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Crosshairs

Yes, we are talking about China, who engages in product piracy and counterfeiting our gold and silver bullion and ingots. They are doing this all on the internet, often disguising their origin. Their nefarious acts are cheating buyers because the quality is not the standard, i.e., not the gold or silver required and the weight is less than any honest dealer would require. These pernicious practices have been netting the Chinese $2 trillion a year for a number of years.

Everything we do with China seems to be tainted for us, and in their favor. Our negotiators regarding the huge imbalance of trade are getting egalitarian answers from the Chinese as if things are going fine and there is no problem. Yes, they are getting a 100% tariff on automobiles, 25 and 50 percent on such products as Lee, Wrangler, rice; it’s crazy. It is right across the board like this while we average 1.6 percent on all tariffs combined.

My son-in-law had a business trip to China and saw industrial parks forty miles long sporting names such as Nike, Callaway, Wrangler, Apple, Briggs Strattan, Lee; places busting at the seams. Next door were high-rise apartment buildings packed with cheap labor. Labor that pays 27 cents per hour. Not factoring in labor, our worker’s compensation costs per hour are more than that. They don’t pay benefits and in America, businesses pay benefits. The Chinese are producing inferior and fake products under fake labels like Disney, Lee, Callaway, Nike, etc.

The strategy is to partner with corporations to put factories over there, teach engineers and scientists, then produce an inferior product, flood our markets and put our companies out of business. They have been attacking Big Pharma, like Pfizer, Merck, etc. Two drugs we can all relate to are penicillin and aspirin. You’d be hard pressed to find an American company producing these two products. The Chinese have taken over these drugs, filling our pharmacies.

This trading with China has cost us 54 million jobs. The Chinese have been glib and in no way vociferous, especially when every year they have been enriching themselves, on us, $500 billion.

What do you call this process? A war, a flat out war. In the south China sea, they are challenging our Navy’s passage into international waters. Now mark my word, England and Germany are one generation away from losing control of their government as they see it today. Because of adverse population growth, radicals, extremists could vote them out of office, and the government will never be the same.

President Trump has China in his crosshairs. Don’t fret, their wealth has largely come from us and they have millions of people coming out of hinterland. We have freedom, good will, faith in God and a basic staple–food.

Alan Cohick

President of Lycoming Creek Business and Merchants Association

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