Are you as appalled as I am?

[lauraelmore1033]

I'm not going to get into the argument, but anyone who thinks that the people producing cheap goods for america are "better off" should check out this film: http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...94596195828118

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

And be sure to watch this award winning documentary on the subject as well:
http://www.freespeech.org/videodb/in...10826&browse=1

[Biciclista]

oh give me a break. I am embarrassed that people in China are melting the lead from our used TV monitors over a portable burner in their lap and their kids are out playing in the effluent. I am embarrassed that children are working in the fields to produce OUR coffee and OUR chocolate. I have read about the work conditions for factory workers making clothing for our name brand stores. Major corporations are getting rich on this slavery, yes, it's slavery. And no, I don't think they are better off. In a rush to make it rich, the rainforests are being denuded with slash burning and get rich quick agriculture which leaves the indigenous people no choice but to go into the city and take the sh*t jobs offered to them.
No, I don't think we and our consumer society are doing the people in poorer countries any great favors.

[Irulan]

Corporate America and it's consumers aren't' 100% bad: Starbucks is doubling its purchases of fair trade coffee to some 40 millions pounds of organic, fair trade cofee in 2009.
http://sustainablog.org/2008/10/29/s...offee-in-2009/

now, I don't shop Starbucks for other reasons, but I thought this was hopeful.

[Biciclista]

there are some positives, absolutely, but human nature has a tenet that I rarely see NOT followed. Power corrupts. Money Corrupts. If I can use those ignorant savages, I'm going to. And I'll even give them little tidbits so they think they're doing good. And then I'll go home and eat cake.

[PamNY]

No, I don't think we and our consumer society are doing the people in poorer countries any great favors.

I don't doubt that the bad stuff is true, but it's legitimate to question what people would do without the work. Are other options worse, or nonexistent? I have no idea of the answer, but I do wonder when this topic comes up.

Pam

[Eden]

I don't think anyone is suggesting that jobs for those people would just go away... I doubt this country even has the workforce or the infrastructure to start manufacturing everything we buy ourselves..... Just think about clothing and shoes. If we relied only on very few brands that are still produced here, most of us would have to sew our own or go naked and barefoot.

It's not like the big corporations cannot afford to treat and pay their workers better... Nike, Walmart, Target, have profits in the billions. They could double the amount they pay and it would be a teensy percentage of what they make.

[Mr. Bloom]

Biciclista, I'm sorry that you are embarassed by these things. But, for me, I accept that there are some things that I simply can't control. I believe that China is China's problem...I didn't choose to send that TV to China, someone in China chose to buy that TV and do something with it. It's not that we shouldn't care about these situations elsewhere, but I choose to devote my attention and energy to things that I can observe first hand (through direct interaction, not distant observation) and impact today in my own backyard.

[Crankin]

This is a complicated topic. I also think that in the end, we, as individuals, are not really going to have an influence on how China treats its workers...
I try to buy local, especially with food. I am driving much less than ever, only filling my car up once every two weeks or so. I will never be doing my grocery shopping by bike, but I have changed my life style. I buy clothes based on if they fit; given my shortness, I am limited to 2-3 brands. Frankly, I don't think about anything else except that.
I have personal experience with part of this topic. My family owned a shoe factory in NH when I was growing up. Eventually, because of the cheap labor in Asia, it went out of business. Since then, my parents had to move to 3 different states, my dad was unemployed a lot, and my brother, who is 11 years younger than me, got quite a different life style than I did. It wasn't good for my family at all, but after all of these years, I don't really think about it. I decided to work hard and get a good education, and in the end I was able to give my kids pretty much the same type of life I had growing up.
I have a lot of other things I could say on this topic, but I won't.