Caveat emptor (buyer beware)
So, what's the deal with China? Why do they keep sending us junk that has to be recalled all of the time? The mind reels with it... let's see, something that gave our pets kidney failure -- that was nice. Tires that fall apart, little magnets posing a danger to tots, and now everything is coated in lead paint! And that's not to mention some of the scams they perpetrate on each other. I heard some of them grind up cardboard and make egg rolls or something. Yum. There also was a factory repackaging used chopsticks without processing or sterilizing them in any way. Double yum. Isn't this the civilization that invented all kinds of cool stuff? Gunpowder, paper, the compass, etc. Now they seem to like rip-offs best of all.

Personally, I think the quality of a lot of things has gone downhill. No big revelation there. It's a little sad... when I buy something at Walmart I expect it to fall apart in short order. And yes, I shop at Walmart on those rare occasions when I need an appliance or the like. I should be boycotting the place as it's one of the symbols of things I object to... but it's just so convenient. Some day I expect all commercial establishments to be under the Walmart umbrella anyway (the umbrella is another Chinese invention by the way).

We had a very frustrating time trying to buy a video camera a while back. I wrote a flame to the companies involved (Circuit City and Hitachi). I'll spare the details (including the $80.99 "restocking fee"), but the proverbial straw was as follows: "I was eventually scouring the manual for any scrap of information and came across this notation on page 139: 'Note: Images recorded on DVD-R disc cannot be edited on the software provided with this DVD video camera/recorder.'" What kind of sense does that make? I have no idea if the Chinese were involved.

Oh well, at least Walmart has a liberal return policy.