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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (3867)	1/29/2001 7:31:08 PM
From: E	Respond to of 82486

China has slave labor camps so I boycott their goods.

To: epicure who wrote (3867)	1/29/2001 8:51:02 PM
From: Dayuhan	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

It makes no sense to support unions and then buy overseas goods made by non-union labor. I'm not sure this is an entirely valid policy. It wasn't that long ago that Honk Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Korea were dominated by low-priced sweatshop labor. They broke through that phase, and now all of them are developing much more sophisticated economies with many more opportunities for common people. They are also developing their own labor movements, but they are developing from within, not being imposed from the outside. These countries would not have developed to the extent that they have if they had been fenced out of major markets by people concerned about their labor conditions. Most economies go through a stage when the only competitive advantage they have is cheap labor, and trying to block these countries from exporting, as some of the anti-globalization protestors are demanding, is only going to make conditions there worse. Of course there is no guarantee that countries in this stage are going to break out of it - it depends on the way they manage their affairs. This is something that they need to work out themselves, though. I really believe that trade is one of the strongest influences toward both economic and political liberalization, and I don't support trade sanctions except in the most extreme circumstances; I think they are often counterproductive, especially when imposed for extended periods of time.

To: epicure who wrote (3867)	1/30/2001 3:43:43 AM
From: Jorj X Mckie	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

Power in the hands of workers is a recent phenomenon and imo highly beneficial. The less power is concentrated in the hands of a few, the better. While I realize there are power centers in unions, they do not alarm me. It alarms the hell out of me. When I was 16, I worked in a casino restaurant. The food & beverage workers union showed up and started to organize. I had no desire to join the union, so I crossed the picket line. That "power in the hands of the workers" took the form of a group of about 8 of them attacking me in my car. I would never try to stop someone from organizing, but the fact that they would try to stop me from working through intimidation shows how alarming they can be. What does alarm me are the horrible working conditions being shipped off shore. I would rather pay more and know that what I purchase was made by folks making a decent wage. I never really understood this sentiment. I agree that the working conditions can be horrible, but the individuals are making the decision to work in these companies because it is better than starving. So if all join hands and boycott products that are made in what we interpret as horrible working conditions, we can force the companies to come back to the states and those people who were working in the horrible conditions are back out on the street.