HP not following US Law--Selling to Iran

[JaimeZ]

The Boston Globe broke the news that HP is selling printers to Iran illegally?

What's your opinion?

Here's the link:
HP uses third party to sell printers in Iran - The Boston Globe

I like HP products, but this makes me think twice about purchasing their products in the future!

[VladCanada]

War is war. Business is business. Do not try to cross and struck them.
US Gvrmnt has a lot of bad samples in their own history as well.
BTW Printer is NOT a gun.

[zoran]

War is war. Business is business. Do not try to cross and struck them.
US Gvrmnt has a lot of bad samples in their own history as well.
BTW Printer is NOT a gun.

Hey, I thought war is the biggest business

[VladCanada]

And you, Zoran, as a former Jugoslvia man know that most of us

[mattf]

It might seem harmless to sell printers. But to sell this type of equipment to the infidels is literally like selling them WMDs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE HAVE AN EXCUSE, LETS INVADE!!!!

But seriously. The US government loves to sanction countries that don't drum to their beat. Then the media will twist it however they wish to up their ratings. Its the old mentality of the Reds vs. the free world. We are the free world, the people over on the other side with different views, different culture and different way of life are a threat to that. How that works I still can't figure.

Vlad has a good point. War is seperate from most businesses. There are of course war-profiteering companies, but for the most part they are a select few in the many. If we accepted the United States old idea of free market we'd be fine. Who cares if we sell printers to Iran, they are buying it right? They are contributing to the American economy right?

But I digress, government loves to get its nose into everything it can. Maybe we should ask them how printers will contribute to the "insurgency" that Iran is. I'll be happy to get back to the economy thank you kindly.

[rbailleu]

where is that hp printer made. probably in asia. along with the printed box and manuals. hp may make some profit, but how will it really help the us economy. we need to build stuff in the us. manufacturing jobs grow the economy more than any other. a few years ago I got on a buy american kick. sold my made in mexico buick and bought a made in wisconsin gmc. now they just closed the plant that they made my yukon. also the yukon runs ethanol made in the us. my car uses less oil than a prius. but I digress. we should sell everything we can to everyone we can. the us made a nuclear device in the 1940s when a decent computer did not exist. how can we say selling a computer of any type to anyone is going to help them make a nuclear or other weapon. I can understand not selling certain chemicals and ready made weapons parts. I doubt you can make a missile guidance system from a laser printer more cost effectively than just buying an amd 286 clone and making your own gyroscope. although hp is known for its high quality spinner motors. I guess it would be better to sell them the hp than for them to build a quality guidance system that might actually hit a target.

[JaimeZ]

Interesting comments. I guess I have problem with Iranian government and the HP thing is one more reason not to like the government of Iran.

Yes, I am a "Free Trader" myself and believe that we should sell as much of what is produced in the US as possible. And I agree with rbailleu that it is a murky market place out there. American companies have manufacturing plants outside the US and foreign companies have plants here in the US. In fact, Toyota has a large presence in the US with five major assembly plants in Alabama, Kentucky, Indiana, Texas and West Virginia--I bet those states aren't complaining.

What I find it irritating, though, is the US bashers: many live in the US, take advantage of the freest and best country in the world to live in and still talk bad about it. Frankly, my attitude, whether they're natural born or immigrants is, if you do not like this country leave it! Those who don't live here, like some of our fellow graphic arts professionals to the north, also have a beef with the US--my suspicion is that they wish they lived here. I'm so grateful that my father had a dream to come to this wonderful country and worked hard once here and gave me the opportunity to live and run a business; yes I am foreign born and as beautiful as Ecuador, SA is, I would never want to live there--just visit it--because this is by far the best country ever. I also know that the US is far from perfect, but I dare anyone show me a better country. Here, an orphaned man, with an eighth grade education and little English skills can eventually own a business like my father did.

[Internal_R&D_Analyst]

where is that hp printer made. probably in asia.

Most of the HP printers are made in Malaysia and Singapore.

Let them sell printers to a distributor and they can do what they want with them and sell them wherever.

[rbailleu]

about the toyota plants. I think its great that toyota, honda, and others are building cars here. I have a friend in southern Illinois(everything south of I80 if you ask the chicago people). anyway he is a manager at a foreign owned auto parts manufacturer. their work force has been cut in half as well. so the foreign auto makers are not selling cars either. any way the whole world is going to be having issues if the US does not get its crap together. germany wont be selling presses and cars. china won't be selling 50% of what it makes. I think the politicians are going to get it wrong on cap and trade. they are going to cap and trade the US. but then let us buy goods from china that follows no rules on CO2 emissions. We ought to cap and trade all imports first. then we might make some stuff in the US again.

[offsetguy]

Japanese car makers on American soil have an unfair advantage over the big 3 USA car makers. I vote we bring jobs home to the USA. The USA has suffered long enough with the bashers and the users of our freedoms and democracy way of life.
A Honda built in the USA costs say $29,000.00. Honda pays its worker to build the car here and they pay them lower wages and benefits than the UAW does. Why we as the USA give these foreign car companies tax breaks and incentives to build their products here is beyond me. We are missing the opportunity to tax them to import these products.
If I could I would remove any tax breaks these Japanese car makers on USA soil get and create a domestic import tax. That would help bail out the big 3 also. Please do not offer the argument Japanese cars are better, I have owned one and I never will again. It was a POS!
On a print related note look at what Presstek did to the AB Dick Co. AB Dick was the last manufacturer of printing equipment in the USA. They had large facilities to produce equipment and the AB Dick employees with the knowhow, but instead they chose to let Ryobi in Japan build their boxes to house their CTP systems. Another great USA company that could offer jobs and a production facility in the USA gone.
The USA needs to stop being a floor mat for the world and stand up and be the world power we are. If there is a WW3 who will build our tanks? Honda? Toyota? I doubt it.
OG