Not to sound like an oldie, but I remember the day when I could get my dress shirts washed, pressed and medium starch put on them here in the US for 80 cents per shirt.

Today I picked up my laundry, and it was a mere $3.00 per shirt (definitely not the price I could get in China). I asked my dry cleaner about this April 27, 2008 NY Times article, Dry Cleaners Feel an Ill Wind From China, and whether the activity noted in the article (last month a federal tariff was placed on the importation of wire hangers from China) impacted pricing here in SLO town. She responded, “Yes, of course.”

To those wire hanger protectionists/industry that claim to be good ol’ American capitalists that welcome competition, yet sprint to Washington or Sacramento begging to tax imports from other countries in order to protect their domestic products every time somebody makes them compete on the world stage … you are girlie-men for making my dry cleaning bill higher than it needs to be.