So you might find it unusual that the first blog entry concerns something that is apparently afflicting parents of all children in the U.S. – the sudden scare of lead poisoning. It seems that Mattel has hired some unscrupulous folks in China that cut a few corners and put some lead in products that made it into the hands of children.
Now, call it what you will. Sure, people everywhere can make a case for a possible invasion from China – a backhanded way at infecting our population beforehand. You could make a case of that. You could also point out that somewhere, someone was being cheap bastards (let’s see, where did the cheap bastard thing start? That’s right! In the United States! Congratulations, boys and girls!)
Folks, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Most Americans are too friggin’ lazy to accept a job making toys for $11.00/hour – let alone for minimum wage. Top that off with a company that is so concerned with the bottom line that they’re willing to pay other countries a few pennies to get these products to market and you’ve got one hell of a tempest. Again – this was brought upon ourselves. Americans did this, not the Chinese.
I’ll bet you’re wondering how this relates. Well, good news. There was one toy in Bunbun’s collection that might have been wrapped up in the recall. The wifey snatched the toy up with a ziplock bag and we investigated on the website. Fortunately, we discovered that the model of Sarge that Bunbun owns is not one of the affected products. Close call, that one. Apparently it was a narrow window anyway.
But still, we brought this on ourselves, folks. Really.