Stephen,

 Glad I we are not alone on this. My wife and I have refused to buy Chinese made products for the last 4 years due to the combination of tainted/hazardous goods to the fact that they are an openly repressive government to it's own people. I can't in good conscience support such tyranny. Also the quility of the goods from china is so poor.Not to mention I don't like the idea of paying for the bullet that could be fired at me or fellow Americans someday.

It is not always easy when excluding Chinese goods. One has to put extra effort and usually extra money in to get the items you need. Example being, last weekend we needed some new flatware and finally found plates that were made in the U.S.

Extra precaution must be taken when dealing with children's items, toys, jewelry and especially food items such as candy. After Halloween this year we sat down and went through the bag of candy and found 20% was Chinese or Mexico (Mexican candy commonly has been found to contain high levels of lead).

It is worth the effort for us to look at the made in mark.

The Mexican candy lead contamination is the candy wrapper --- more specifically the lead used in the coloring dye of that wrapper that may contaminate the candy itself.  Dumb!

The primary author's point on boycotting unsafe products as the solution to get those products to change their ways is very libertarian.  In the past I have tested for the presence of lead content on dishes from China in stores before purchase because I did not trust the decorative flourishes.