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This is why we need countervailing tariffs to negate any cost advantage (actually punish) created by slave labor, government subsidy or environmental pollution. So what if the resulting prices increase. There would be so many more Americans employed at decent wages the market would actually grow. The only pain would be felt by the speculators, banksters and fraudsters.
As GnT is correct you change corporate actions by changing corporate incentives. Tariffs are a major change in incentives.
Capitalism taking advantage of Communism = slavery.
Turn it around and your statement would be more accurate. Afterall, no one does business in China unless China allows it and the work conditions thereof. I'm not defending Apple's practices but rather pointing out that it is only possible because of the Communist based totalitarian regime in China.
I thought Apple was an American company and operated under a Capitalistic model on the stock market and all.
BTW, calling these young people in China "useful idiots" is despicable!
Well, I understand your point of revulsion on that ... however, much like we Americans ... the Chinese people have also permitted their government to enslave them. And it's useless to look for someone other than ourselves to blame for this.
There are what ? ... 1 Billion Chinese people? How does a government enslave 1 Billion people? Obviously, the people have to cooperate and comply, otherwise it would be impossible. And of course, all 1 Billion are not slaves ... China has it's fair share of Millionaires and Billionaires and middle class, and really does operate on a quasi communist-capitalist model.
The old saying is that people get the government they deserve, and through ignorance and cowardice and the willingness to go along just to get along, the Chinese have the government they deserve just as we Americans have the one we've created.
This facility highlighted in the video shows suicide nets draped around the building to prevent the workers from ending their misery by leaping out of windows. As dreadful as that is ... and as terrible a sign as that might show regarding the hopelessness felt by those people, this is classic demonstration of cowardice ... suicide.
Cowardice never gains justice for the coward, and only encourages more injustice. They say that a coward dies a thousand deaths, but the courageous can only die once. Things won't change until those suicide nets become lifeline nets for the people in charge of operating those prison camps that they call manufacturing plants. Since they apparently cannot see the injustice they serve, or more likely too afraid to refuse to serve it, someone needs to provide them a lesson in justice. The moment the workers in those facilities decide that the proper course of action is to stop jumping out of those windows, and start tossing their jailers out instead, that's when things will change for them, and not until. So long as they allow themselves to be subjugated and treated like slaves, they will remain slaves. A slave never gained his freedom by complying with his master's wishes.
When government fears the people, there is liberty ... when people fear the government, there is tyranny. Nothing will ever change that basic formula. We have so many wise adages that basically say the same thing .. such as "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it's natural manure." Thomas Jefferson was a very wise fellow, and his words are just as true today as the day he spoke them.
But in this day and age, and the volume of the various populations such as in China and the United States ... such armed insurrection and violence insinuated by Thomas Jefferson need not be the method employed to achieve the goal of justice. Simple non-compliance, and refusal to participate or go along with this behavior of government is all that is required. But it takes collective action and organization ... people need to start realizing that what becomes of their neighbor will eventually become of them too. There is no such thing as a "little bit of injustice" anymore than one can be a little bit pregnant. Injustice is an infection that if treated early, is easily cured ... but if allowed to fester, spreads, and becomes a danger to the entire body.
It all boils down to the matter of choosing between right and wrong. And the simplest rule of all that we were once taught as children is the golden rule ... "Do unto others as you would have them do to you". We've allowed that rule to be rewritten which now says "He who has the gold, rules".
That's the source of ALL of our problems, and the solution is simple common sense. The situation of Apple's slave labor manufacturing is just one of the many symptoms of our failure to demand justice for all, and our own collective cowardice in failing to confront injustice in all it's many manifestations.
And, as each day passes, more and more of us are now beginning to feel the consequences of our collective inaction and lack of commitment to the principles of right and wrong. How bad will things get? Just as bad as it needs to get to convert fear into anger, and cowardice into courage.
Apple is a real craphole company gouging profits like that. Old Steve Jobs sure loved to make money. Oh well, guys like him, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, thats the only thing thats important to them.. money. That and the political influence it buys.
I'm surprised that they try to link those people's suicides to the Foxcomm company and Apple. They jumped to their deaths from the dorms that they live in. They live there at the worksite, therefore any personal problems they may be having will be seen while onsite and the results of not being able to handle the issues led to them taking their life. It just seems to have nothing to do with their employer and the employer bears no responsibility and their image didn't deserve that blow.
I'm surprised that they try to link those people's suicides to the Foxcomm company and Apple. They jumped to their deaths from the dorms that they live in. They live there at the worksite, therefore any personal problems they may be having will be seen while onsite and the results of not being able to handle the issues led to them taking their life. It just seems to have nothing to do with their employer and the employer bears no responsibility and their image didn't deserve that blow.
Actually interviews with thousands of employees of that company bear otherwise...
The company is demoralizing. Imagine working a 14 hour shift and coming home, eating a meager dinner since that's all you can afford, and then being called at 3 AM by your manager to get the hell down into the plant to redo the work you had just done in the past week just because Steve Jobs wanted a different casing on the iPad or iPhone. And then imagine that you can't go home early - you have to end your shift at hte normal time. So now you have to work a 17 hour day with no overtime.
Now imagine that the water quality sucks, pollution is choking and you have asthma induced by the toxic chemicals that you deal with day in and day out, your kidneys are hurting due to those chemicals, and you suffer migraine headaches because of them and the bad air quality. You likely have metal poisoning and have toxic chemicals in your system. Your future children, should you be lucky enough to find someone, will have ten times more likely for birth defects than average. And to top it all off, the company has poor health care coverage.
Yeah, sure, the company's image "doesn't deserve" it's bad image ... seriously what planet do people live on to make these ignorant statements?
Slave labor by another name. Isn't outsourcing such a warm and fuzzy term compared to reality?
Quote:
Originally Posted by plwhit
People complain all the time here about how Apple should bring their manufacturing jobs back to America AND that the cost of the final product would have hardly any price increase....
I defy anyone here to watch the following video on Apples production facility (Foxconn) in China and tell me how this is possible...
Can anyone seriously say American workers would live in a company dorm room (7 people per room), and work 6 days a week for $285.00 a month?
I'm surprised that they try to link those people's suicides to the Foxcomm company and Apple. They jumped to their deaths from the dorms that they live in. They live there at the worksite, therefore any personal problems they may be having will be seen while onsite and the results of not being able to handle the issues led to them taking their life. It just seems to have nothing to do with their employer and the employer bears no responsibility and their image didn't deserve that blow.
Wow, really??? And coal miners' black lungs had nothing to do with the workplace, they just didn't cough enough. Their fault.
Physical and mental problems can be linked to your working conditions. It is why we have unions.
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... seriously what planet do people live on to make these ignorant statements?
