On Friday’s “Hardball” CNBC’s Erin Burnett spoke with Chris Matthews about the current instability in the U.S. economy and Burnett had these choice words to say about China:
Download | Play Download | Play (h/t Jane)
“A lot of people like to say, uh, scaremonger about China, right? A lot of politicians, and I know you talk about that issue all the time. I think people should be careful what they wish for on China. Ya know, if China were to revalue it’s currency or China is to start making say, toys that don’t have lead in them or food that isn’t poisonous, their costs of production are going to go up and that means prices at Wal-Mart here in the United States are going to go up too. So, I would say China is our greatest friend right now, they’re keeping prices low and they’re keeping the prices for mortgages low, too.”
Burnett makes a valid point, if China were to revalue it’s currency we’d be screwed — so we should just keep our traps shut, let our children gnaw on lead coated toys and eat potentially lethal food so the Walton family doesn’t lose money? I realize it’s a much deeper issue than that, but she probably should have used different analogies to get her point across.
Speaking of Wal-Mart, if you haven’t yet seen Robert Greenwald’s documentary, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, you can pick up a copy here. It’ll make you think twice about setting foot in a Wal-Mart again…
4 Trackbacks To “CNBC’s Erin Burnett: We Need China’s Toxic Food And Lead Coated Toys To Keep Economy Strong“
So it doesn’t matter if the shit is dangerous, just so long as it’s cheap?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA….the world’s greatest economy needs cheap food and toys or it’s going to be destroyed.
that’s either orwellian truthspeak or actually true….i can’t figure out which is worse….i am sure the stupidity of the american public will buy either.
Okay then, I’m going to keep my trap shut and eat poison food and buy lead paint toys. OR, maybe Americans manufacturerers could use safe materials and pay good workers and then all Americans could afford to buy quality products. But, I guess you can’t expect Republicans to think of that, oh yah, then the robber barons wouldn’t be making out like the bandits they are.
When I buy poisonous food, I want it at bottom-barrel prices, goddamnit!
I going to the store to pick up some pencils to snack on. Anybody else want some? I am gonna wash it down with Bush flavored Kool-Aid.
-GSD
That is just about the craziest comment I have ever heard. It is like arguing that cancer and auto accidents are good things because of the obvious economic benefits — expensive surgery, car repairs, lots of prescriptions, rehab for orthopedic surgery, extra police, ambulances, an absolute boon.
You think Erin or Tweety have ever been in a Wal-Mart?
To quote Moe Howard - “This… would be beneath you!” Nyuk nyuk nyuk
during this same segment (at the end), matthews sexually harassed (IMHO) erin burnett.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200708120002
he asked her to keep getting closer to the camera, then said “im just kidding, you are a knockout.” and “you’re beautiful”.
its big-time pervy…
MATTHEWS: Could you get a little closer to the camera?
BURNETT: My — what is it? Is it zooming in strangely?
MATTHEWS: Come on in closer. No, come in — come in further — come in closer. Really close.
BURNETT: What are you — what are you doing?
MATTHEWS: Just kidding! You look great! Anyway, thanks. Erin, it’s great to — look at that look. You’re great.
BURNETT: I don’t even know. I’m going to have to go look at the tape here. I’m in a strange location.
MATTHEWS: No, you’re beautiful. I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding. You’re a knockout. Anyway, thank you, Erin Burnett.
BURNETT: All right, Chris. See you later.
MATTHEWS: It’s all right getting bad news from you, even, OK? Thanks for coming on Hardball.
I need china to lick my balls
Just when you think the corporate media cannot possibly spew more rubbish, here comes Erin Burnett. Why these dupes continue to be given a platform escapes me.
Yeah? Fu@k China, and I say that without apology. Their gov’t are some of the most arrogant, racial supremacist $#!+heads on the face of the Earth, and while the neocons here in America are screwing us ’til Kingdom Come, the Chinese gov’t are laughing all the way to the bank -LITERALLY.
LOL. China merely indicates it may decide to dump the Dollar in response to our escalating anti-China rhetoric and we fold at the speed of light. When you’ve borrowed enough, the Bank owns your ass.
Say what you will, there’s no denying Bush is doing a Heck of a Job.
