Word. Maybe China is the great new libertarian hope?

I wonder if this isn't inevitable when the goal is to make as much money as you can for shareholders? This is exactly what happened in the this country in the latter half of the 19th century before food and drug regulations were passed despite the fact that property rights and "other rights" were fairly well spelled out.

The irony is that China has managed to combine the worst elements of capitalism with the worst elements of Communism:

I wonder if this isn't inevitable when you try to separate property rights from other rights?

The MSNBC article at least lists the recalled toys, tho of course, do I still have the packaging the toy came in? Of course not.

Here's the recall notice.

And the cough-syrup story scared the hell out of me. Guess how many bottles of kids' cough syrup at Wal-Mart say what country they're made in? None, on my last visit.

There are a number of things to recall:

1) However bad the situation with unsafe Chinese-made foods, additives, and pharmaceuticals, it's that much worse in China itself.

2) There is, for practical purposes, no such thing as an international civil code.

3) Not all of the fault lies with the Chinese. Where is the due diligence on the part of U. S. companies?

4) There are many, many products in which there's no practical way to wean ourselves from Chinese products. These include things from vitamins (and vitamin-fortified foods) to computer memories. Worried about U. S. dependence for energy? I'm worried about U. S. dependence on China for computer memories.

What's the bottom line? Beats me. I think that what is needed is country-of-origin labelling for ingredients and serious enforcement thereof but those aren't even on the agenda. Of course companies don't want to do it. But I see no other way for consumers to make informed decisions about what they buy.