[dangerdoc]

A little liberal angst to chew on.

[a fool in paradise]

Countless big U.S. and non U.S. corporations are guilty of exploiting human workforce and looking the other way when it’s convenient. Chinese sweatshops have been making headlines for years and a recent article published on Gizmodo truly highlighted the ghastly working conditions at Foxconn, Apple’s contract manufacturer. When there are suicide attempts at a manufacturing facility, due to stress and working conditions, you know you are much closer to a modern form of slavery than an employer who makes sure its employees are taken care of.

Hey if they paid a fair wage, that iphone might cost $450 instead of $400...

[Eyes Unclouded]

Well either we enjoy our cheap (and bloody) products or we start a land war in Asia with a nuclear power to liberate a fifth of humanity. I’ll take the occasional pangs of guilt.

[devane617]

I LUV my iPhone...Hell no, I don’t feel guilty...

[Loud Mime]

I wouldn’t attribute care for others as liberal.

Here I will speak for myself: I am willing to pay an extra $100 for my future I-Pad if it is made in the U.S.A.

I want alternatives to Chinese-made goods. I buy Newbalance shoes (if they are USA-made), but run out of options quickly.

Hey, Mr. Jobs! Are you listening?

[Carley]

Just reading that WalMart is selling out their current stock of iPhones for $97

[svcw]

Why would you feel guilty. Its just a phone, and a great phone at that.

[skr]

And spit out

[Moose4]

OK. Instead, I bought an HTC Droid Eris. Same underpaid Chinese, none of the dumbass Apple worship and liberal angst. And I didn’t pay an extra $100 for the Apple symbol, either.

}:-)4

[aquila48]

“At least as far as I am concerned, I would like to know that the “incredible price” of the iPad was achieved through Apple’s innovation and not on the shoulders of severely underpaid workers and an hazardous work environment in a factory on the other side of the world. That whole thought puts Apple’s impressive profit margins into an entirely differently light as well.”

What a a**hole. Why doesn’t he go and ask whoever assembles these if they would rather have the job they got or whatever other job may be available for them where they live.

[Responsibility2nd]

[Tennessee Nana]

Should You Feel Guilty Owning an iPhone?
____________________________________________

Only if you stole it from someone else...

[newheart]

Yes, you should feel guilty, because until everyone can have an iPhone, no one should have an iPhone. — words of wisdom from Chairman O.

[throwback]

Will these low cost labor markets evolve, though? Back in the day, Japan was the trademark of cheap. Now, working conditions are comparable or better than here. Will communism thwart what seems to always happen; i.e. living standards and wages improve over time. I think some manufacturers are already leaving China looking for the next stop in the cheap labor search. Eventually most of the world will probably come to parity.

[Star Traveler]

Ummm..., Swordmaker, are you feeling guilty right now, for some unknown reason? This may be the reason why... LOL ...

[TChris]

Guilty? No.

How an employer or supplier treats his employees is not my doing, so it's not my responsibility.

[Political Junkie Too]

I wonder how many liberals used their $400 iPhone to write a diatribe about how Obama should kill the space program and divert NASA funds to more "humane" endeavors.

-PJ

[TexasNative2000]

No. Next question.

[MEGoody]

I don’t own an iPhone, so I guess I have no reason to feel guilty.

[Cementjungle]

I don’t buy iStuff, it all gives me the creeps. The liberals all fall over themselves to get the latest iThing, which naturally repels me.

[Teacher317]

There is no reason to feel guilty at all. You're buying a legal product (helping our economy), manufactured abroad (creating jobs for the poor), by people working jobs at wages those people are willing to accept (if they had better options, they'd go), and under conditions that people are willing to accept (ditto). Just because we wouldn't accept those conditions or wages does not mean that others wouldn't. Clearly, if the workers are not leaving under those grueling circumstances, then the job is worth the wage to them. Let us let them be free to make their own choices, without having to answer to our cultural norms. (What, is it okay now to be cultural Imperialists??)

The ONLY entity that ought to feel shame in any way is the Chinese government. Their laws and rules are being ignored by Chinese manufacturers, and it gives their country and government a bad reputation. Personally, I won't be holding my breath for them to actually act on human rights or workers' rights issues. I hope they get to it, and right quick... but I won't feel bad because a foreign government is childish and ineffective. Ours is bad enough on both counts as it is.

(By the way, I don't have an iPhone, despite my sister's protracted attempts to get me to switch. I'm still anti-Apple, and I'm curmudgeon-y enough to stay there for a while longer.)