Cheap Chinese Crap : As-Seen-on-TV Products Test and Joblesseness

As-Seen-on-TV Products Test

autos.yahoo.com

There’s a ton of money in what appears, at first glance, to be junk.

Just ask Mr. Ginsu, the Abs man, and George Foreman.

Grillmaker Salton paid Foreman $137.5 million for the use of his name in perpetuity on its grill, basically a low-dollar, plug-in frying pan with ridges to drain off fat.

The King Tut of  hucksters, Veg-O-Matic’s Ron Popeil, sold his business five years ago—ever see his tool that scrambles an egg in its shell?—for $55 million.

(visit the link for the full news article)



Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
China official warns of domestic unrest and "hostile" West
I just received my Dual-Action Cleanser (as seen on TV) for my colon!
Strange Messages seen on TV (Blip Verts, subliminal messages?)
NASA Forgot How To Go To The Moon!!!

In this day and age of conspiracies, foreign relations policy, and N.A.F.T.A., I came across this news story which made me laugh, smile, and remember fondly some of the junk which is sold in America on television in the hopes of separating us from our paychecks.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/afce9b094460.jpg[/atsimg]

When we think about China, far too many of us think of sweat shops, Cathy Lee Gifford, and the toxic output of factories which were shut off during the Olympics just to make less smog.

Somehow, it is fitting this story came up, because of the drop of the American dollar, the rise of the Chinese Yen, and international relations being strained while our economy is in the gutter and slowly struggling for life.

Not to mention the apparent threat of lead in all products manufactured by China.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/be45f78dc06d.jpg[/atsimg]

Joblesseness is on the rise around the world, jobs are outsourced more and more, and people are starving on the streets.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/51aaeef74018.jpg[/atsimg]

But you can buy a cheap piece of Chinese made crap for $19.99, order now, and they will send you a 2nd set, just pay for shipping costs!

autos.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I wont lie I'm a total sucker for as seen on tv products of the kitchen gadget variety There is a section in the flea market in Daytona that has "As Seen On TV" items. It was my favorite place to hit when I went there. They had it all.

The slap chop rocks and my garlic press oh I love it.

I know all those items were made in China and now I try not to buy anything made overseas but that is SO difficult now. Everything seems to made in China or India. Even American clothing designers have their items made in China, the only clothing items I have that arent made in China are made in Italy and that is just fine with me. They are excellent quality and they do have the best leather goods

I look at items that are suppose to be American in nature yet made in China..How does that make them American? There is no reason why we can't make these items here NONE. They do it there cause it's cheap and the rules and regs are pretty much non existent. Also every single American company it seems has out sourced their CS agencies overseas. I do not like calling Apple or Wal Mart customer service and getting someone half way across the world who can't understand me or my question. What kind of CS is that? I feel bad for the rep because they are frustrated and I am frustrated and it comes down to language barrier. We do not understand each other. I have worked in enough call centers to know when someone is just reading a screen prompt and not really responding. When I ask them to just talk to me like a person and to stop reading the screen they dont know what to do or say. I know it's not their fault its the stupid company who out sourced over there and didn't train the people because they dont care, just as long as it saves them a buck having their services overseas they dont care about CS.

CS has gone down the drain!!! There is no such thing anymore. Look around even when you are out eating. I have been cursed at more times than I can count by people in restaurants or drive thrus. No more does the term "the customer is always right" apply. It's we dont give a crap just take your food and get out. I rarely eat out anymore because of this.

Hard to believe in just the span of 40 short years we went from being a highly efficient industrialized nation of self sufficiency and major exports of quality goods to a totally dependent consumer nation of cheap crap living on easy credit instead of the sweat of our brows...well until the credit died up.

The buy American mantra was replaced by Wal-Mart Everyday Low Prices, and the Unions became people who just made too much money and we should all be poor.

Proof positive that you flatter people and tell them they are the smartest and most free on earth you can get them to do the most stupid things in the world!

reply to post by SpartanKingLeonidas


Explanation: S&F!

I think this comment I found at the article linked nicely sums up my own point of view of the the US and its financial difficulties etc!...

ALTERNATIVELY YOU COULD: Avoid being pathetically weak.

Personal Disclosure: For once OL is not laughing as I have supplied solutions here on ATS , just as you yourself have SKL, and yet nothing changes even though ATS is stationed in the US currently and has US citizens as the majority of its userbase! WHY???

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


Agreed!

