These are the iPhones that are used in America and Europe. They're manufactured in factories in China. The international companies take extreme measures to make sure videos of the inside of the factories is not able to escape to the outside world. Part of that has to do with maintaining technological and operations secrets from competitors, and part of it has to do with making sure video of the working conditions doesn't get out, which could cause controversy and public relations problems in the countries where their iPhones are sold.
And your point? Are you suggesting some form of 'supporting the working class' tax against multinationals benefitting from cheap labour? if so, how are you going to counter the analysis into how trade reduces absolute poverty?
A lot of people don't realize China is not really a "First World" country, and aren't aware what conditions are like in Chinese factories, where a lot of the stuff they buy comes from. I think the understanding of what reality is like in some of these other countries has indirect implications for policy in First World countries. A lot of people are completely naive about what living conditions are like in other countries, then they don't seem to be concerned about their society headed on the path towards becoming more like these other countries. That's the point.
I would suspect the wage levels (relative to cost of living) largely reflect how these workers are treated at work and what type of working conditions exist. More videos about working conditions in China: Video #1 The End of the Chinese Miracle - FT feature Video #2 China's Toxic Green Light Bulbs - Al Jazeera documentary Video #3 Santa's Workshop: inside China's slave labor factories (Swedish documentary with English subtitles) Working Conditions Still Poor for China's Factory Workers
First, trade improves those living standards. Second, when there is more extreme exploitation, that refers to the impact of multinationals (and the need to break up market concentration by giving developing countries more power over industrial policy). Third, "we're headed on the same path" is guff. Using unfair trade (and how it reduces the poverty alleviation potential, or wipes it out, for developing countries) to whinge about developed countries is illogical. Where a low wage equilibrium does develop, that reflects internal politics and the cretinous adoption of market fundamentalism.
what??? The suicide nets at Foxconn have been in the news for years!!!!! We in America love helping out the 3rd world by giving them jobs in return for the higher standard of living we get from the cheaper goods they produce. 1+1=2
how slow are you? so if we were very intellectual like you and knew about conditions [3000 times better than previous generation] in Chinese factories what would an intellectual like you suggest we do??
