[irrational]

How could it be made locally for cheap? Who is going to pay to build the local factories for everything your local drug store stocks (not to mention all the other local stores)? Who is going to work in all of those factories for cheap? Wont all of those thousands of local toothbrush factories worldwide pollute even more than a single toothbrush factory worldwide?

[ng12]

There are plenty of American toothbrush manufacturers which already compete on price (I use Preserve, made from recycled material in America for $3). It's mostly the big guys (Colgate + OralB) who are trying to maximize profit by outsourcing to China.

> Who is going to pay to build the local factories for everything your local drug store stocks

The manufacturer is going to pay for it by selling their products to drug stores.

> Wont all of those thousands of local toothbrush factories worldwide pollute even more than a single toothbrush factory worldwide?

How so? Even if there was a single manufactory in Oklahoma it could serve the entire country at a fraction of the environmental cost.

[hackeraccount]

What's the margin on making toothbrushes? If you have a pile of money and you want the best return is it really going to be on a toothbrush factory in the U.S.? I have no idea what the answer to those questions are but it seems like "not much" and "something else."

[ng12]

What's the argument -- that if China stopped making toothbrushes we would stop buying them? A US factory might struggle to compete with a Chinese factory on price, but that's exactly my point. Global capitalism does not account for the human cost and environmental cost necessary to make the Chinese factory cheaper.