Personally I think credit cards and credit are the worst thing that happened to society as a whole all over. How can people live on plastic? Oh wait they can't and are seeing that now. I dont have a credit card and I dont believe in them. If I can't pay for it I don't need it. People who have 100k in credit cards should be ashamed. It's all about materialistic greed imo to have that much credit and for what, just to buy things? I wont lie I had credit cards when I was 19, now 32, and I got rid of them fast. I didn't care for them and saw what a total scam they were. I was young then and didn't now better. The only one I kept for years my gas card and I paid it off monthly. People now just pay the minimum and then get so far behind in fees they are swimming in debt now. I know many people in this situation and as harsh as it sounds I do not feel sympathy for them. If I want something I save and work my ass off for it. It means more to me that way. I earned it at that point imo.

I use to be all about Wal Mart then I started to see what they were doing to local business here and all over. Their service is some of the worst out there and their products are crap and fall apart and not made in America. I saw a show on Sam Walton and I dont think he would be too pleased with what Wal Mart has become. It has become everything he didn't want it to. Walmart is everywhere like McD's or BK now, it's crazy.

Where I use to live the city fought for years to keep Super Walmart out of the city so what did Wal Mart do? They built one on the outskirts of the town and it has destroyed the economy there.

Originally posted by mblahnikluver
I wont lie I'm a total sucker for as seen on tv products of the kitchen gadget variety

There is a section in the flea market in Daytona that has "As Seen On TV" items. It was my favorite place to hit when I went there. They had it all.

The slap chop rocks and my garlic press oh I love it.

I will admit it.

I love watching those infomercials.

But not to buy a damn thing off of them.

I watch them to see the huxters sell their wares.

It takes me back to reading about snakeoil salesman and traveling carnies.

Cheap crap, sold as is, made to work 2 or 3 times, and fall apart and or last just long enough.

Now, a few items, like the Slap-N-Chop, work to a degree, but overall they're made to fall apart.

They definitely are novelty items for sure.

You would be surprised the kind of insight Ron Popeil gives you into the minds-eye of crooked politicians.

Wait, aren't they all crooked, or is that just me?

Originally posted by mblahnikluver
I know all those items were made in China and now I try not to buy anything made overseas but that is SO difficult now. Everything seems to made in China or India. Even American clothing designers have their items made in China, the only clothing items I have that arent made in China are made in Italy and that is just fine with me. They are excellent quality and they do have the best leather goods

I'm a Boy Scout leader and bought my uniforms and they're made in China.

What does that say about America and our standards?

I know what I think about it but it not about the Boy Scouts, I'd rather buy American.

But the uniforms are not available with the "Made in America" label.

Or I have not found them yet.

Quite simply the work ethics of Americans have fallen as well as our Government makes damn sure everything is outsourced, literally, guaranteeing our country is undermined by tax write-offs through N.A.F.T.A., and tech support in India.

Originally posted by mblahnikluver
I look at items that are suppose to be American in nature yet made in China..How does that make them American? There is no reason why we can't make these items here NONE. They do it there cause it's cheap and the rules and regs are pretty much non existent. Also every single American company it seems has out sourced their CS agencies overseas. I do not like calling Apple or Wal Mart customer service and getting someone half way across the world who can't understand me or my question. What kind of CS is that? I feel bad for the rep because they are frustrated and I am frustrated and it comes down to language barrier. We do not understand each other. I have worked in enough call centers to know when someone is just reading a screen prompt and not really responding. When I ask them to just talk to me like a person and to stop reading the screen they dont know what to do or say. I know it's not their fault its the stupid company who out sourced over there and didn't train the people because they dont care, just as long as it saves them a buck having their services overseas they dont care about CS.

Meanwhile, American television, is only contributing to the sever nature of stupidity in business.

Outsourced Trailer


By making a comedy about a very real threat to America through corrupt business practices.

Which are only guaranteed by the treasonous actions of Capitol Hill.

And those politicians bought out by anti-American interest groups.

Originally posted by mblahnikluver
CS has gone down the drain!!! There is no such thing anymore. Look around even when you are out eating. I have been cursed at more times than I can count by people in restaurants or drive thrus. No more does the term "the customer is always right" apply. It's we dont give a crap just take your food and get out. I rarely eat out anymore because of this.

Well, I disagree, there is Customer Service, you just have to find it.

Today's youth are deplorable in their work ethics and customer service skills.

Anyone who actually gives a damn is one paycheck away from going postal on ignorant managers.

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler
Hard to believe in just the span of 40 short years we went from being a highly efficient industrialized nation of self sufficiency and major exports of quality goods to a totally dependent consumer nation of cheap crap living on easy credit instead of the sweat of our brows...well until the credit died up.

