Never understood why people think that 40.00 is somehow a pittance.
Those people were once accustomed to making nothing. 40.00 is a lot of money to them. People over here went through the same thing 110 years ago.
There is no skipping this stage.
You are, of course, correct. And then there’s this fact; if someone is offering you the best option you have, how in the world is that exploitation? If it’s the best you can get, its the best you can get. If you are better off taking said option, regardless of how crappy that option is, your problem is not that option. Your problem is much bigger than that.
How the Pope, or Pat, can blame businesses that are giving these people a better shot than anyone else is giving them is just astonishing. With due respect to Pat and The Pope, they are just wrong about this.
That is how I see it too. Of course we could force the EPA/OSHA/FDA/(pick 3 letters and repeat as needed) on them and make sure they NEVER develop and stay dirt poor FOREVER.
There is no skipping this stage.
That is true.
I am reminded of the observations of a noted US private equity specialist last May concerning Chinese factories, the nature of the workers, their long hours, the packed conditions under which the live, the direction in which the barbed-wire fences are oriented, and, come Chinese New Year, the length of the Arbeit-macht-frei queue:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge03Sys8SdA#t=6m35s
Romney: And I remember going to—sorry just to bore you with stories—but I was, when I was back in my private equity days, we went to China to buy a factory there, employed about 20,000 people, and they were almost all young women between the ages of about 18 and 22 or 23. They were saving for potentially becoming married, and they worked in these huge factories, they made various small appliances, and as we were walking through this facility, seeing them work, the number of hours they worked per day, the pittance they earned, living in dormitories with little bathrooms at the end with maybe ten rooms. And the rooms, they had 12 girls per room, three bunk beds on top of each other. You've seen them.Audience member: Oh, yeah.
Romney: And around this factory was a fence, a huge fence with barbed wire, and guard towers. And we said, "Gosh, I can't believe that you, you know, you keep these girls in." They said, "No, no, no—this is to keep other people from coming in. Because people want so badly to come work in this factory that we have to keep them out, or they'll just come in here and start working and try and get compensated. So, we—this is to keep people out." And they said, "Actually, Chinese New Year, is the girls go home, sometimes they decide they've saved enough money and they don't come back to the factory." And he said, "And so on the weekend after Chinese New Year, there'll be a line of people hundreds long outside the factory, hoping that some girls haven't come back and they can come to the factory.
And so, as we were experiencing this for the first time, for me to see a factory like this in China some years ago, the Bain partner I was with turned to me and said, "You know, 95 percent of life is settled if you're born in America." This is an amazing land. And what we have is unique, and fortunately it is so special we're sharing it with the world. I'm concerned about the future, but also optimistic as I said, and I look forward to getting America back on track, and having people plan on bringing their ideas and their dreams to this country. We get big dreamers, by the way. Oh, I just, we didn't talk about immigration today. Gosh, I'd love to bring in more legal immigrants that have skill and [unintelligible]. I'd like to staple a green card to every Ph.D. in the world and say, "Come to America, we want you here." Instead, we make it hard for people who get educated here or elsewhere to make this their home. Unless, of course, you have no skill or experience, in which case you're welcome to cross the border and stay here for the rest of your life. [Audience laughs.] It's very strange. It's run by people who don't understand the words "global competition of ideas," and our idea has to win, but only if America reigns strong.