They have literally replaced machine parts with human parts. This is hardly the worst thing that the global economy has produced, but it should give you pause the next time you buy some cheap metal trinket from a big box store. Would you make people work this way? Because in a way every time we buy cheap crap from these factories we are in essence doing just that.
I assure you that the guys in this press are not making the lions share of the money from whatever it is they are producing, so it’s not like we are doing them any favors in keeping them in a dangerous shitty job. We should be pressuring our government to require fair wage, and fair labor practices in the countries of our trading partners. Until it becomes politically dangerous for congress people to support the current system of global trade, it simply wont stop.
I know its a lot to think about when all you want is a cheap flower pot, but that’s the world we live in.
I just finished listening to the audio book of “Nickel and Dimed”. Really eye opening about the working poor of this country, which got me thinking about the working poor of other countries.
Painful. I know I want to do something (I already don’t buy from Walmart and have cut down most other types of similar shopping) but am not sure what yet.
Isn’t this fake- looks like it. I love Walmart! They provide decent products at a good price for the average consumer. You go Walmart!
Jamie, No this isn’t fake, and those cheap prices come at a price to the environment and human beings….I find your comments kind of horrible.
Hi Jamie, no worries, you too will soon be working for Walmart. I mean, duh, there’s a cheaper way to make these goods – why get poor Chinese guys to make this stuff in horrible conditions for low wages and then ship it to the US, when you could make it IN the US, using US labor? Just wait until the economic crisis gets bad enough that government calls a spade a spade and says that it’s a bloody depression – then see whether you won’t be desperate to work in those sorts of appalling conditions.
Oh wait, you’d rather there was another way? So would those Chinese workers…