The human cost of our toys.

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This is distressing:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/b...s-for-workers-in-china.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2

and it's by no means just limited to Apple, either. But they are the premiere beneficiary in terms of profits. And I don't want to feel responsible for human suffering as a result of my high tech toys (of which I have many!!!).

And the implications go way beyond this story. Consider at the conversation going on in this country now about the labor force! Wow.
 
As China grows economically, their middle class swells, and they embrace capitalism, I feel less and less remorse for the whiners. "Oh, they make us work so harrrrrd!" So quit. I'm sure there's plenty of other opportunities, right? Given the sheer size of Foxcon's workforce, I'd say there is some draw to working for them, despite the conditions. "Oh, their workers are suicidal? Where do I sign up?!"
 
Boo hoo.

The same people that bitch about the "human cost" are the same people who would throw their arms up and cry foul if apple raised their prices another $50.


The fact of the matter is there are 1.35 billion Chinese people - the reason they have been kicking ass is because of their labor force. If you don't like the job, don't work there. Guess what though -- a job at a place like foxxcon is a dream to many chinese people. You or I might not fully understand it but it's just the way life is.

If you want to fix it you have two choices -- decrease the population by a few hundred million, or jack up the prices of the labor/materials/product. Guess what though -- why would I pay a higher price for a low quality chinese product when for about the same (now increased) price I can buy something American or German made?

Joe Douchebag and Mary bitchface want their ipod, ipad, and macs and they want them cheap. Until either the Chinese government does something or Mr and Mrs. Douchebag stop buying apple crap this will continue.

Guess what - it's none of our business as a country to care how chinese society or the chinese government conducts business. Imagine you go to work and a protest group from 10,000 miles away shows up and starts bitching at your company (who you are happy to work for) for some obscure reason you can't understand. The company pays you, feeds you, and makes it possible for you to survive. Would you like it if people just showed up and started demanding your place of employment close its doors? No, you wouldn't (we are assuming an average job where you do in fact work hard for your money, which despite what most people think its NOT a bad thing)

People just need to shut the fuck up, mind their own damn business. Buy an ipad or don't depending on which side of the argument you are on. Either way nobody should care about your own private ways of spending money.
 
It is what it is. If it isn't happening in China then it's happening somewhere else. Americans during the industrial revolution had to suffer the same conditions to get to where we are today. Is it wrong/Is it right... it's easy when we sit on a high horse looking at the world reading our blogs behind the comfort of our desks, unfortunately those jobs don't exist everywhere. In 50-100 years they will be looking at everyone else rewarded by the efforts of their ancestors while we become the aging superpower begging for bailouts because we're too good to work hard because we're privileged and spoiled. Oh wait... maybe less than 50.. more like now.
 
This is the same crap that we did here in the US 100 years ago. The coal you used to heat your house was dug out of the earth by an abused 14-year-old dying from Black Lung Disease. The world in which we live is built on the backs of people like this. Just about every product you can purchase has a cost measurable in human beings.
 
There are some things you just simply can't change in this world.
 
Keep in mind that virtually every electronic device in your household is going to have at least one Foxconn part in it. You can't boycott Foxconn and still post on this forum.

Boycotting all Chinese products is not realistic for any ordinary American household. Boycotting Chinese suppliers is not realistic for any American corporation. Changing the dependency on Chinese products needs to happen at the governmental level, but that's not going to happen because we now have an obstructionist-at-all-costs party in control of Congress.

Which made Mitch Daniel's mention of Steve Jobs in the GOP Response to the State Of The Union speech really peculiar. He touted Steve Jobs as having created more jobs than the stimulus. Wha...?
 
People would be surprised to see that things are often WORSE at non Foxconn factories. Foxconn gets all the heat because they are the largest. It goes downhill from there when you get into small fab plants that are desperately trying to compete with Foxconn's better processes and higher volume capabilities. Anyone who wants to botcott electronics from Foxconn for moral reasons, just boycott anything with a PCB in it.
 
Honestly, I don't understand the popular angle on this, that Apple and other companies who rely on Chinese suppliers are responsible for and enabling these labor practices.

No, they're not. The Chinese suppliers engage in it and the Chinese government condones it.

Today, right now, Apple et al have few options as to their suppliers. They need specific products made a specific way and delivered in a certain timeframe with a certain amount of flexibility. They can't turn to an American workforce because no one can make those products. It would require years to set that up. (I say they should start now, rather than continue to just send orders to China.)

But regulating labor practices is the responsibility of a government, not a contracting corporation.
 
Terpfen said:
Today, right now, Apple et al have few options as to their suppliers. They need specific products made a specific way and delivered in a certain timeframe with a certain amount of flexibility. They can't turn to an American workforce because no one can make those products. It would require years to set that up. (I say they should start now, rather than continue to just send orders to China.)
Click to expand...

Foxconn is setting up shop in Brazil. This means a new labor force and hopefully better working conditions. If you've been watching for it, this news has been coming in for a while. Here is a recent article:

http://www.appleinsider.com/article...ax_breaks_looks_to_start_ipad_production.html

At the very least this will drive the cost of production down and increase the amount of supply that Apple can make. It in theory should bring down the amount of devices that need to be made in China and therefore alleviate some of the worker problems there. However, that is of course, yet to be seen.
 
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