"REVE ROBS RAYS BUILD HIS IPRODS FASTER!
Posted on 06/24/2006 1:43:00 PM PDT by wagglebee
Does your kid have an iPod?
Does he or she want one?
Don't even answer that question. Every kid in America either has one or wants one.
The demand for these little devices is amazing – and so is the price, between $200-$300.
"What's wrong with that?" you ask. "Commerce is good for America. It creates jobs and stimulates the economy."
Jobs? Stimulated economy?
Do you know where your iPod was made? Do you know by whom?
The London Sunday Mail wanted to find out. It sent reporters to "iPod City," where most of the Apple music players are made.
"iPod City" is not in the Silicon Valley, by the way. It's not in the USA. It's not in the United Kingdom. It's in Longhua, China.
That's where some 200,000 Chinese laborers work to make those iPods. That's more people than live in the city of Little Rock, Ark., for example.
What are the conditions like? How about the pay?
You might think a high-tech company like Apple might care about such matters. You might think the politically correct geeks who founded the company and run it would want to ensure foreign workers were not being exploited.
Here's what the Sunday Mail found:
The iPod shuffles are made in Suzhou, Shanghai, where workers earn $100 a month. Sounds better doesn't it? Except these laborers must pay for their own food and accommodations – requiring about half their salary.
Remember all this when your kid asks you for an iPod.
And remember it the next time you go shopping at Wal-Mart or some other bargain center where all the goods are made in these virtual Chinese gulags for pay just above slave wages.
And remember that Apple is just one of thousands of companies using Chinese sweatshops like those described here to manufacture expensive goods designed for the Western consumer who remains blissfully ignorant about the conditions that created that product.
Why is it that we don't tolerate the exploitation of workers in our own country but turn a blind eye to exploitation 10 times worse elsewhere?
What is happening to the American conscience and psyche that allows this kind of abuse?
How is it that the U.S. government could continue to encourage the kind of corporate greed that results in manufacturing agreements with the fascists in Beijing?
Why is it that we see no screaming headlines about the conditions of "iPod City" in the U.S. corporate establishment press?
Where is our sense of right and wrong?
Would we have so glibly accepting of imports from Nazi Germany as we are of those made in the virtual slave labor conditions of the so-called "workers paradise" in China?
No, there's a double standard that permits China, a totalitarian socialist country, to get away with abuses that would not be tolerated anywhere else in the world.
Welcome to the New World Order – where we're OK with the worst kind of oppression, as long as we can't see it taking place.
>might be equivalent to a an American salary of $12k or
>possibly even $24k in terms of buying power.
What's taxation like in China?
Err.... scarier is that these are more like PRC military living conditions... let me see... why such stealth military conscription...
Damn, they got us again a tower.
Well all this is well and good, but it appears to m that the ipod is a lot like the ink cartridge in your printer. It costs about 15 bucks to make and they sell it for 200 to 3oo bucks. the ink Cartridge costs about 1 buck to make and costs 45 bucks. And they bitch about windfall profits in the oil business.
LOL so you know a lot about the Shuffle and other intro iPod models. You might as welll quit while you're behind...
Curious, how many iPods do you own or have used?
I have an iPod. And President Bush has an iPod. I'm very concerned about these reports. However, Apple is investigating them, and I'm awaiting to see what the investigation results in.
The prices for the Shuffles have come down, but sales of them have lagged the other models. The Nano is actually at the SAME price point as the old Mini, but with two gigs LESS capacity. And yes I own two iPods, a Mini and a 30 gig.
You build sixteen iPods what do you get?
another day older and deeper in debt.
St. Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the iTunes store.
I strongly urge you to quit while you're behind
Yeah, the Chinese were much better off a century ago when they weren't reduced to making cheap electronics. Farah sure showed us.
I couldn't live without my Nano. It's loaded with audio books which entertain me whenever I'm waiting for anything, am out walking, or doing housework. I'm well over sixty and female but. . . don't know anyone else my age who knows what an iPod is!
My statement was that Apple would continue to introduce newer models with different features. By doing so, they will be able to keep prices relatively constant. That is what they have done. They have not had to bring prices down because none of the models that were on the market 12 or 18 months ago are even available any more.
(I strongly urge you not to debate me on this because you will lose)
I would love to know what makes you think I am somehow anti-capitalism. It is great that Apple has been able to introduce newer models that are smaller, lighter and have better features while still keeping the price constant. But that is not a price REDUCTION.
I was responding to post #41 where the poster wrote, "I'm waiting for the price to come down! I will not pay full price for anything"
My response was, "The price will NEVER come down, Apple just introduces newer models with different features to keep price and demand up." With the exception of the Shuffle (which very few people want in the first place), you have yet to demonstrate how I have been incorrect.
There is nothing to debate here, you are trying to equate expanded features with a price drop and the two aren't the same thing. I agree that the newer features will attract more buyers, they will not attract buyers who are solely interested in price.
I just bought a shuffle for my niece, it was $69. At Christmas they were $99.
My 18 year was given some $$$ to buy a gift. I thought he'd be buying a new game system like xbox 360, but he bought the iPod 60 gb. It is an amazing little piece of technology, I don't forsee the price of those dropping dramatically.
THANK you. in the area of competitive compassion, i have just about had it with boycotting stuff because the workers don't have the same standard of living we do.
The biggest beef I have against most protectionist posters is that they don't understand Economics 101.
There is the irrational Wal-mart hate again. Blame friggin' Apple or the damn commies in China. Do not blame a company that brings the in the lowest prices. If the commies didn't work their people to death and the manufacturer's didn't ignore it, then the retailers (walmart) would have quite as low prices.
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