Iran, here we come.
Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
USA, USA, USA.
“Low prices for hazardous foods and merchandise in exchange for a high death toll”.
Now that is a Republican economy to vote for.
Go ahead GOP, use it as a campaign slogan.
Erin Burnett is another example of the failure of private schools……………….!
I have some e coli veggies I can sell erin for cheap. If she’s so supportive.
You have to appreciate the irony that the Chinese are doing to us what we along every other world power did to the Chinese over a hundred years ago. Of course the poisons they are pushing on us are a little more subtle then opium, but we are just as addicted to their exports as they were to ours, and consequences from not buying from them maybe just as dire.
Chris (My Two Sense) @ 8:
Chris, thanks for that great find. It’s not just Matthews, btw. Anyone who has watched Morning Joe on MSNBC with Joe Scarborough knows that he gets all giddy when Erin’s segments come on and he constantly fawns over her. It gets old really quick.
rasta @ 2:
Rest assured, it’s the truth. You think this kind of free-ride bullshit can go on forever? Sooner or later, China’s gonna want to crawl out of the third world mud. They’re gonna rule the world folks, better get used to the idea.
never been in a Wal Mat..as for the bimbo….what do you expect…..BOOOO…same old shit…..We wouldn’t have to worry about China revaluing there dong or whatever it’s called if Chimp wouldn’t of sold out the country
Too bad we don’t outsource the jobs of these Corporate Media talking heads. I’m sure they could find some people in China or India to regurgitate corporate talking points at a fraction of the cost.
I like China and have a few wonderful friends there. And they do make some decent products too outside the lead paint and contaminated food ones. But yeah she really put her foot in her mouth on that!
She didn’t…she didn’t imply that we shouldn’t complain about dangerous food and goods from China so they don’t ruin our economy did she?? No one can be THAT stupid.
Yes, she’s that stupid.
Just how badly DO we need tainted food and toys and stuff, especially from China?
Imagine if China were to revalue it’s currency even while we continued to consume all of their shit? Naw, could never happen — not at least BEFORE the Olympics.
China Tells America: Eat That Shit Or We Shoot This Dog
http://tootruthy.blogspot.com/.....or-we.html
Logan Murphy @ 15:
the way some of these guys act is really weird…like they’ve never been around an attractive woman before…..ok maybe she’s not a bimbo…….but then again….maybe she is.
Inca Garcilaso de la Vega @ 10:
Because the Corporate Media pays them to spew such rubbish. It’s just the mouthpiece for the economic elite.
The media is only as Liberal as the corporations who own it. Who ever heard of a Liberal corporation? Doesn’t really make any sense when you think about it.
Too bad we don’t outsource the jobs of these Corporate Media talking heads. I’m sure they could find some people in China or India to regurgitate corporate talking points at a fraction of the cost.
Hey Erin, have a nice helping of lead paint chips in your coffee and tell us how grateful we should all be.
(that is, if you haven’t already)
I needed a flashlight a couple weeks ago. I went to the local hardware store, and a couple of big box stores. That’s all we have around here. I could not find one made in the U.S.A. All made in China or East Bunglefuck. So, I went onto eBay and found a nice Eveready made here in 1923. It is a beauty and cost less than 20 bucks. AND it will last!
Buy used. Recycle. Make do.
There are exactly two things I’d agree w/ Dick Cheney on:
I fu@king hate the Chinese gov’t and I fu@king hate the Russian gov’t.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Dirty Dick’s a total piece of $#!+ and oughta be deported to Saudi Arabia, but the Chinese and Russian gov’t’s really are worse than our own.
It’s still possible to make the effort to find or grow non-Chinese food and shop for non-Chinese toys and products. And the ignorant masses who can’t be bothered can die a slow death . If the U.S. economy depends on killing it’s own people, it may be time to kill the economy and start over .
But I’m sure these are not products she consumes. Her child doesn’t knaw on lead-paint toys. That’s just for lunks like us. The class warfare of the plutocrats and their apologists against the rest of us is out of control. And of course it’s impossible to inspect these items effectively so as to protect us. Why that would be socialism.
Chris (My Two Sense) @ 8
Haha.. yeah I saw that too. That’s just creepy.
