[TexaninVA]

Originally Posted by tsmall22204

Why is it so important to blame and point fingers right now? There will be time to investigate the origin after we learn to fight this virus.

That’s like saying let’s just clean up the mess at Pearl Harbor and figure how the Navy dropped the ball. They’ll be plenty of time to figure later out why the Japanese allegedly attacked us.

[VillageLiberal]

Originally Posted by JGVillages

It will be a long time, if ever, that our Congress doe anything useful to punish China for unleashing this Virus on us and the world. What Congress should to do, along with the Food & Drug Administration is mandate that ALL products (ie:clothing, food, prescriptions, et all) are labeled with a large easy to find word or symbol that gives us the ability to choose what we purchase intelligently and immediately. Most often when products are ordered online there is no way to determine where the product is made and in many cases that it will ship from "the slow boat from China". My wife and I have been attempting to find the origin of products, not often easy or even possible, when purchasing in store or online. It is time for a serious American grass roots effort to put Communist China on the back burner. I know it is far cheaper to purchase most comparable Chinese to American made products, so for those who cannot afford to buy American made that is understandable and should be their choice. For myself I am on a new mission to buy NON CHINEESE PRODUCTS and I hope that our regulators will make our freedom to choose, by easier and mandated "where products are manufactured" identification. That also includes products assembled here, but consist of Chinese components. "We the People can get this done!!"

I've been a Made In USA guy for a decade now and your points have been made for a long time now, clear labelling and making online vendors post the origin are the two problems, the biggest problem is the price point. Americans get paid too much per hour and are less productive then the Chinese, plus our executives demand huge salaries and bonuses, all this makes the price of American Made goods less competitive. So companies like Levi's move thier plants overseas or to Mexico save billions of $$ , don't decrease the cost of the jeans, and American's still think they are buying an American product. If we all made an effort to find and buy American made products, even though more expensive, the US manufacturing base would return which should rise all boats, unfortunately poor people don't want to spend $100 for a toaster and rich executives don't want a cut to thier million $$ salaries, plus this is America right. I don't agree with using the virus as a tool to blame China though, the 2009 Swine Flu Pandemic came from the USA and killed about 300 million globally, just think if other countries would have blamed the USA and stopped buying our stuff.

[rustyp]

Originally Posted by rustyp

Put a super large tariff on every item imported to the US from China. This way we punish China by putting a severe hurt on their economy. The second benefit is China via the tariff money windfall they give us will pay back the trillions our government had to invest in stimulus to keep our economy from collapse. The third benefit will be a huge step gained for us towards self sufficiency. That is how it works I've been told.

.

1. Notice the five guys on the floor
2. It was my golf buddies, the ones with the red caps did tell me this is the way it works.

[stadry]

is anyone so naive as to think that totalitarian government would not risk even 10% of its population 1,438,278,906 ( that's only 1,438,278 deaths ) if it could lead to world domination ? china regularly disposes of dissidents. does anyone remember the 1 child policy ? we should all know china by now so why defend them ? they are an economic enemy to capitalism

[stadry]

also naive OR ignorant - import tariffs are imposed by OUR government thereby making the goods more expensive ON THE DOCK/AIRPORT APRON. 'decides whether to pass on the payment [ tariff ] to the consumer or absorb the cost themselves.' LAUGHABLE if the company paying tariff absorbs the cost, why would the products be more expensive to american consumers ? need to learn some basic economics

tariffs are imposed to make imported goods more expensive - either to punish the exporting co OR level the playing field for foreign vs domestic items of comparable value,,, by making foreign imports more expensive to consumers, it reduces the amount spent on foreign imported items

this is a tightrope as china's the largest holder of u s debt

[jjtjr]

what ever you try to do to china as tariffs go is only backfire on the usa since they do all our manufacturing which includes medicines and it will cost us more $$$. Its like cutting off you nose to spite your face.

[Pedrocarrasco01@yahoo.com]

China is a Communist Country, remember Mao Zedong was responsible for killing over 20 MILLION of his people over 25 year period, they don’t care about the common people, yes I believe it was an engineered virus at the Wuhan Lab and unleashed by them, remember their economy was only hit by 3% and their economy has already recovered, also the virus only reached only a few in Bejing and almost no one in Shanghai, they are about 300 miles or less from Wuhan!!!!! The World Economy on the other hand is in shambles, both European and American Stocks are suffering badly and it may be years to recover!! God Bless and Guide America!!!!!!

[rlcooper70]

China is accountable for its part ... and the 12/15/19 Trade Agreement's "out" clause for acts of God make the actions of China criminal because they knew about the virus during the negotiations. WHO didn't hold China responsible and that may be criminal as well. BUT our leaders knew about this virus spreading and they are also responsible for pretending this was just another flu ... lots of people ducking accountability.

[Bridget Staunton]

Don’t shoot the messenger. Got it from a friend. The following are the barcodes for products sold in the US and the originating countries. I don’t know how accurate it is but I will pay attention when I shop, look at where it came from and then if that country matches the barcode

690-692 … then it is MADE IN CHINA
00 – 09 … USA & CANADA
30 – 37 FRANCE
40 – 44 GERMANY
471 … Taiwan
49 … JAPAN
50 … UK

[MandoMan]

Originally Posted by B767drvr

Gracie, respectfully, you are uninformed. As has been reported in US media, US intelligence agencies are 100% CERTAIN this virus originated in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. What has not been publicly disclosed (yet) is if it has been definitively determined that its release was accidental or intentional.