The buy American mantra was replaced by Wal-Mart Everyday Low Prices, and the Unions became people who just made too much money and we should all be poor.

Proof positive that you flatter people and tell them they are the smartest and most free on earth you can get them to do the most stupid things in the world!

Bingo!

Buy this gentleman a Cupie Doll.

Buying people through selling them horse manure is now apparently the American way.

reply to post by OmegaLogos


I try my hardest not to buy products made in China.

It has nothing to do with the lead in the products.

Which in my estimation is nothing more than American Government propaganda to undermine China, due to China buying up our debt, so China can never cash in that debt for an actual value, but because I believe in America, whether Americans believe in her, or not.

The majority of my purchase are American made.

But only if it is a quality product, by an organization which pays their employees well, where employees actually give a damn not only about their corporation, but about the products they manufacture for the end-users, which is the majority of America.

I have no customer loyalty.

I buy cheap prices, high quality, and good customer service.

That is getting harder and harder to find each and every day.

When our Government sells out our country by allowing tax write-offs to American companies to manufacture overseas, this does not help Americans, it is in essence, a form of treason, of the highest kind, a subversive element and movement to undermine everything America is all about, that for which we stand, for a united citizenry who take care of our own.

reply to post by mblahnikluver


wow. I am in total agreement with your statement about credit cards. when I was younger (only a few years tho i'm 25 now) I let my family talk me into getting a credit card to build credit. to be honest I didn't even have a bank account until i was almost 23, because like credit cards, I didn't want one, and don't see the need for it.

Now I am stuck with a very small limit card.(def not 100 thousand limit haha) did not work for a little over a year & a half, and I still have credit. I do understand that whole philosophy of save up if you really need something, and that's what i plan on doing from now on. going back to the way I used to live and preferred.
although my current debts are doctor stuff, and groceries. lol but soon it will be paid down. and I CAN BANISH IT FOR GOOD.

its just really great to see someone else understands how terrible those plastic things are!

My town also did that with WalMarts as well, and they did the same thing, They are a terrible store. my mother works there, and hates it. not only are the products junk, they treat the employees like dirt.

reply to post by ladymerelda


Credit cards are only good for one thing.

To fill your wallet with useless plastic.

I believe in and practice delayed gratification.

If I cannot afford it, I do not buy it, if I do not need it, I look at it with interest as I walk by on the way to pay for things I can afford.

However, I got into the credit card program, for one thing only, and only as I could figure it out.

I started with one credit card, Discover, with a $2,000 limit.

I saved and saved, and began buying things as I knew I could afford, and bought things on the credit card.

Paid it off at the end of the month.

Sometimes I even called in a payment before the interest kicked in.

Called them every six months and negotiated them raising my limit by $500 each time.

As well each time reducing my interest rates, and or finding out new programs, ahead of all other members.

Discover treated me like I was King Midas.

I did this until my limit was $20,000 and I was maxing it out and re-paying it in a timely fashion.

I began also doing this with other credit cards.

I made it to two cards with a $20,000 limit.

Plus about 10 other cards.

My credit limit with all cards was about $150,000.

I learned a few tricks.

Pay off one card with another through opening new cards.

You get all sorts of free things when you do that regularly.

Not to mention cash back offers.

And when you buy a 41 inch flat screen plasma television where you saved up $3,000 to buy cash, but find a deal with a display model, for $1,300, and pay it off the day after you bought it by going down to Sears (Discover Card is owned by Sears) but you bought the television from Circuit City, and with the extra $1,800 you pay off the remaining balance, the card company loves you.

Then you begin seeing the world as well as America's economy going down the toilet.

Years in advance through watching the Stock Market.

$75,000 in debt later and walking away so it's all charged off really hurts your credit rating.

But I was buying American made items, bumping up my credit rating from nothing, to where it was almost an 800.

With a plan to go to a 1,000 credit score.

What I heard was a near impossible thing to accomplish.

But credit ratings do not put food on your table.

Hard work and working 2, 3, and 4 jobs does just as much as having an extremely hard work ethics.

At one point I was working 120 hours a week and sleeping 2 hours a day and sometimes 4 hours.

American citizens have lost the ingenuity though to do fantastic things with their brains.

Like work hard, have pride in their work, make themselves known as dependable.

This is in a large part due to something I said earlier about treasonous action by politicians.

Morale goes downhill when jobs are scarce due to them being sent overseas for tax breaks.

Instead countries like China pay slave wages, with dictators ruling them, and Cathy Lee Gifford becomes a millionaire off that slavery.