Its too late. We have sold out to china in so many ways including outsourcing , just ask Costanza. Its getting out of control.
Wait till Erin puts on some of that make up that is laced with arsenic or something low in cost of cancer producing.
Chris likes her because she’ll do anything for a buck and provide the service at the lowest cost…..
Right there at Wal Mart, right Erin…………..
She doesn’t care about the people that shop at WalMart, obviously. She’s never shopping there and neither is Tweety, so why would they give a sh!t about the people who do? All that matters is that prices can be held down so that the corporations peddling this toxic merchandise continue to make money. That’s what makes America great, after all.
What amazes me about this clip is how open she is about her attitude. She might just as easily have said, “Well, well, f*ck ‘em if they can’t afford to shop in a decent store.”
On the other hand, she probably knows that the only people watching Tweety’s show are fellow elitist fatheads (and the few people checking up on them).
Yeah, what would it matter if we started gettin’ cheap pharmaceuticals from China and they shipped placebos rather than antibiotics. I mean, good fer the economy, right?
Ms. Burnett’s statement is one of the dumbest things of heard in a long time- and I saw Date Movie!
The Chinese gov’t. does have laws preventing lead paint on toys, does have laws preventing anti-freeze from going into toothpaste, does have laws preventing a poisonous protein analogue being used in food, and even has a minimum wage law (~$1/hr)!
However, the country has grown so fast in the past 15-20 years that the central government can’t enforce these laws. They pretty much left this task up to the local authorities, and of course, the local authorities answer to the highest bidder (ie: bigger profit margins for the corporation).
lilybelle @ 30:
These corporate hacks don’t consume the same cheap stuff we poor working stiffs have to. They can afford to buy luxury products. Little wonder that they aren’t concerned if we great unwashed masses get slowly poisoned, lose our jobs and suffer declines in our wages do to cheap imports.
Re-evaluating the yuan to where it should be is a two edged sword. Yes it would hurt us greatly, almost the same amount it would hurt China when demand slows in american market.
Just look at what happened to Japan in very similar situation when they started pushing yen up, they went stagnant for 10plus years. No free lunch in nafta world.
One other thing, most of the furniture being retailed in America is being made there. Talk about toxic, they use finishes and materials that are truly toxic. One of the most dangerous health jobs is selling furniture because of fumes from this trash.
I can’t wait until the Big Mac has a sesame flavored shredded cardboard bun. I don’t remember if it was China, but sandwiches were being served on buns which didn’t contain any flour - just cardboard. USDA and FDA approved once meant reliable and now it means profitable. It’s time to gut political appointees from the government workforce and restore civil service. Stop the privatization of government services. I can’t believe how the Republicans in Congress were bragging about stopping the Democrats who wanted to return the collection of back taxes function to the IRS employees. It costs two dollars to collect fourteen dollars for IRS employees and privatization costs ten dollars to collect three dollars. More fuzzy math from the GOP. If you create a pot of gold, these squirrels will find a way to steal it
She got a job at CNBC because she understands economics. Not.
MSNBC is trying to say that China gives good old America inferior products? Good old America? The producers of such great products as the Ford Pinto (blows up real good), Patriot Missile (almost blows up it’s targets sometimes), and of course who could forget the manufacturers involved in the yearly recalls for defects that seem to expand yearly. And we worry about inferior products from other countries?
I have never posted before, but this was one of the dumbest statements I have ever heard from a so called news person.
Let me get this straight. Communist China is our superbest friend, and Communist Cuba is our superworst enemy? Why don’t we export our for-profit health insurance racket to Communist China and import the public health program from Communist Cuba? That should really help our superbest friend and screw our superworst enemy.
That was beyond heinous. She can have my entire share of Chinese food products. Bon apetite.
OK, now that she cleared it all up for me and I now understand that China is our best frien, I guess it’s my patriotic duty to go to Walmart and buy as many lead-laden toys and as much poisonous food from China as I can. Whew. I’m so glad she straightened me out on that. Bye. Gotta go shopping!!
Really, what about the buyers at WalMart and Costco and whoever? Someone is the willing customer in this issue, and it’s not China.
Chris (My Two Sense) @ 8: