Thank you, China!

The Onion, one of my favorite sources for satirical yet poignant commentary on modern life, has a great spoof article on the consumer state that is America circa 2008 with a mock article by a Chinese factory worker whose mind is completely blown by just how much shoddily-made plastic mass-produced junk Americans buy in the course of a year. It’s very sad when you consider that basically everything an American (or any Westerner) buys in a year is made in China or some other Asian country where workers make pennies on the dollar and conditions are shoddy at best.

It’s amazing how much our economic health is interdependent with the cheap supply of Chinese goods that come flowing in every year. Billions of dollars, nearly $200 billion in fact, flows into China on the strength of their manufacturing capabilities, at the cost of quality and, in some cases, health concerns. I think we all remember the recent lead paint scares based around Chinese-manufactured children’s toys.

It’s a sad testament to the state of the mass media when America’s most honest and respectable news sources are a satirical news program and a satirical fake newspaper, but here we are. That’s okay. Cynicism makes the average person that much more resistant to propaganda. Keep snarking away! When you can’t trust the media, they can’t lie to you.

We’re living in the DTA days: don’t trust anybody. Well, except for me. You can trust me, because lying is too much work.

Tags: satire, the onion, international trade, trade gap

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