Barbie Doll Psychosis!

As it turns out, I did not have to serve on a juror panel yesterday, therefore, I was back at work before 10 a.m. I must admit that I was very impressed with the lady who is our new elected District Clerk. She actually made sense when she explained why the system works the way it does, and more importantly she announced a brand new information system that will provide a totally automated, web based approach to serving on jury duty. Thirty one years of angst on my part looks like it may be headed for the dust bin but it’s still the government and even though she added three months to the promised implementation date to be safe, the proof will be in the access and using.

Since I started the week on a rant, let me continue one more day by giving my input on the Chinese recalls that primarily affect our children. I have been railing about this entire situation under the heading of “Barbie Doll Psychosis” for more than twenty years. Our government can tell us all they want to that having cheap goods is a great benefit but providing dangerous products that could harm our children is not a benefit. Watching the Chinese take the money we send to them to rebuild as well as develop an advanced modern largest armed force in the world is not a benefit.

What has been particularly interesting to me is to see how the American companies have handled these issues and recalls. The toy companies have had to be forthright while at the same time knowing the Christmas season is upon us. The toys your children and mine will see this year are already being made, therefore, very little can be done about them at this late date. Instead of seeing the tremendous risk at a national level we tend to focus on how well the notifications were made. One company is being applauded for using YouTube to make contact with young families. Give me a break! What about making sure your products which children play with are not harmful to begin with?

A saw a blurb the other day about how the world’s largest retailer had advised one of their customers to take their issue with some defective shoes directly to the Chinese company that made them. The customer had bought the flip flops from the retailer and they had caused a serious skin reaction but the world’s largest retailer saw no need for them to take responsibility. Another executive with a company that supplies toiletries for luxury hotels was questioned about the tainted tooth paste they had to recall. She indicated the entire situation had been a nightmare. But when asked about changing countries for a better supplier, she indicated they had little choice but to find another Chinese company because of the cost.

Now we hear the Chinese have been able to hack into the Pentagon’s defense computing systems and Germany says they have done the same to their systems. This puts it all into perspective. While we consider ourselves to be so brilliant, here we have an avowed enemy whose efforts to harm us are being paid for by us. Why? It’s those doggone Barbie dolls that we cannot live without, and whether they have lead shoes or not, we have to have them, regardless of the cost, both now, and regrettably, much more later. What can we do about it? Change our buying habits and sources for goods is the only thing I know of that will make a difference. However, if we were to even begin to make a dent in this situation, don’t be surprised when our government mounts an effort to make sure it doesn’t succeed because of economic balance considerations, and monetary stability, and yada, yada, yada! More later……………..