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china.

i was shopping today with my wife in the kohl’s store. there was a rather pleasant display of dishes from fiestaware. i have always loved that stuff. my grandmother had it. i remember that it was colorful and fun. i was looking at the price, and per place setting for a plate, bowl, small plate, cup and saucer, it was $48.00. and to top it off, it was made in china. china. i know that the cost to manufacture in china is less. i, of course, get the information from any number of informational sites on the net as well as a pretty good handle of the economics of such things.

china is a country that is full of misnomers. we believe that china is a country full of progress as manufactures are always heading there expecting that their profits will rise because it is just beginning to allow it’s huge population to do things, that for a long time, have been banned or frowned upon.

the chinese now drive. have cell phones. are allowed to do, just enough more than they have been, to make it seem as thought they are progressing.

yet. last week, google, a company of extraordinary talent to break down walls and allow for things to change, placed a bet that, i believe, they will loose, unfortunately. they suggested that they will no longer block or scan web inquiries through their service. while i believe that it is the correct thing to do, i also believe that the chinese will react, as they have, by blocking things on their own, as they did with the imdb database. that seems so silly and must be extraordinarily frustrating for the people of china.

i wonder sometimes how many people in china know of the world around them. the world beyond what they are actually allowed to see. i think that it is better than it was, but would be willing to bet that there are many thousands of people that have no idea of the liberties that are available to them, even in the enclosed way that they are in china. i picture it as if an alien life form came to this planet and had to try to learn to understand our ways. what culture shock it would be.

i also believe that if china sped up its adoption of a more free society, that one day, they would be more of a leader of the free world than even the united states or russia.

call me crazy, but if that did happen, then i think there might be the possibility that more business would flow back to the united states and we would again begin to make things here. it was such an early strength that this country had. we were a leader in so many ways, only to see it be taken from us because of cheap labor and inexpensive materials. not unlike the days when driving a car from japan was thought to be so anti-american. sure. we pressed those automakers into building cars here. but they still do it with parts and materials generally produced in every country but our own.

i remember the original walmart. they only sold products made in the usa. that didn’t last long, because, they simply couldn’t be competitive. and now that china owns so much of the us, thanks to years of them buying it up, when will we be able to take back what we gave away?

my hope of the next 50 years is that the trend reverses. that the people of china are allowed more human freedoms and rights. that we are able to recoup more manufacturing and design than we have now. that we are able to share all of our fortunes, world wide, with every other country. yet, i refuse to hold my breath for that to happen.

come on america! let’s take it back and show the world that we can lead and follow. that we can help when we need to and are humble enough to know when we need to ask for help as well. we will all be richer for it.