Companies' mass exit from U.S. disturbing
I want to commend you for printing the letter from Mike Pelayo, ``Globalization creates consequences for U.S.'' (June 18, Page 6).
You are one of the first to even allow in print what is really going on in this country.
I have said for a number of years that our politicians have sold the working people out and want to make this country a Third World country with a few very rich that can control us more than they do now with half-truths, little slogans and tricks.
Do NAFTA and free trade create jobs? Yes, they do, but the jobs they create are service jobs, while the good-paying jobs leave this country with a large flushing sound. The politicians will say we don't have enough money to pay for everything we want. So we must raise taxes, and we must tighten our belts, as some states are already saying because their tax base has gone down with every flush.
My biggest question to these companies is, you get the products made with cheap labor, but the price of your product hasn't gone down to reflect this, and, as all the good jobs leave, who is going to purchase all these high-priced automobiles, appliances, etc.? The people where the jobs are going, who make $5 a day?
I also understand the companies leaving this country have been regulated, taxed and paperworked to death.
What is the answer, now that we've been tricked by our slick-talking politicians for a number of years? Boycott products that are not made in the U.S.A.?
I don't know for sure, but I do realize the creation of good-paying jobs is gone. Our politicians who have lined their pockets with the large tax base they get to waste each year are drying up also.
Ken Grimes
Pearl Plastics
Gwynneville, Ind.
API clarifies its view on Calif. fire safety
Recently Plastics News reported on an initiative by the National Association of State Fire Marshals to build support for national furniture flammability legislation, (``Sununu brought into fiery debate,'' June 25, Page 22). The writer did not accurately describe the Alliance for the Polyurethanes Industry's view of California Technical Bulletin (TB) 117 [a small-scale component test for fabrics and flexible polyurethane foam used in furniture].
API's views of the current version of TB 117 are consistent with those of the Consumer Product Safety Commission as reflected in its 1997 statement: ``California TB-117 requires that component materials resist small open flame ignition. TB-117 is, however, a `minimum' standard that would not, if federally mandated, ensure a substantial reduction in the risk of small open flame ignition of finished articles of furniture.''
API supports the development of national standards for fire safety of residential home furnishings and consumer information to address the entire range of residential fire safety concerns. The details of this support can be found in our position statement on residential home furnishings fire performance and in our March 30 press release on this subject.
We are encouraged by the expressed goal of the California Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation to revise TB 117 from a component test for some materials to a composite-based standard that will be more meaningful and representative of residential furniture fire safety performance. API has submitted comments and recommendations to the bureau on this endeavor.
In addition, we are participating with other concerned organizations in research efforts that will help all governmental authorities develop more appropriate standards for upholstered furniture.
Your readers can learn more about API's efforts on fire safety issues at www.polyurethane.org.
Fran Walker Lichtenberg
Alliance for the Polyurethanes Industry
Arlington, Va.