[Mr Ramsbotham]

I think they should close down those sweatshops. Then the people who work in them would die of starvation and exposure, rather than building collapses.

All seriousness aside, sometimes the only thing worse than working in a sweatshop is not having a sweatshop to work in.

[expat_panama]

...close down those sweatshops. Then the people who work in them would die of starvation...

Right, because real patriotic Americans don't want all this off shoring of workplace deaths.  Why should we allow "nearly 400 people" in Bangladesh when in 2011 alone we had 4609 workplace deaths in America!

OK, so maybe we're breaking the sarc/ meter here, but I swear the stupidity we're getting from the press is astronomical.

[Koblenz]

I imagine that if clothing had to be made locally, we’d soon have machines that were doing the entire process. Right now, there’s no major incentive to invest in the research to make automatic sewing machines because labor in certain third world countries is so cheap that the machines would not be able to compete. But if the third world gets its act together, and their economies expand and their wages increase, machines will become more viable.

[GSD Lover]

The sad thing is that you could add 20 cents to the cost of that shirt and most buyers wouldn’t blink an eye, but the standard of living for the sweatshop worker would rise greatly if it went to increased labor costs.