And American's buy those cheap pieces of crap like a sucker buying his own coffin.

reply to post by SpartanKingLeonidas


wow. just wow. i cannot begin to imagine doing that. and how tired you must have been. it is very true what you said about the american people. we have lost what it means to work hard & be dependable. i hated the idea of credit cards and how people became almost a slave to it. and it was almost a "status" symbol with some people I knew.

they are useless plastic. i was having a conversation with my boyfriend one night about how people run up all this debt, I mean look at the government and the spending they are doing, its like they have an unlimited line of credit. People see this, and try to emulate it in a way.

I would much rather save up my money to buy something i really want/need, because I feel like i have earned it, and it makes whatever that item may be so much better.

I like do try to buy american whenever I can. it is hard but can be done
also can you imagine all the jobs that could be created if our government would stop with the tax write offs and the american companies would be forced to BRING THE JOBS BACK. I couldn't agree more with you on all of that

Explanation: St*rred!

I can only recommend decentralization, decartelization and self sufficiency as the way forward!

Make not only your OWN Cash but own currency. The FedGov does via the FedResv and so should we! Just pay your Taxes OK.

Or be like Richard Branson of Virgin Fame and get your own ass to space!

Personal Disclosure: I won't link my threads on those 2 issues so as not to distract from this thread in any way and interested members can search my profile for them as required.

P.S. I also won't link my thread on the China issue as it is too late for the US to save itself by going Chinese early and China doesn't need the US to pay its debts at all as it just gives China the moral high ground and with the soon to be Chinese moon as the miltary high ground the US will be carcass rotting in the financial global trade winds. They will just wait for the US to implode and then go and pick up the pieces.

Another good thread SKL.

I turned my hypnosis box off a couple of years ago for the most part, and never looked back.

The endless ads and sales pitches being flashed at me like I was an idiotic consumerist sheeple was a primary reason, along with 90% of the other garbage being pure propaganda for tptb.

Agree with you guys on the outsourcing of jobs and manufacturing, and the insourcing of wortthless crap too. How far we have slid in such short time. Sigh.

reply to post by SpartanKingLeonidas



Great thread SKL,

Something close to my heart,It is an issue with me.

Twenty years ago there was none of the second rate garbage available,What i can't
understand is how people survived without half the things we have today,I mean
seriously life expectancy must have been in the negative without an automated
vegetable washer/peeler...

What grieves me the most tho is,
I make products that will last lifetimes,literally,things that could be handed down generations
but the hard thing is that i have to compete with "CNN"...Cheap N Nasty.
Yes,What i ask for what i make is three or four times the price but if i got a dollar extra
for every time someone came to me with their twelve month old outdoor setting and
asked me to refurbish it because it is falling apart i would be doing really well.

What i do notice tho is the cycle of this,At one time we demanded quality and were prepared
to pay for it,as time went on things were made cheaper,then we demanded them cheaper and
were prepared to overlook real quality for superficiality,Now,as long as it looks good for a period of time
we care not where it was made nor how it was made nor whether it has any substance beyond
the glammer that we are entranced by.

Sad...

Violet.

That's one thing that worries me, is as the economy goes down more and more, so do people's standards for the jobs they choose. I think it will get to a point where people simply don't care what they do as long as they are getting paid, without worrying about what or who they are supporting in the process, and it will only get worse as the economy gets worse!

When a nations own populus capitalizes on its own laziness, its doomed.

Thats exactly what you see going on today.
People trying to make a dollar by making things easier...via Infomercials.
And extremely cheap goods.

What do the producers care?
They are making profits in excess of 250% and the people buy it up.
By the millions.

A consumer driven nation, not a producing nation, will inevitably collapse.

You can only buy so much.

As for credit ratings and credit cards:
If this country wasn't so obsessed with instant gratification...
It makes me sick.

But here's the kicker folks:
The people that sell these things, the banks that promote the cards, the countries that produce your cheap-ineffective-good-for-nothing plastic Infomercial junk...
THEY KNOW YOU'LL BUY IT!
They know that Americans watch too much TV!
They know Americans spend credit on frivalous things!
These people aren't stupid, they know exactly who to market each item too.

Then the public makes it seem as though you can't live without it.
For instance, credit.

In my humble opinion, I believe that credit destroyed this nation.
It gives the user a fall back plan to spend insane amounts of money.
Money that probably could never be paid back.
That, and with the Media basically programming its watchers to be consumers...

Adds up to one big word.

Control.

