Corporate Audacity

Wow. This is pretty amazing stuff. Businesses in the US are coming to China/Mexico/etc., buying crappy products from unsavory businesses because they are cheap, and then complaining that the federal government isn't doing enough to regulate safety in foreign imports?

Businesses pressed Congress for greater U.S. vigilance against unsafe imports from China on Thursday as the Bush administration announced new steps to help China itself guard against perilous products.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association, which includes companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., complained inspection and regulation funding has not kept up with the growing tide of foreign food crossing U.S. borders.

How about this Wal-Mart: You are the one purchasing the goods and you are in the best position to know who your supplier is, what that supplier is capable of producing and whether those goods pose a potential risk to consumers. This is YOUR problem. YOURS and Toys-R-Us. This should not be a US federal government crisis.

Some in the Democratic-controlled Congress are faulting the Bush administration for a weak and ill-orchestrated response to the problems, despite the recent creation of a new high-level panel which will make recommendations next month about how to ensure safety all imports of all food, not just from China.

Yeah, well some in the Democratic-controlled Congress continue to blame Bush for Hurricane Katrina, global warming and ridiculous string of other lunatic fringe causes, but this one may take the cake.

U.S. businesses, meanwhile, want a more active response, but they don't want to shoulder the burden alone. At least one lawmaker has proposed new fees on all foreign food imports to help fund inspections.

"Additional fees and hurdles placed solely on the import community could be viewed as protectionist," the retail group said.

Relying on additional fees alone is a bad idea because it places the onus of product inspection and testing on the US government. This should not be the government's problem. Wal-Mart & Co. should bear the costs of inspection/testing and then pay a fee (otherwise known as a tax) on imports to support the costs of establishing inspection and testing criteria and additional bodies and time necessary to review the inspection material in customs. And it takes a pretty naive hermit to believe that Wal-Mart & Co are going to bear those costs alone. Those costs will be passed through to consumers.

Regarding the "protectionist" whine, the answer is pretty simple: China, when you quit making children's toys and notebooks out of panda dung and stop painting your toys with lead paint, we will happily reduce our inspection requirements (another reason for not greatly expanding the customs dept. - once government is expanded, it is almost impossible to deflate).