THE NEW YORK TIMES (NYT) under the headline Companies Falsely Labeled Products ‘Made in U.S.A.’ Their Financial Penalty? $0 (see http://tinyurl.com/y6ha7sol) rightly rails against U.S. companies that buy from China (where else?) and label the products “Made in America” or “Made in USA.”
How could this be when President Trump has made such a “big deal” of making American manufacturers great again?
TO BE FAIR, the NYT article DID admit that
The FTC has a long history of weak enforcement in “Made in America” cases that preceded Mr. Trump’s tenure. The commission lists on its website 26 “Made in America” cases it has reviewed since 1999. In some of those cases, companies have agreed to a monetary settlement. In 2016, for instance, Chemence, a specialty chemical company, agreed to pay $220,000 to resolve an agency lawsuit. But in many other cases, the settlements required only record-keeping and reporting requirements to make sure companies did not violate the law again.
The NYT continues Democrats are questioning why the agency is not being more aggressive in going after American companies that manufacture their goods in China.
“Many companies that manufacture at home are already treading water,” Rohit Chopra, a Democrat FTC commissioner who disagreed with the decision, said in an interview. “American companies shouldn’t lose out to corporate cheaters who lie on their labels.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) a Democrat presidential hopeful, complained that “If companies that break our laws do not face financial penalties, then our American manufacturers are severely undermined, We need stronger enforcement by the FTC and greater transparency when it comes to the commission’s actions to crack down on these violators.” Why no penalties? According to “agency officials,” the threat of future penalties was a strong deterrent..
The Democrat “bottom line” seems to be that the president should micro-manage every Federal function.
There is no indication in the NYT article that the complaining Democrats, Sen Chris Murphy (D-CT), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), complained to the White House before heading to the NYT.
Granted, something seems amiss at the FTC and, granted, President Trump should use whatever power he has to rectify the situation, but micro-manage?
Can he fire the commissioners?
Can he nominate replacement commissioners, and does the Congress need to approve his nominees?
Or, would it be sufficient to remove Trump appointee Jos. Simons, currently chairman of the FTC. That might delight Democrats since Simons is a Republican confirmed by a Republican Congress. (See http://tinyurl.com/yxggj6z6 )
As a consumer I make every effort to first buy products made in the USA; then products assembled in the USA; then products made almost anyplace but China.
- I have nothing against Chinese people but I do have a problem with Chinese practices, e.g., feeding feces to fish to be exported to U.S. tables and using lead-based paint on children’s toys, and the almost total lack of quality control.
I’m left wondering if the Democrats are really concerned about false “Made in America” labeling or if their only point is to “trash Trump.”
In an earlier time, when the distance across the aisle was a crack that has become a chasm, I would give the senators a gold star for their awareness. Today? Sadly, I now always first suspect the only purpose is political gain at the president’s expense.
AN ASIDE
After WW 2 American’s were buying products stamped Made in USA.
The problem was, the products were made in a town named “USA” . . . in Japan!
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
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