I believe it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than to be ignorant.
I left a comment the other day but I must not have saved it. Apple is big and successful so the focus is on them. But the focus really should be on our entire supply chain. Foxconn does work for most tech companies, including Amazon for Kindle and B&N for the Nook. Also, they create tech crap for HP, etc. We don't have the sizable workforce China has, so the companies go there, and get their skilled employees for cheap. If we want to fix this problem, we need to understand it better, and we should require our companies to treat foreign workers better. We all need to vote and we need to ask for a certain amount of regulation. I like my iMac and I'd like to buy a Kindle. I'd like to feel good about those purchases. The simple fact is, most of our tech companies are big corporations now who want to make even a bigger boatload of money. They don't care about Americans losing work, and they probably don't care much about Chinese workers working 12 hours a day/6days a week and sleeping in a dorm at work. It's a bigger problem than Apple. And a boycott would be a disaster. People love their gadgets too much.
It's funny, during my walk today I was thinking about Apple and Chinese labor. It might have had something to do with the iPod blasting out tunes by The Gibson Brothers into my earbuds. Then when I returned I foud your very thoughtful comment on Apple and Chinese labor.
I agree with your, especially with respect to a boycott. It would be a disaster and not good for our economy. This kind of labor is gone for good. The only way it will come back is if domestic labor can deliver the goods in a timely and cost effective manner. The actual labor cost is probably less a factor than is the total control of labor and the supply chain.
Oh, when I was wandering and pondering, my thoughts went from the U.S. and Apple to Rome, citizenship and slaves. I found similarities. In many ways we are Rome and if you are not Roman, you are nothing, you are ess than a slave (they were owned and had value). We may be vocal about wretched working conditions, but come on. Oh damn my iPod needs a charge. I have to close and switch to iTunes on my Mac.
I agree, and really, it could even be some tech-envy behind this. Apple is successful. Yeah, Jobs was a jerk, but he was a smart jerk. He said these jobs would never come back here to the USA. He's right. I also read a NY Times article in the NY Times Magazine about our trade deficit with China. We thought they wanted to be like us. As a result, Gap, Barbie, California Pizza did not do well. They buy much less from us than we do from them. We judged them from our ethnocentric perspective like we do every other damn country we encounter. And they are not like us. There has to be a better way to solve our problems than just assuming everybody wants to be us. Could we get some more Anthropologists to work with us on policy decisions and also with corporations on their marketing and placement decisions? Would that matter? Hmmmm.
Wal-mart led the exit to China didn't it? Other companies were there and in other Asian nations, like Nike. Jobs, seems to have been a bit late at the game. But, he was better at it than most other tech companies.
Our companies could benefit from Anthropologists, Sociologists, etc. if we had a national industrial policy. We forget that China is very centrally administered. They are a Communist country. They are practicing state capitalism right now, but have The Little Red Book in their back pocket.
The one thing to wait for, not too much longer either, is that China will soon experience all the nasty sides of capitalism. When it really hits home, will the Commitariat revert and usher in another deadly Cultural Awakening or allow China to become a real market based society?
Wal-mart led the exit to China didn't it? Other companies were there and in other Asian nations, like Nike. Jobs, seems to have been a bit late at the game. But, he was better at it than most other tech companies.
Our companies could benefit from Anthropologists, Sociologists, etc. if we had a national industrial policy. We forget that China is very centrally administered. They are a Communist country. They are practicing state capitalism right now, but have The Little Red Book in their back pocket.
The one thing to wait for, not too much longer either, is that China will soon experience all the nasty sides of capitalism. When it really hits home, will the Commitariat revert and usher in another deadly Cultural Awakening or allow China to become a real market based society?
5 Comments:
I left a comment the other day but I must not have saved it. Apple is big and successful so the focus is on them. But the focus really should be on our entire supply chain. Foxconn does work for most tech companies, including Amazon for Kindle and B&N for the Nook. Also, they create tech crap for HP, etc. We don't have the sizable workforce China has, so the companies go there, and get their skilled employees for cheap. If we want to fix this problem, we need to understand it better, and we should require our companies to treat foreign workers better. We all need to vote and we need to ask for a certain amount of regulation. I like my iMac and I'd like to buy a Kindle. I'd like to feel good about those purchases. The simple fact is, most of our tech companies are big corporations now who want to make even a bigger boatload of money. They don't care about Americans losing work, and they probably don't care much about Chinese workers working 12 hours a day/6days a week and sleeping in a dorm at work. It's a bigger problem than Apple. And a boycott would be a disaster. People love their gadgets too much.
It's funny, during my walk today I was thinking about Apple and Chinese labor. It might have had something to do with the iPod blasting out tunes by The Gibson Brothers into my earbuds. Then when I returned I foud your very thoughtful comment on Apple and Chinese labor.
I agree with your, especially with respect to a boycott. It would be a disaster and not good for our economy. This kind of labor is gone for good. The only way it will come back is if domestic labor can deliver the goods in a timely and cost effective manner. The actual labor cost is probably less a factor than is the total control of labor and the supply chain.
Oh, when I was wandering and pondering, my thoughts went from the U.S. and Apple to Rome, citizenship and slaves. I found similarities. In many ways we are Rome and if you are not Roman, you are nothing, you are ess than a slave (they were owned and had value). We may be vocal about wretched working conditions, but come on. Oh damn my iPod needs a charge. I have to close and switch to iTunes on my Mac.
I agree, and really, it could even be some tech-envy behind this. Apple is successful. Yeah, Jobs was a jerk, but he was a smart jerk. He said these jobs would never come back here to the USA. He's right. I also read a NY Times article in the NY Times Magazine about our trade deficit with China. We thought they wanted to be like us. As a result, Gap, Barbie, California Pizza did not do well. They buy much less from us than we do from them. We judged them from our ethnocentric perspective like we do every other damn country we encounter. And they are not like us. There has to be a better way to solve our problems than just assuming everybody wants to be us. Could we get some more Anthropologists to work with us on policy decisions and also with corporations on their marketing and placement decisions? Would that matter? Hmmmm.
Wal-mart led the exit to China didn't it? Other companies were there and in other Asian nations, like Nike. Jobs, seems to have been a bit late at the game. But, he was better at it than most other tech companies.
Our companies could benefit from Anthropologists, Sociologists, etc. if we had a national industrial policy. We forget that China is very centrally administered. They are a Communist country. They are practicing state capitalism right now, but have The Little Red Book in their back pocket.
The one thing to wait for, not too much longer either, is that China will soon experience all the nasty sides of capitalism. When it really hits home, will the Commitariat revert and usher in another deadly Cultural Awakening or allow China to become a real market based society?
Wal-mart led the exit to China didn't it? Other companies were there and in other Asian nations, like Nike. Jobs, seems to have been a bit late at the game. But, he was better at it than most other tech companies.
Our companies could benefit from Anthropologists, Sociologists, etc. if we had a national industrial policy. We forget that China is very centrally administered. They are a Communist country. They are practicing state capitalism right now, but have The Little Red Book in their back pocket.
The one thing to wait for, not too much longer either, is that China will soon experience all the nasty sides of capitalism. When it really hits home, will the Commitariat revert and usher in another deadly Cultural Awakening or allow China to become a real market based society?
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