Updates

1. As feared, earthquakes did hit these islands this week after shaking up the Ring of Fire a few days ago, the strongest being Monday's 6.6 in Davao.

2. A new wave of recalls of children's items the past couple of days: notebooks, tops, pails and jewelry (for lead paint), and articles of clothing (for formaldehyde).

We hope we've seen the worst of this batch of earthquakes for now. As for No.2, is it far-fetched to think that some interest groups are out to do a demolition job on Chinese goods to drive consumers away and boost products made outside of China? (Or is it more far-fetched to think there are still things that are actually being made outside of China?)

Update on the comment 8/31: Seems the thought isn't far-fetched at all. In fact, it sounds quite the theory in technocratese: it's in the "protectionism agenda" of some government officials and media in the US to use doubts on the quality of Chinese goods "to press for narrow trade protection". Read on.