LETTER

No longer “Made In China”  

For those that don’t know, “MADE IN CHINA” effectively means “MADE IN SHENZHEN”.  Last Friday, the province of Shenzhen followed Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong into absolute quarantine, effectively, totally shuttering China’s entire industrial base.  For most major stores like Dollarama, Canadian Tire and Winners, that means that the only remaining supplies for their shelves, probably this year, are whatever is onboard the remaining bulk carriers already on their way across the Pacific and all due to arrive within 30 days.  I understand that Walmart, where 93% of all stock comes from China, has already instituted a crash store closure programme to allow it to cannibalize remaining stocks to sustain a few stores for a week or two longer.  Even so, due to Just-In-Time supplies chain, all the big stores are bound to close within a few weeks due to empty shelves.    

A lack of toothbrushes, light bulbs, freezers and other household items is only the start of the woe, and not just because all the technology like telephone, Iphone and computer equipment, and rare earths to make them all, come from China.  And if any enterpreneur wants to set up shop supplying what is normally coming from China, they will suffer an immediate problem – where do all the tools and dyes for casting metal and plastic come from?  That’s also assuming we’ll have electricity and transport --  crude oil cannot be “cracked” into gas for cars or even heating oil for houses without components and chemicals from ... China.

Not that most will notice, due to the riots and burning cars in the streets by all the freshly unemployed store clerks, electricians, auto-repair technicians, bus drivers, Bell employees and bankrupt stockbrokers and bankers (as well as those usually on anti-psychotic drugs like Tamazepam which also come from China.)

And with depression-era unemployment coupled with blackout, crime and crippling inflation, as the price of residual available goods skyrockets, what is Mr Trudeau doing?  Telling us all not to be “racist” about it all.  Great!  That should solve the problem.

Robert L Thompsett 

Aylmer / Hull