Applebees in China

Found someone who hates it as much as me:

http://shanghaiscrap.com/?p=326

Toy Shopping

So we to to the mall to walk around and look for stuff, and I partook in my ritual of looking for anything not made in China. It keeps me busy so I can avoid watching the hordes collect plastic stuff. Of course I am a hypocrite, as I have plenty of toys for me, and the kids have even more. Anyways, I started to look at games and puzzles, because cardboard is usually made in this country, being too cheap here to import. I picked up a Scrabble game just to look. It said "Made in USA with letters, bag, and board made in China." Think about that, isn't that everything except the box? What's the point? I guess there are lots of cardboard factories in the US.

We also got a KNEX toy that had some parts made in the USA and some in China, but was packaged over there. Again, does that mean they send some parts 10,000 miles twice?

I guess if I stick to cardboard stuff, I am ok....

Enough Said

Thoughts on the economy

Since I last wrote here, the US economy has had major issues and caused a setback in life it seems. People have lost 40-50% in their retirement funds, banks are closing, and good companies are laing off and closing facilities. I was trying to think about why and how, and it isn't so easy. What have the last few years been based on? Well, greed, stuff, and consumption. Everyone wants money for nothing, we don't make anything here, and I think the priorities of many people are out of whack. I have to admit I have definitely been part of it, friving a nice car, buying TVs, spending money like nothing, etc. But at least I have an honest job, support my family, and generally try to make people happy. This isn't really about me though. I wonder being a nation of overwieght, tv-addicted, money hungry slobs has something to do with it. Sure, there are some with values, but the percentages just aren't high enough.

Now I'm thinking of the real estate tailspin we are into now. Things were humming along, going up steadily with the population (I'm talking before the bubble), and generally stable. Then banks, real estate brokers, clever investors, and careless lazy people got together to ruin it. Prices shot up, houses flipped too often, lonas were sold off and shuffled, and the fuse was lit. Honest hard-working people struggled to get into houses they could barely afford, with prices being driven up by false demand and all of the aforementioned players participation. Once the country realized that it wasn't going to continue, prices fell, equity disappeared, and banks fell apart. Simple, huh?

Whats left? Millions who can't get that equity line to pay off debt (read: stop charging shit), banks absorbing property and uncollectable loans, and stockholders holding things they can't sell. Honest loans are hard to come by, property isn't moving, and credit cards are becoming the only place to borrow from. If we as a nation had manufacturing and services to fall back on, we could simply say that people should work harder, live within their means, and be happy with what they have.

I know both candidates preached lower taxes and more handouts, but how can that help? Being more in debt as a country seems like a bad place, yet it doesn't seem like anyone cares. I don't want higher taxes, but I do want equity. I actually had a totally unrealistic thougth on that. Probably woth another musing, so stay tuned

I wanted to conclude here, but I don't really think I said much. There is no advice that wors across the board, but my pretty simple conservative lifestyle, even with some luxuries, seems to work. I guess my one conclusion is that it is a hard problem to solve, I don't have the answer (of course), but at least I can offer my philosphy that keeps me afloat: work hard, think ahead, eat right, and pay attention. Maybe I will post again when I think I can make sense.....

Old Onion Post

This is an old article, but still pretty funny.

Article

Formula, Medicine, Food

What else? Now we are feeding our children and sick people food and drugs stamped out over there. Again, I'm sure it could be ok, but when they take all of the lead, nuclear waste, and hazardous stuff we discard and use it in their factories, along with not having strict rules about production, what do you expect? Think of all of the wrappings and seals on products here. Do they do that or care over there?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/magazine/02fda-t.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/world/asia/17milk.html

When you go to the toy store or any dollar store, take a look at the food aisle. Most of the candy is made in China, right beside the plastic that holds it or wraps it. Are you 100% confident that plastic there is produced without lead or mercury? I doubt it. For the added price, I'll take a Hershey bar any day. On Halloween, I sorted the candy and tossed the Chinese stuff. The only smart thing to do.

Just Another Example

If you haven't noticed, the sizes on things have decreased, while the prices remain constant (actually, higher). I learned a long time ago to check the price per pound, which is printed on almost every price tag. You'll see that you pay way too much for things:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SmartSpending/ConsumerActionGuide/10ShrinkingProductsSlideShow.aspx

How bad is Applebee's??

