Fast-Growing China Says Little of Child Slavery’s Role
Are we not enabling China to abuse children by not fining them for trade violations—taking away their incentive to cheat?
SHANGHAI, June 20 — There is a certain ritualistic aspect to stories in China like the one this past week about the hundreds of people, many of them teenagers or even younger, who were forced to work under slavelike conditions in the brick kilns of Shanxi Province. First, Chinese readers are horrified by a picture of their country that many say they hardly recognize, then a villain is rounded up, and finally, after a torrent of unusually blunt and emotionally charged news reports and editorials, the matter drops from view, ensuring that the larger issue goes unresolved.
Our ‘trade relationship’ with China has been steeped in decisions that ignore fundamental American moral imperatives (like not helping a communist country exploit it’s own population). Basically we’ve been trying to compete with a slave labor population that works for @25 cents an hour. Not a very good business plan. But what did they say in the 90’s? Oh yeah, ‘we are going to create new high tech jobs for Americans whose blue collar factory jobs have moved to China.’ But then they realized they could just outsource all those jobs to India for less. And then for the coup de grace they imported Mexicans who hate the white man because he stole their ‘ancestral lands’ and now they want to create their own country now from Texas to Oregon called Aztlan. We are so screwed.
Rant # 2 for the day.
John I watched this tonight on the Jim Lehrer Report:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/jan-june07/china_06-25.html
The Chinese have a concept which I won’t go into all the details of, but essentially it estimates that, if you pay $1,000 dollars for, let’s say, a laptop computer that’s bought in the United States, and every bit of it is made in China, only well under $100 of that total $1,000 stays in China. Most of the rest stays with the American designer, the American brand, the American retailer, the American service technician.
They went on to say:
In the south, where most of the things that we get in the United States come from, it’s a quite different story. The factories are all relatively recently built; over the last, say, five or 10 years has been the boom. And the typical person who works there is often a young woman who’s come from the provinces, from Sichuan province or some place else remote. She comes from a farming or rural family, where people have basically no cash income.
And she goes to work in one of these factories that are producing, you know, radios, TVs, notebook computers, everything else you buy in the United States. Her life is, she typically spends maybe three or four years in this factory town. She makes about $125 to $135 U.S. per month. She works 10 to 12 hours a day. She lives in a company dormitory, which is pretty crowded. She gets three meals a day at the company store.
She goes home once a year to see her family with a couple-day bus ride. And at the end of three or four years of this, she’s basically been able to save enough money, by Chinese standards, that she can go home and she’s on a different plane of life. And so it is a very arduous situation, as manufacturing booms tend to be, but it essentially is a way that peasant people, by the tens and probably hundreds of millions, have gotten onto a different plane of life.
Justbuildthefence
The real question is what can 25 cents buy in China. (A lot more than here) We’re talking about currency valuations ect… which is one reason why Americans can’t “compete” with the developing world. But China and the U.S. are going to have to realize the future depends on the workers. Ain’t that what Communism was supposed to be about?
Actually the point I was trying to make is that they have a slave labor population…and we are heading in that direction fast. For instance….. what is going to happen when China just decides it’s time to ‘nationalize’ all our factories over there? America’s greatest strength in the past has always been her industrial strength. They are waging economic warfare against us and winning. Seems like all we are interested in is making a buck and they know that. They saw that the Soviets could not compete with us going to head to head. So they came up with a better plan. Lure our industry to China. So far it’s working out pretty good for them when you combine that with all the technology we sell them and the things they steal.
At least they aren’t teaching their kids to be suicide bombers.
Damn John, are you determined to destroy America? In your world, a basic DVR player will cost $2000. Jimmy Carter would be jealous of the new, record setting misery index after your big government policies became law of the land.
Thank God there are only a few with similar views.
As long as you get cheap goods it does not matter if it is from child and slave labor to you.
Beyond that fact this is race to the bottom with wages, it is morally wrong!
The problem now is our choices are now limited to goods made this way at the expense hard working Americans
Morals..???? — So is it “morally” correct to deport the bread winner in a family back to Mexico leaving the wife and kids on their own? You only reference ‘morals’ when convenient John.
It’s a nice soundbite to lament ’slave labor’, but reality is that most in China appreciate the opportunity to make money, no matter the wage scale.
Do you think America should impose its will on the Chinese government? I thought you wanted us to stay out of other countries John. You can’t have it both ways…protectionism and isolationism will prevent the U.S. from having influence over other countries.
Bart
Nice Spin!
The person is not here legally and the only reason you want him here is because he cost less than an American and tax payers will pay the social service cost! I know NEOCONS like you do not respect the law!
BTW Bart I never said “impose will”, I said stiff penalties!
Once again like Bush you are not for enforcing laws!
“impose will” — “stiff penalties” — doesn’t matter John, you have this perverted concept that America can influence the global economy while simultaneously retreating from global participation. You can’t have it both ways John. Leaving the WTO as you support destroys any influence we may have over labor/environmental practices around the world. China would welcome policies like those exhorted by you, LOUser, Buchanan, Paul, etc. You are China’s best friend!