iPod gulags (Chinese slave labor)

WorldNetDaily ^ | 6/23/06 | Joseph Farah

[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 laborers are housed in dormitories of 100 people each;

• visitors from the outside world are not permitted;

• workers toil for 15 hours a day;

• employees make $50 a month – not even a quarter of the price of one unit;

• the iPod nano is made in a five-story factory secured by police officers.

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.

[rlmorel]

"...The price will NEVER come down, Apple just introduces newer models with different features to keep price and demand up...."

And the problem with that is...?

Apple is a company competing in a capitalist environment. If their product is not wanted, it won't sell, and they will be forced to change or lose money.

As a company that is VERY healthy with huge reserves of cash turning a profit nearly every single quarter that rolls by, then someone must want their products. They are doing what a business SHOULD do.

A business does not supply goods to people because it is a nice thing to do, they do it because they want to make money.

Socialism does not work. Period.

As Eric Allie so eloquently illustrates in his cartoon:

[wagglebee]

I agree that Farah often (if not usually) talks out his a$$. However, I also believe that the human rights conditions in China are deplorable and I would love to see the Chicoms collapse as the Soviets did.

I do not believe there should be ANY minimum wage laws in the United States. I think wages should be set by the free market and that this would benefit both employers and employees. I think that doing this would also help end a lot of our dependence on overseas goods.

[rlmorel]

I agree with everything you said in this post...:)

[wagglebee]

I don't have any problem with Apple not lowering prices or making a profit. I have a Mac notebook that I love, I'm going to buy a Mac desktop later in the year when they come out with the Intel processor, I have an iPod and almost bought a new one today but Best Buy didn't have the 60gig model in stock.

[dhuffman@awod.com]

And these are Americans, my fellows. I'm glad I'm old. I'm glad I live far far away, still in the US but a long ways literal and figurative from these simpletons.

Thanks for the article. When we first moved here I tried the TV (rotating broadcast yagi antenna) but saw only four versions of an Oprah show. Haven't tried it since. Our locals are amazingly talented in art and music so I haven't missed anything beyond our collection of a thousand or so CDs.

Our community is effectively gated by Death's Door passage and had a stiff admissions fee that keeps the rabble - like your respondents here - out. I like my tagline.

[wagglebee]

Well damn! Glad to see we agree on something! :-)

[the invisib1e hand]

all the liberal, forward thinking Mac users never give a thought to those, uh, people, who earn about enough to buy a latte or two a day putting their cutesy little latptops together.

[RepoGirl]

An iPod is the most worthless, trivial, mind-numbing toy in the marketplace. Does that give you a clue?

Amos, Amos, Amos...

I think you're being a bit harsh about the iPod.

And you're wrong. If you think that the iPod is the most worthless, trivial and mind-numbing toy in the marketplace, you obviously haven't seen commercials for the Pasta Pronta (the amazing new invention that lets you COOK PASTA PERFECTLY!)

The iPod is simply a portable hard drive for the love of Pete. Personally, I find mine pretty handy and enjoyable. I listen to a LOT of books on tape.

Not all iPod users dance around in silhouette (save for a glowing, neon border) listening to pop music.

[the invisib1e hand]

but whole foods won't be cruel to lobsters.

[cowboyway]

That would explain the callouses.

I just read on NHL.com that Edmonton was going to trade Mozard and a couple of goalies to Nashville for a first round draft pick.

[rawcatslyentist]

>"Who's Mozard?"

he's the giant internet browzer that beat MSzilla!

[TET1968]

"The laborers are housed in dormitories of 100 people each"

My Barracks at Ft. Bragg housed about 50 per floor (2 floors).

"Visitors from the outside world are not permitted"

Same same at my base in Dong Ha.

"Workers toil for 15 hours a day"

We toiled 16 + hours a day......under daily rocket & morter attacks.

"Employees make $50 a month "

While above the DMZ, in Dong Ha, I made more then that.
Not as much as a country club caddy, but still more.

[mgstarr]

But since you have never been to these factories, how can you speak as to their conditions? They are not great by US standards, but compared to what is standard in that region (even outside China), it is extremely good. Compared to other jobs they have access to, these are coveted.

Even without minimum wage laws, I doubt we could compete anymore on mass production. It comes down to basic labor supply and demand. The only way it would work would be a huge pool of cheap labor. The only source of that here is Mexico. Don't think that's a viable option on several fronts - not the least of which is skill.

[mgstarr]

And where was your computer made, PC person?

[wagglebee]

I was criticizing the human rights conditions under the Chicoms in general. I understand that those who work in factories making good for America do far better than most over there. I think the main problem we have with China is the fact that we are putting so much cash into the hands of the Chicoms and allowing them to remain in power.

[SamAdams76]

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.

Oh, the horror. Half their salary goes for food and housing? No way would this happen in America. Does anybody here pay half their salary for food and housing?

I didn't think so.

[mgstarr]

On that point we agree. Unfortunately the history of China is rife with various forms of oppression - be it communist or otherwise. They have a way to go.
Personally I like the Hong Kong model but that implies Western colonialism, a concept I'm quite comfortable with.

[Aria]

here is a show called "Mensa Radio" - a variety of episodes from different dates that you can listen to on your computer or download onto an ipod.

http://www.podomatic.com/search?v=&query=mensa+

There is some Philip Marlowe...Isaac Asimov..all kinds of neat old stuff - if you search the word "radio". Of course there's a lot of current stuff, political, religious, all sorts of music...I like Sweet Jazz podcasts.

Try it!

[Centurion2000]

bump

[RS]

"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"


They might want to leave this out from their next posting of this - Food and Housing costs are half your salary ? Isn't that about right ?