China and the United States have had a rocky and often times strained relationship with each other. Even though China is on the other side of the world and at times, has come under harsh criticism for its beliefs, the United States still opts to make products there.
Since 1971, when China finally joined the UN, business has been outsourced from all over the world to them. Most of the time, all that is required to setup a business is a few letters and a visa from China. China visas are fairly easy to apply for if you and your company already have United States passports or any other passport from one of the several countries that are members of the UN.
Labor laws are not steadily enforced in China, so getting cheap labor is pretty common among the business communities. Plus, China offers great incentives, including a deal they have worked out with the IRS, to give occasional tax breaks to new US companies that will take root in China and employ a percentage of Chinese citizens. The only problem is US companies still need to have a percentage of Americans working in their factories in order to receive the US tax breaks. The reason this is a problem is because there are limited amounts of China visas to go around. After so many are given out they put a hold on them until some start to trickle back in.
But is all this hassle really worth it? Applying for all those passports and visas, to save a few bucks on your labor cost. And what about the tax breaks that are offered for small businesses that do stay in America? Well, apparently the tax breaks for companies staying in the United States don’t add up to as much money that companies can save, by going overseas. Just look at the tags of the clothes hanging in your closet or the bottom of the latest new gadget you bought. Most of the time it will say “Made in China”. It is hard to find any US clothing labels in retail stores like Wal-Mart or Target anymore.
But the US government and labor board has vowed to try and put an end to all this outsourcing. It stated earlier this year, that on its list of priorities, cutting down the current percentage of items that are made in the overseas markets like China and India, is at the top.
Maybe we could just stop handing out so many United States passports to businesses that are already established in the foreign market. Maybe we should give better incentives for businesses of all kinds to stay right here in the US. But in the end America is about freedom, including the freedom to do business in another country or the freedom to acquire China visas.
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