1) America first thinking and action are two different things. First I have heard it explained that way. Clearly all we've been doing is the thinking part. Hypocritical? Still Yes I don't care if the Chicoms look out for themselves or not. But clearly they've been doing that around the world by bullying, intimidating, extorting, and stealing anything they could get their hands on. Those are separate issues and another topic. We have failed to ACT and have allowed the Chinese to get a firm grasp on our short hairs. Because we want $ and cheap stuff. "America first" isn't about abusing the rest of the world, it's about not letting them abuse us. Again first time I have heard it explained that way

2) Hoarding? Yes How about "extorting". That's called capitalism/free enterprise/art of the deal, when one is on the selling end of the deal. They didn't need this stuff for their own people, they just killed them. Not sure how you can prove that it wasn't needed by them and/or they intentionally killed anyone. It was held back and used as a weapon. Art of the deal. Much of what the Chinese produces is for export. BUT the CCP owns it all, There are no private businesses there who might be concerned with something so inconvenient as ethics. Ethics? in todays market, etihcs are for losers, the examples are endless.. PPE and pharma made and intended for export was kept from being shipped and/or held hostage. When you sleep with a snake, one should not cpomplain about getting bitten. That's different from keeping what you already have. Medical equipment was donated to China at the beginning of this when they were the ones dealing with it. Once it became a problem in other places, the countries that had donated stuff to them were forced to buy it back at black market prices. Kind of like car flippers on this forum?

3) What If I agree to make a product for you for a price, and follow through on that for years. And you are satisfied to the point to where I'm doing 100% of that product for you. Then one day the crap hits the fan. You call me up wanting more of this product, which has gone from being routine to life or death overnight. And I say to you, "You know jcc, I know you've been getting this stuff from me for years, but it looks like I might need more for myself. So I'm gonna keep mine and yours as well. And besides that, I don't like the way you've been treating me lately, so you can go pack sand and drop dead if you don't like it" Would you have a reason to complain? Only to myself for letting myself become vulnerable

The Chicoms are belligerent savages, bullies, thieves, murdering backstabbers. Always have been. Power corrupts, always has, always will. But we crawled in bed with them because we got something from them. And now, here we are. We agree Were all the Harbor Freight tools and cheap parts worth it? We didn't have these problems before we decided to become pals with them in the early 70s did we? Being "pals" with them is not the problem, lowering our values for cheap stuff is the core issue. And now we have to drag it all back home. Either that or expect their behavior to continue to degenerate and for them to continue to beat our a$$es. [/quote]

You anger is well understood and meritorious, but until your last paragraph, I disagree with its direction. I think it is easier and better to change our behavior first. But before that, we have to recognize our complicity, and that seems to be a bridge too far for many.