Fatparrot, was that supposed to be a reply to my specific questions? Cause it's not. We all know how bad the Chinese government is. But I don't think mass production plant managers anywhere else are any more free to flout their quotas and keep their jobs, for whatever that's worth. And how is it "unfortunate" that, as you say, "there are legitimate and VERY dedicated Chinese manufacturers who turn out quality equipment at a very reasonable price"? Personally, I have a tough time putting the blame for exploitive overseas manufacturing and exporting practices on the domestic firms and consumers who take advantage of the cheaper prices -- as long as our goverment policies permit and even encourage this behavior, market forces will dictate that consumers and manufacturers follow this path. The whole process probably *could* be managed so that pros outweigh cons long-term all the way around, but I very much doubt that this is the situation today -- I assume the benefits flowing from the arrangement are imbalanced and shorter-term, and don't necessarily outweigh the cons. So it's up to individual consumers if they want to boycott products they think could hurt the interests of labor (in both countries), or the environment, etc.
