"James" wrote in message
...

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
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"presley" wrote in message
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Many factories are run as sweat shops with wages held down because
government officials forbid unionization attempts.

"Forbid" is a mild word for it. Suggest "union" and it's likely you'll
find
yourself in jail by the end of the day.


The only way this situation would ever change (and I'm not optimistic)
would be if the developed world insisted on fair labor standards and
wages
before it would do business with China. But most of us prefer to hide
our
heads in the sand, because we're able to buy some sort of advertised
junk
for $10 cheaper if we don't rock the boat too much.

If prices on Chinese goods rose significantly due to wages becoming more
like ours, there would be financial catastrophe here.

How come? It would mean less outsourcing to China and business would start
looking elsewhere.

Hmm. Where? You don't simply up & move your t-shirt operation to another
country in a week.

I think it's handy to be able to discount what a lousy place China is in
terms of human rights, because it enables people to pretend everything's
fine. Then, they can get back to doing whatever it is they prefer to
thinking. Nose picking, watching Oprah, etc.