Linked by David Adams on Wed 17th Dec 2008 17:15 UTC, submitted by Michael
In a muckraking Spiegel.de article, suppliers to well-known computer manufacturers are accused of mistreating workers and violating Chinese labor law: "According to a Hong-Kong based human rights organization, working hours total up to 370 hours per month, workers aren't receiving the legal minimum wage and in the run-up to Christmas, days off are cut out entirely." One of the reasons that high tech hardware has become so widespread and useful is because it's so inexpensive. As this article demonstrates, this affordability can come at a price.
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Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2006-08-09
Member since:2006-09-27
As I said in my very first post in this thread, I am first on the list of people who's lifestyle supports this kind of stuff. I'm probably wearing a couple things made in China, and you're right about my credit cards, etc...
[..] But we don't, and we won't, cause we want cheap crap. So we say, as you have, Oh how sad this is, but it happens everywhere, nothing I can do about it, and that's wrong.
[..] But we don't, and we won't, cause we want cheap crap. So we say, as you have, Oh how sad this is, but it happens everywhere, nothing I can do about it, and that's wrong.
Well, don't worry too much about that, because it's not likely to last much longer, at least according to Peter Schiff. Go to youtube and search "Dollar Collapse - America, A Country Living On IOU's - Peter Schiff -Part 1 - America Is Finished" or follow this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1V5iu715rc&feature=related
If you are wondering who this guy is and why would someone listen to him, search "Peter Schiff was right", or go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8r-nDBx5Jg
As many other followers of the Austrian school of economics, he correctly and accurately predicted the current crisis, as well as the housing bubble and the dot com bubble. They don't blame the lack of regulation of the markets, but exactly the opposite, the interventionist, Keynesian policies of credit expansion by the US Federal Reserve. Similar causes, say the Austrians, lie behind the 1929 crack and virtually all boom-bust economic cycles ever since, which are NOT a natural behavior of a real free market economy.
Member since:2006-08-09
As many other followers of the Austrian school of economics, he correctly and accurately predicted the current crisis, as well as the housing bubble and the dot com bubble.
So did other, non-"Austrian" economists, such as Michael Hudson. Also search for Max Keiser, lots of fun now and then to see him commenting on a.o. Al Jazeera English.
They don't blame the lack of regulation of the markets, but exactly the opposite, the interventionist, Keynesian policies of credit expansion by the US Federal Reserve.
1) There is nothing "Keynesian" about what the Fed has been doing in the past decades;
2) The reason the crisis is so bad this time is partly because of Clinton having killed the Glass-Steagall regulations.
Similar causes, say the Austrians, lie behind the 1929 crack
No, that was because of a very similar credit bubble on the stock market. There was very little regulation at the time.
and virtually all boom-bust economic cycles ever since, which are NOT a natural behavior of a real free market economy.
"Boom-bust" cycles are caused not by regulation or deregulation, but by the monetary system (fractional reserve banking and compound interest).
While Peter Schiff is completely right about the debt and the balance of payments deficit, and about America's overconsumption and huge indebtedness, he pays little attention to America's free ride as explained by America's top financial economist, Michael Hudson, in Global Fracture and Superimperialism.
Member since:2006-12-16
Member since:
2006-03-30
As I said in my very first post in this thread, I am first on the list of people who's lifestyle supports this kind of stuff. I'm probably wearing a couple things made in China, and you're right about my credit cards, etc...
My point is that, first, when we read a story like this our reaction shouldn't be something as ignorant as "Shit Happens" and "Let them strike or get a new job if they don't like it". That is ridiculous, that is naive, and it is insulting to them. My second point would be that Western governments shouldn't tolerate this kind of stuff from China, and we should all be doing everything we can to see it stopped. But we don't, and we won't, cause we want cheap crap. So we say, as you have, Oh how sad this is, but it happens everywhere, nothing I can do about it, and that's wrong.