Not really sure how to start or finish this entry. I always had a bit of disdain for the big chain fast-food restaurants that pretend not to be fast-food. So this will apply to TGI, Outback, Ruby, Chilis, and a host of others. A few months ago I downloaded all of the nutrition guides from these places to show exactly how bad the food is for you. Turns out that almost every meal or appetizer was worse than ANYTHING from McD, BK, or Wendy's. So I already knew that.

Wendy's advertises that their chicken is actually real, and it didn't occur to me that some other places (see title of this entry) use something called "SmartServe Chicken" from Sysco. On Sysco's website this explains that they "form" it, which makes it cheaper and more controlled portions. If you have ever had chicken that tasted like plastic or was foamy, this is what you are eating. I guess my problem here is spending 11 bucks on an entree that was microwaved and cost them less than a buck to produce. For 11 bucks, I could take the family to Wendy's and get 2 ACTUAL chicken sandwiches, plus fries and drinks.

Anyways, in addition, I should give a silver medal to the kids meals, because this is where the real shame is. Kids do not know better, and parents are powerless to do anything about it. For a mere 5 bucks you get a fully microwaved, low-nutrition, high-salt meal that was manufactured by Sysco, probably in China. Oh yeh, and getting the actual numbers? Applebees and others do not have to disclose this the way the big actual fast-food chains have to.

We used to make fun of Fridays a long time ago by saying we were going to "go get some crappy food and watered-down drinks." Never knew how true this was. Next time I am going straight to Wendy's.

Grocery III

Do they think we are stupid? Last week 12 packs of soda were 5/10$. SO 2$ each. Today they were "on sale" for 3/12$. So double. Do they think we are dumb, or is the math too much for the average american???

Finally Something Good (and some normal rants)

Saw something on the news that made me happy. Local farms will allow people to pay once per season to "own" some of the farm, giving them the right to 10lb of produce each week during the season. If everyone did it, it would discourage shipping in of mass-produced stuff from (you guessed it) other countries. What do you think happens when you grow a watermelon in a country with tainted water supplies? Plus it probably takes tons of fuel to ship food around, when it is easy to make it locally. And yes, when gas runs out, I will go a few months without tomatoes. This winter, I pulled a carrot from the ground in 10 degree weather, and it was fine staying underground. SO I think we can alter our winter diets and be FINE.

Anyways, wouldn't it save a ton of energy if every store in the US turned the A/C up 2 degrees all day, or at least for part of the day? Aren't you freezing when you leave a grocery store?

Oh yeh, and closing 600 starbucks stores is a good start.

Made in...

Asia????? Is this the new "Made in China" trying to sound less cheap... hmmmm

Food Part II

Take a look at the packaging. Its cleverly trying to hide the fact that the sizes are getting smaller even when price stays the same. Remember 8oz yogurt cups? All 6 now, and the price is still what it was, if not higher. How about ice cream. Good ole half-gallon container is now 1.75 quarts, and some brands are over 5$ consistently. I use to nice as a kid that chips and pretzels were fied with air. Still happening, but now it is done to put less food in as opposed to protecting the contents.

My new favorite though is 100-calorie packs. These clever packaging crooks are taking advantage of people watching their weight and putting a ridiculous amount in the carton. Most types wind up with 4-5oz TOTAL in the box, and they cost over 3 bucks, even when on sale. DO THE MATH!!, thats around 12$/pound, more than the price of filet mignon or prime rib. All you are getting is more landfill material. Do yourself a favor and buy a regular box of cookies or crackers.

Kids Food

Yummy. Take a look at these labels from kids meals. The left is "Kid Cuisine Fried Chicken", and the right is "Lunchables Hot Dogs". Both market to kids and parents on the go, so you know sales are great. Even better for the manufacturers, they are expensive to buy, and cheap to produce. Not bad....

Both are based on 2000-calorie diets too, so increase those numbers for the people they market to, who are all supposed to eat less than that. Does anyone wonder why diabetes and childhood obesity are running rampant?

Grocery Store Techniques

Times are tight, right? Diesel is 4$ a gallon, and oil companies make record profits. Corporate tax breaks, government bailing out banks who make billions every quarter, inflation running crazy. You read the news, and all of this is old. Now hear how the stores are combatting it.

First off, prices are going nuts for food. Its always a slow increase, so you might not notice, but almost every type of item (except stuff from China) is going up. Remember 2.99 for a gallon of milk? Try 4 if you are lucky. Remember 2.49 for a loaf of decent bread? Try 3.69 and counting. Pretty much most items are like this.

Second, they are making it harder to see what is a deal and what isn't. Shaws, our local store, makes the price tags for sales pretty mathematically challenging. Today, I found yogurt priced at 20/$10 and juice at 4/$8.88. Gimme a break. You don't need to buy that many to get the deal, so why not say $.50 or $2.22. Another way that stores are making it harder to get deals.

