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Subject: 
Re: The US gives too much/not enough aid
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Tue, 12 Nov 2002 21:10:10 GMT
Viewed: 
1021 times
  
Hendo (John P. Henderson) wrote:
I'm not trying to say paying them only 10 cents a day is right, for
certainly it is wrong indeed when you consider the profits the company will
make at their expense.  But, is it right to imple that because we buy Nike
products that we are taking something from the sweatshop workers.  Seems to
me, they are being offered poverty-grade-2 rather than poverty-grade-1.
Buying Nike might not be as good as donating to UNICEF or volunteering for
the Peace Corp, but suggesting it is the cause for poor conditions for 3rd
world peoples seems a bit of a stretch to me.

What about US corporations preventing their laborors in the third world
from unionizing?   I'm sure they have had a hand in local politics as
well.  Didn't anyone see Zoolander (half joking).

I have heard that LA is no longer the worst city for air pollution any more,
since years of emmissions regulations have been in place to counter that
reputation.  Certainly other nations like Mexico, India, and who knows where
else have fewer emmissions restrictions that the US.  And in the US I
suspect other cities are now worse than LA.  Anyone ever fly into Pittsburgh
on a sunny day and notice that layer of brown stuff the plane drops through?

Pittsburgh has largely cleaned itself up.  Most of the brown stuff is
pollution from Ohio that blows up the river valley and gets stuck under
a thermal inversion over the region.

Unfortunately the politicians who might pass laws to sanction all-to-often
have their hands in those pocketbooks too.  The people who work to run these
kinds of corporations are too greedy for the bottom line.  They want to cut
costs to increase profits.  That's why they move off-shore to begin with,
since American workers demand more pay.  Even if you could somehow enforce
wage laws internationally, that would only serve to drive up the cost of the
final product.  What's next? Am I going to have to take out a mortage to buy
new sneakers?

I'm wearing US-made non-leather New Balance right now that cost about
$60.  Of course, other styles made by the same manufacturer are from
China.  Maybe the US-made ones are being sold at a loss.

-chris



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: The US gives too much/not enough aid
 
(...) Not to get off-topic (well, this is the off-topic forum), but I am curious, what would the people making 10 cents a day make as income if U.S.ians didn't buy Nike shoes? Would they make nothing a day? Are there jobs in their countries that pay (...) (22 years ago, 12-Nov-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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