Are you the Author of Missing Beauty?

I'm with you; let's go see a movie

We have a Sheiße-load of indi theatres here in Capitol Hill - both movie and dramatical. The Pyramid and the Annex are a couple of favs (both within walking/biking distance - like five blocks to the Annex - no SUV required [to address another writer in this thread])

{The last time I did a mainstream movie it still wasn't in a multiplex; it was Star Trek - but it was the IMAX Theater in the Pacific Science Center (where I'd last viewed an educational flick from under the Sea - in IMAX 3D - very trippy)!}

Indi theatres and off Broadway entertainment are so much more fun. People don't know what they're missing - which is part of the problem - the homogenization of American culture

The first line of defence against compromised products are the factory’s clients, the importers. The moment they begin suspecting a Chinese manufacturing “partner” and want to discover what might be unfolding is the moment they become particularly eager to find people in China like Mr Midler. That suggests they want information. But, as Mr Midler discovers, they are finicky about what is found. When suspicions turn out to be reality, all too often they become unhappy—miserable about resolving something costly and disruptive, yet terrified about being complicit in peddling a dangerous product. This is particularly true if the problems could go undetected by customers. Better, to some extent, not to know.

Aware of these dynamics, Western retailers increasingly use outside testing laboratories for Chinese products. But this too, Mr Midler writes, is more form than function, since the tests are by their very nature more limited than the ways to circumvent them. The process resembles the hunt for performance enhancements used by athletes, where a few get caught but the cleverer ones stay ahead by using products not yet on the prohibited list.

It would be unfair, of course, to see all Chinese companies in this light. A few are gaining international recognition for quality, but in contrast, say, to Japan or America, this recognition comes at a cost to the firms themselves because it is accompanied by unpopular scrutiny and compliance. This odd situation became apparent when Mr Midler witnessed large, modern Chinese factories outsourcing work to smaller, grittier, facilities even though this meant forgoing the production benefits from economies of scale. The tiny outfits were in a much better position to skirt environmental controls and safety standards for products and workers....

There are solutions to be had, but they must be applied systemically, not piecemeal.

1. Regulation - aimed at "protectivism" i.e., keeping and developing more jobs in the States where expectations of fair wages are well established.

2. Public education about the actual costs of cheap items and constant replacement, such as Shell's book outlines.

3. Attitude shaping through product advertisement renewing virtue in durability and sustainability. This is absolutely no different than what we've been doing, unintentionally, by extolling value in cheap goods through advertising.

4. Normalize paying higher prices while replacing less often - again through psa's, adverts, product placement, etc.

5. Provide feedback - Offer means for individuals and families to calculate their savings as well as national economic and environmental savings via an interactive website.

6. Offer a small IRS tax rebate incentive by using the online calculator to show a certain level of savings obtained by the family or individual. This will encourage people to self educate.

Stephanie, there is nothing bad about Walmart. I'm tired of ignorants bashing it. The low prices are very helpful unless money means nothing to you, and they carry many of the same brands found in higher priced stores.

I was in Seattle (Belltown) in Feb but didn't have time to enjoy the place.

There's a film forum in Capitol Hill which offers a lot of interesting classes. I could probably even get my employer to pay the tuition (if they were offered locally).

I agree with your letter with the exception that I question just what the Democratic party is doing or has done to stop the hemorrhaging of U.S. jobs & a living wage, what they're doing to deal with outsourcing or the cheap labor insourcing caused by NAFTA et al...

I agree that the Repubs spout market-fundamentalism in a strikingly amoral & cavalier fashion (the market is intrinsically moral, don'tchaknow?), but the Dems are increasingly insidious in their tactics, giving lipservice to the worker, to the middle class, to human rights, to worker's rights, to environmental protection, to consumer protection-- but delivering almost as little substance as the Repubs.

And God forbid you should suggest that a high standard in the U.S. could help to raise all standards. That's "protectionism," a high crime according to both party-lines. Plus, it means you're probably a "mean" person who "hates" "immigrants."

... but I'd prefer that the author of the book (and the reviewer) have a little evidence of Ikea's using illegal wood before leveling the charge that they do, simply because they don't have a lot of inspectors.

The case is not made in this article that Ikea is bad on the scale of Wal-Mart at all.

I don't see the problem with Ikea furniture. My furniture-buying philosophy is that there are only two kinds of furniture: temporary and permanent. Don't make the mistake of getting something in between, or you'll wind up keeping a bookcase 20 years longer than you should have, simply because it's just a little too nice to get rid of.

So buy the Ikea version when you live in an apartment, but when you move into a house and you have the money to buy nice things that you'll keep for 20 years or more, get rid of the Ikea stuff, and buy the nice stuff. Simple.

As cheaply made as Ikea stuff is (don't ever buy anything from them with glass in it - the stuff is so thin it's dangerous, and they save money on picture frames by leaving the glass with ridiculously sharp edges), it used to be worse. Remember those stereo cabinets you used to buy in the '70s that were basically pressed cardboard? Ikea's much better quality than that, and will generally last you until you can afford genuinely nice things.

I'm sitting on a $36 Ikea dining chair. I can't pretend it's a good chair or anything, but it's made of actual wood and hasn't fallen apart yet. The alternative would be those $14 folding chairs from Cost Plus.