How about obstacle courses? Buy, this, that, and something you don't need, get this free. Buy 10 boxes of this brand of cereal this month and get 5$ off next month. This list of gimmicks goes on.

Lastly, I've noticed that they cleverly put stuff that isn't necessarily on sale in big piles, to make you think it is. Then the things that are good deals are quietly on the shelf with very little marking about the sale.

Clearly, the mind games will get more creative. Those of us who are pissed off about it will continue to get our deals by playing their games, but most people want. Its just like the casinos, who are willing to play close to 50/50 with some to get the less fortunate to play stupidly. The grocery stores are paying for the higher prices by taking it to the community that can't divide large numbers to see the price.

Sharper Image

is going bankrupt so won't be honoring gift cards.. seems unfair!


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080303/ap_on_re_us/bankruptcy_gift_cards

20,000 miles

Did you hear about the toothpaste/toothbrush combo? They are packed together and this is what the label says:

"Toothpaste made in USA. Toothbrush made in CHINA. Packaged in CHINA."

Think about that. Shipping toothpaste 10,000 miles, packing it, then shipping it back is still more cost-effective than making it here. Anyone care about wasted diesel fuel from a tanker? Nah, just raise the prices of merchandise to offset it.

Apple Juice???

We were at the hospital this morning for Eric's operation . While he we recovering, not drinking his apple juice, I observed the C word on the container of juice. I thought, "am i crazy, or is juice made in China too?" Well, poor Jen didn't believe me, but this story tells it all:

http://www.bostonnow.com/news/local/2007/09/24/madeinchinaitsnotjusttoys

Hard to believe...

This is boring. When can we talk about Britney?

Chinese Toys

Given the title of my blog, I figure you know I will be talking about Chinese stuff once in a while. One thing I have noticed lately is that every part of something you bought has its proud stamp of CHINA on it. I think this is a little overboard, and probably mandated by the government. Think about it, you buy a box of plastic animals, and each one has it on there, along with the box. Maybe a little much.

I walk around stores now looking for things that are made here, and occasionally I find something. It seems fairly random though. All of the stuff I had as a kid is now proudly stamped out overseas, and now that the dollar is weak, I guess that means we are paying more for it.

Sometimes I take heat for being cheap, talking about yard sales and selling stuff, or complaining about the kids having too many toys. I think I am right. Why should the majority of things (stuff, junk, crap, etc) be bought at inflated retail prices then thrown out or stacked away? All of us blindly walk into stores every weekend, buy stuff, clothes and junk, mostly from China.

Gift Cards -- Hidden Ripoff

Everyone knows that credit cards love to rip off people with fees, rules, high interest rates, and courtesy checks. I've seen too many specials on 60 minutes and Frontline on this. My problem is that too many people are ignorant or just don't care. i know many people who are ok with 25% interest simply because the payment is low. It doesn't matter that a 150$ item might take 15 years to pay off.

Anyways, did you ever think that gift cards were bad? This is the new fad, a failsafe gift for any occasion. Well, I hate gift cards, some more than others. What if I said to you, "Loan me 100$, and I will pay you back some of it at some point, no interest. If you forget to ask for it back, I will too." You'd say I am crazy, right? Well last year we spent $35 billion on them. Every card had the following properties:

• No interest paid
• Might have sat around before getting used
• Might have been lost or forgotten
• Might have been tossed after balance was less than a buck
• Might have had a fee to get it or after inactivity

Why the hell would you do this? The stores and card issuers are raking in extra money, all for printing plastic cards that are not treated the same as cash. If you saw a dollar on the ground, you'd pick it up. If you see a bunch of gift cards around the house, who knows what the value is.

We got a bunch for Christmas this year. One of them said it was worth $25 but said there was a $3.95 fee for having the card. I though "geez, the person who got it for us actually paid $28.95 for this" and was annoyed. Then I tried to use it at 2 places (declined), before getting smart. At the 3rd place, I said to the cashier, "run this for $21.05", ad voila! I was now even more pissed off than before. I really doubt the purchaser knew this fee was there, given the size and location of the fine print. And starting the card 16% below the purchase price seems like a dirty trick. If I get around to it, I want to complain to someone.

No matter what I say, I'm sure another 35 billion will be loaned to already fat retailers and banks. If you read this, think twice and just GIVE CASH or better yet, support support our country and buy SAVINGS BONDS.