And unless you make that choice in your life, not to obey the TV...
You will be controlled too.


I know my opinion is extreme, but it seems to make sense to me!

Instead of complaining, some of you could maybe take your time and "hard earned cash" and start an American business.

Don't complain. DO SOMETHING.

Originally posted by ladymerelda
reply to post by SpartanKingLeonidas

 

wow. just wow. i cannot begin to imagine doing that. and how tired you must have been. it is very true what you said about the american people. we have lost what it means to work hard & be dependable. i hated the idea of credit cards and how people became almost a slave to it. and it was almost a "status" symbol with some people I knew.

I worked 120 hours a week for around 2 years.

Yes, tired comes to mind, dedication to keeping ahead and saving does too.

I was stashing $250 a month into savings, Mutual Funds with my Roth I.R.A., and corporate 401K's.

Yes, to some, a credit card is a status symbol, just like what type of car.

To me a car is nothing more than transportation from Point A to Point B.

I seek dependability mixed with efficiency and speed.

Currently, I own a Ford Crown Victoria, it gets me there and fast.

While earlier I said I prefer to buy American when it comes to cars this has been hard, each and every American car I've owned, had some major issue, easier and quicker than foreign cars I've owned, whereas you can drive a Toyota until the body falls off and the engine will last 30 years (an example, never owned one for 30 years), none of the American cars I've owned last more than 5 years.

Originally posted by ladymerelda
they are useless plastic. i was having a conversation with my boyfriend one night about how people run up all this debt, I mean look at the government and the spending they are doing, its like they have an unlimited line of credit. People see this, and try to emulate it in a way.

Oh, thank you for bringing up the National Debt, into this discussion.

U.S. National Debt Clock

Our National Deficit is meant to keep it up as an example of how Government wants us to remain in debt, forever, through leadership by example.

If our country stays in debt so will the ignorant citizenship.

This is insane on many levels because you would think Government wants fiscally responsible citizens.

Originally posted by ladymerelda
I would much rather save up my money to buy something i really want/need, because I feel like i have earned it, and it makes whatever that item may be so much better.

I agree 100%.

Things bought with your own money have a different feel altogether.

My current ex is an Instant Gratification baby/adult which lead to the eventual downfall of our relationship.

I'm glad to have her out of my life because I would much rather be a Delayed Gratification person.

Originally posted by ladymerelda
I like do try to buy american whenever I can. it is hard but can be done
also can you imagine all the jobs that could be created if our government would stop with the tax write offs and the american companies would be forced to BRING THE JOBS BACK. I couldn't agree more with you on all of that

Of course but that goes contrary to Congress and Senate and their treasonous actions after Bill Clinton in regards to N.A.F.T.A.

Sorry, jobs and money should help America first, every other country is secondary.

Especially in this current economic climate.

Originally posted by OmegaLogos

Explanation: St*rred!

I can only recommend decentralization, decartelization and self sufficiency as the way forward!

Make not only your OWN Cash but own currency. The FedGov does via the FedResv and so should we! Just pay your Taxes OK.

Or be like Richard Branson of Virgin Fame and get your own ass to space!

Personal Disclosure: I won't link my threads on those 2 issues so as not to distract from this thread in any way and interested members can search my profile for them as required.

P.S. I also won't link my thread on the China issue as it is too late for the US to save itself by going Chinese early and China doesn't need the US to pay its debts at all as it just gives China the moral high ground and with the soon to be Chinese moon as the miltary high ground the US will be carcass rotting in the financial global trade winds. They will just wait for the US to implode and then go and pick up the pieces.

I'm behind you all the way as far as self-sufficiency.

While yes, the Federal Reserve prints money willy-nillie, printing our own money is illegal.

I'm not into counterfeiting currency no matter my thoughts on the Federal Reserve.

The Creature from Jekyll Island : A Second Look at the Federal Reserve

The only aspect I'm interested in, in regards to counterfeiting, is about the Treasury Department and Secret Service, and hunting down counterfeiters.

Counterfeiting is bad, M'kay?

That has always fascinated me in every way, shape, and form.

Feel free, just as everyone should, to link your threads in mine.

Just tie them into this discussion somehow through discussion and you're fine.

I see the Richard Branson and space thread being tied to this in regards to denying American/International ignorance in regards to the "As Seen on TV" mentality of a vast majority of American citizens, if you want help tieing it more effectively to this topic just send me a U2U and we can discuss it and I'll be sure and give you links as well as other thread which touch upon both topics to tie it together.

The same thing goes for your China thread.

Always willing to help out fellow ATS members.