Did it ever occur to you what it costs to others for you to be able to buy things at the prices you do?
Many years ago, I heard that soccer balls and basket balls were made in India. This is because labour costs is cheap enough, and people living in the richer worlds can afford these balls, while they couldn't, if the Indians were paid according to the wage scale in the home countries of the buyers.
The same applied to clothing and manufacturing. Rarely is one able to buy t-shirts that are made in Australia these days, as the Bangladeshi, Chinese and Vietnamese ones have overtaken the market. Even the manufacturing of cars has become largely off-shored, or at least, it seems to be trending that way. But then again, there is an oversupply of new cars for the world market, so it kind of makes sense to lessen the production in some countries, in spite the costs to the jobs and economy.
More recently, I read about the electronics industry, where it is not just for financial economics that iPhones and mobile are made in China. There are also health issues. Apparently, there is a degree of pollution that comes out as a by-product of the electronics industry. The workers in these factories are exposed to carcinogens. The Chinese economy is set to overtake that of the USA next year, but even so, people are living in conditions where the level of pollution is 1000% higher than what the WHO deems to be safe.
Are we shocked? Should we be? Is this something to think about? Pray about? Or not care about since it is somebody else's problem somewhere else?
The article makes the situation of the factory works akin to those of slaves. Have they overstated the issue? We pray for and protest against slavery in many situations, do we also care about the situations of factory workers?
What can we do about it? Can we afford the higher price of clothing, electronics and other consumables if people were paid at a higher rate?
What do you think? How can we show care for the less privileged around the world?
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