Well, last night I bolted together a CPU stand that was labeled as "Assembled in China from US parts." Given that this was about as completely unassembled an object as possible -- three metal stampings, three pieces of adhesive foam, four casters (okay, they were preassembled) and a tiny bag of nuts and bolts -- I must assume that the bits were shipped in huge bins across the Pacific, sorted into plastic bags and then a box, and shipped back to my friendly neighborhood Office Depot.

Oh. Okay. One of Neil Stephenson's zeppelin transports just went over, darkening the skies like an invisible hand in an iron glove. That's all right then.

Coming soon:

"MARKETED WITH PRIDE IN THE USA"

I was about to start a course in Packaging at DeVry, but you guys just totally blew my dreams of tapping into some of that trickle-down global economy wealth generation.

Thanks. Thanks a lot!

And so another British technical innovation is commercialised by those vile yankees...

They put mint in coffee?

Patrick,

thank you for reminding me why it is that my heart sells with pride whenever the (made in Taiwan) American flag comes into view.

Oops. That really WAS supposed to be "swells with pride."

Are they implying that Canadians aren’t proud of their mint and Chinese aren’t proud of their tin?

David--Canadians are proud, of course, but in a quiet, unassuming, Canadian way.

I don't know, Elric; I kinda liked "sells with pride.'" It's the American way. :)

-l.

I liked the "sells" too.

I remember buying a spider conch shell at Cost Plus once that had a sticker on it proclaiming "Hand-Made in the Phillipines."

Those clever island folk. I'd thought only mollusks could make seashells.

I buy cheaper, more-humbly-packaged candy. If you've ever been around one of those hot-shit packagers when they're strutting around talking trash, you'd understand why.

Well, last night I bolted together a CPU stand that was labeled as "Assembled in China from US parts." Given that this was about as completely unassembled an object as possible

I think the label assumed you were in China, and were functioning as, in effect, one of their employees by putting it together yourself and therefore paying a lower price than you would for an assembled item.

The fallacy, if you all didn't spot it, is assuming that a consumer is in China.

Why am I thinking of Lloyd Dobbler right now? "I don't want to buy, sell, or process anything as a career...I don't want to buy anything sold or processed...or sell anything bought and processed...or process anything, sold-bought..."

Well at least those were US employees that were canning, rather than getting canned!

Kevin: I'm sure the molluscs *did* make it in the Philippines. What I want to know is where they got the hands!

Here's another entry from today's NYT: Political Savvy Gets U.S. Flags on Foreign Ship

For the first time in 50 years, a cruise ship flying the American flag will soon be sailing the seas. There will be no mistaking it for anything but an all-American vessel. It will be named Pride of America. Red and white stripes, blue stars and a huge bald eagle will decorate its hull. Its public rooms will strike a patriotic theme: the Liberty restaurant, the Capitol Atrium, Jefferson's Bistro, the John Adams Coffee Bar.

As an American-flagged vessel in an industry dominated by foreign lines, Pride of America will qualify under United States law for a special privilege: permission to cruise lucrative routes solely between American ports, mainly in the Hawaiian islands, that are off limits to foreign vessels.

But the Pride of America is not what it seems. The ship is actually being built in a German shipyard and is owned by Norwegian Cruise Line, a subsidiary of Star Cruises, which has its headquarters in Hong Kong and is run out of its offices in Malaysia; Star Cruises is in turn a unit of Genting Berhad, a holding company in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

MARKETED WITH PRIDE TO THE US CONGRESS!

Seems only fair that the only US-registered cruise ship should be foreign-owned. After all, most US owned ships are foreign-registered, right?