Toxic Food

I have been digging a bit into how even our food supply has been infiltrated by other countries in a most potentially harmful way.  The result is rather concerning.  We try to be healthier and eat right.  Maybe try some lean protein like fish.  As it turns out the vast majority of popular seafood such as Tilapia and shrimp come from other countries.  It is just so sad to find out that these items are literally fed manure as the primary food.  Then they are given antibiotics to, hopefully, get rid of the E. coli and and other harmful byproducts of such a harmful method of raising the fish and shrimp.

The fact that our government allows this to happen just outright angers me.  Not even the health of citizens can be considered more important.  Why are such harmful products allowed in our food chain? Tilapia and shrimp raised in high mercury ponds fed shit!!!

It seems that any product that is worth anything cannot enter the market due to over subsidized crap.  So, we are left with harmful products as our only option.

Upscale? Really?

I thought a company claiming to be upscale shopping, Nordstrom, would actually be upscale.  My wife asked me if I could find a product for her that she was having a hard time finding that wasn't made in China.  So, I think to myself, surely Nordstrom which commands high prices would have the item not made in China.

Apparently they state items as "imported" and are careful not to say from which country.  A close-up of the item revealed the word kknekki on an L. Erickson product.  And so I searched kknekki and found them on Alibaba... you guessed it, mainland China. 

It does appear there will be a good deal of research involved to avoid funding corruption.  

Silent No More

I am going to just dive right in here and get straight to the point.  Does anybody out there see beyond politics to get to the real problem in America?  Why is it that we seem to allow politicians to consistently tell us they are fighting for American jobs while every action is to the contrary?  It confounds me that we have arrived at this point in our once strong economy.  Once upon a time, we actually produced products and employed millions of people.  This once enormous jobs sector has dried up.  Why?

Brace yourself, the answer is way too simple.  At some point we stopped paying attention to who actually made the products we consume.  We stopped paying attention to why so many people were unemployed.  We stopped paying attention to what our politicians and multi-national corporations were doing to us.  We stopped paying attention...

We need to wake up!  All of our jobs have gone overseas because most of our products are produced overseas.  We have come to expect cheap prices on everything.  For the sake of saving our money we are supporting the joblessness of millions of our own neighbors and potentially ourselves.  Is it worth it?  Of course not!  

It is never productive to complain about a problem.  I would like for us to open our eyes and solve our own problem in the country.  The way to doing this does not require political activist meetings whether they be Democratic, Republican or Independent.  You do not have to meet with anyone, you do not have to sit and listen to any left or right winged propaganda.  There are two great forces at work here that are destroying our country which are (1) the corrupt multi-national corporations and (2) the vast amounts of compliant politicians they pay for via lobbyist and campaign contributions.  

What can we the people do?  STOP buying products from China.  READ labels.  EDUCATE yourself so that you become aware of just how many products are produced in this country.  The answer to this last point is just so staggeringly sad which is why I cannot bring myself to be complacent any longer.  I cannot just sit around and think this problem will be solved by politicians with conflicts of interest.  I cannot believe for one second that a multi-national company will ever put the people of this country ahead of their profits and shareholders.  They most certainly will not.

The only person with your best interest at heart is YOU.  Nothing speaks louder than where you spend your money.  The greatest power you have as an individual is freedom of choice.  There are many billions of dollars spent on advertising to persuade your choice.  Buying products from China sends a message that you are ok with corporations outsourcing all of our jobs, ok with importing products that often prove to be dangerous due to lack of quality control and ok with a Chinese government that has no regard for the well-being of its citizens. 

Every purchase you make matters.  Every dollar spent on products not made in China will strengthen this country and other friendly countries.