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.
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Thread: Are you as appalled as I am?
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11-29-2008, 06:17 PM #1
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Last edited by Eden; 11-29-2008 at 06:27 PM.
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11-30-2008, 01:59 AM #2
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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.
If you don't grow where you're planted, you'll never BLOOM - Will Rogers
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11-30-2008, 05:44 AM #3
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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.
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