestment in ourselves. What this means is an end to forever wars, major cuts in military spending, higher taxes on the plutocrats and corporations, and a focus on putting Americans back to work and with a living wage. A green new deal could and should be one aspect of this.

We need to show some “true grit” again, America; not grit that’s “Made in China.”

Made in China

donald

W.J. Astore

Is it a good idea to get in a trade war with China when they make all our stuff?

I thought of that again this morning as I looked at the outfit I’m wearing.  LL Bean shorts?  Made in China.  Frye boat shoes?  Made in China.  Polo shirt made from organic cotton?  Made in China.  Brooks running shoes that I put on for my stretching routine?  Made in China.  My underwear?  Made in Thailand.  Aha!  So not everything comes from China.  I also note my Citizen Eco-Drive watch has a Japanese movement, but it’s unclear where final assembly took place.  Any chance it might also be in China?

I just want to state the obvious here: I’m a thoroughgoing Asian man, representing China, Thailand, and Japan.  Even when I don my most American-sounding brands like “True Grit,” they are most often made in China.

So, while it’s nice to hear that President Trump is calling a temporary trade and tariff truce with China, I have to say the Chinese already own us, and in more ways than one, since they also own trillions of our national debt.  Meanwhile, Trump’s “tough” tactic of raising tariffs to “punish” the Chinese just passes higher costs to American consumers, so who’s really being punished?

Sadly, as I’ve said before, the only American products I routinely hear about in the news as major money-making exports are weapons of war.  Bombs, missiles, guns, warplanes, and the like.  America used to be the world’s merchant for all kinds of products; now we’re better known as the world’s leading merchant of death.  We’re not the “arsenal of democracy,” as we were in World War II.  Now we’re just an arsenal.

Isn’t it time we converted our forever war economy into one that produces products that we can wear and enjoy in everyday life?

Or am I forever fated to be a statement of Asian sartorial excellence?