This video concisely lays out the case for the lab-manipulated aspect to the virus. It is approximately 1 hr long. Watch just 10 minutes and you'll begin to understand. "Covid-19" is the WHO assigned "politically correct" name for this virus, which originated in Wuhan, China.

The first documentary movie on CCP virus, Tracking Down the Origin of the Wuhan Coronavirus - YouTube

I tend to strongly disagree with conspiracy theories and theorists. This video was made by the Falun Gong-run Epoch Times, which publishes a lot of anti-Chinese communist propaganda and has been largely banned from Facebook. However, I watched the whole thing and found it pretty compelling, except for the last ten minutes, which is primarily propaganda. There are a lot of notable experts interviewed, and a number of reputable scholarly articles quoted. I’d say, watch it.

I should mention that from 1983-84 I taught graduate students at a university in Beijing, before China allowed everyone to try a semi-free market system and make money. I am somewhat familiar with how the Chinese Communist Party ran things back then. I had friends who spent decades in Chinese prisons or work camps. I’m a friend of the Chinese, both here and there, and not entirely against the government, but I’m much more wary of it than are a lot of business people and governments. China always wins, every negotiation. The U.S. government was naive to think that tariffs would not lead to responses that hurt us.

As for those who say we should not buy anything made with Chinese ingredients, are there any cell phones, iPads, computers, televisions, or telephones that don’t have at least some parts made in China? I don’t think so. What American cars have no Chinese parts at all? None that I know of. And, always, what is done against the Chinese government is inevitably also done against the wonderful people of China. I am very much against prejudice against the Chinese, especially the ones who live here.

[Villages Kahuna]

Many of the same mistakes made by China were also made here in the U.S. Who do we punish here?

[bonrich]

I tend to believe that the virus was mishandled in their lab in Huan. I also believe that there were workers in that lab that were infected unknowingly. Further on I question why all travel in and out of Huan Province was prohibited. Was it because the mistake was found and the Chinese tried to contain the virus, not realizing that there were individuals that were infected with the virus and were already out and in the general population beyond Huan Province.
Then there is Italy. What I have read, true or not, was President Trump denied entry by Chinese into the USA but Italy not wanting to be refusing entry into their country, allowed Chinese into the northern part of Italy as workers were needed in that area. Blame, yes, because that is where it started and practically destroyed Italy. I don't know if Italy will ever be the same, changed forever.

I Remember as a young boy growing up, if I did something wrong, and I was confronted about it, and was warned, what happened was wrong, but lying about it was worse, and so was the punishment.
What can the world do to extract due punishment for being the cause of so many deaths, worldwide, financial ruin in so many Countries, and a changing of the lives of all of us. Find them, who would be "them, and give jail terms." Financial judgement, what number would be enough? Condemnation by the World, not trusted to do business with them, turn away and isolate their leadership or part in any International endeavors. To extract punishment from their leaders will also punish the Chinese people who were unknowingly affected by the cover-up . They too, will be blamed for the mess that has happened. I was in a Dr's office Monday and heard a patient, who is Chinese, say to the receptionist, that she is so hurt and so embarrassed by what was done by her people. Now she will carry the guilt, even though no part of the act. Will it get better as time moves on and a vaccine is discovered, please, that will control this virus and give us a protection against another round of infections?
The new buzz word is the "new normal."

[toeser]

Originally Posted by JGVillages

It will be a long time, if ever, that our Congress doe anything useful to punish China for unleashing this Virus on us and the world. What Congress should to do, along with the Food & Drug Administration is mandate that ALL products (ie:clothing, food, prescriptions, et all) are labeled with a large easy to find word or symbol that gives us the ability to choose what we purchase intelligently and immediately. Most often when products are ordered online there is no way to determine where the product is made and in many cases that it will ship from "the slow boat from China". My wife and I have been attempting to find the origin of products, not often easy or even possible, when purchasing in store or online. It is time for a serious American grass roots effort to put Communist China on the back burner. I know it is far cheaper to purchase most comparable Chinese to American made products, so for those who cannot afford to buy American made that is understandable and should be their choice. For myself I am on a new mission to buy NON CHINEESE PRODUCTS and I hope that our regulators will make our freedom to choose, by easier and mandated "where products are manufactured" identification. That also includes products assembled here, but consist of Chinese components. "We the People can get this done!!"

A place to start that would help the U.S. and provide some punishment to China is to move much of our drug manufacturing back to the U.S. There is an effective way to do that. Most new drug development uses funding from our National Institute of Health. Simply stipulate that any drug created while using government funds has to be manufactured in the U.S. - at least a big enough percentage to supply U.S. needs.

As a country, we should never again be in the position we are today, that is, relying on China for our safety gear and medicines.

[Mike193534]

Originally Posted by Kenswing

It's easy to understand. The costs are always passed on to the consumer. But that's the real goal. To make Chinese products more expensive for the consumer so they'll try to source their products elsewhere.

To say China pays nothing is not really true. They will pay in lost sales if people can find their products from someone else cheaper. Whether we can actually find our products elsewhere is the catch right now. But even if the manufacturing doesn't come back to the U.S., Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, et al, are more than happy to step into the marketplace. If we add enough cost to Chinese manufactured goods to make the other countries competitive production will shift.

A good article from Forbes re: tariffs.

8,124 views|Jun 13, 2019,04:25am EDT
Who Really Pays For Tariffs? The Answer Isn't As Simple You'd Think
Jack Perkowski
Jack PerkowskiContributor
Asia

[greenflash245]

what is the evidence showing that the commies "unleashed" this on us? be specific as to what and a source