The price of technology

[Aussie Willy]

Interesting article about working standards that make things like Apple products. Whilst Apple have a code of conduct for their suppliers, it seems as if not much is really done to improve the conditions of workers, no matter how good the intent.

http://www.theage.com.au/business/wo...131-1qr8n.html

This happens in so many industries where we kind of take for granted the products that we use in our everyday lives. Just something that we probably should think about before we buy consumables.

[Buzz]

China just announced that the minimum wage for many of it's regions with huge manufacturing concernes are going up by double digits partly because of a labour shortage. To besides it is the same story with everything in our life. Not just apple products but all cell phones, tvs, radios, kitchen appliences, vacuum cleaners, clothes, shoes, computers, etc. Indian fabric and cotton mills uses child labour. The rare earth materials needed for all our modern gadgets are messy and expensive to extra not to mention enviromentally damaging. If Apple had not moved it's manufacturing concerns to China it would be dead by now. Many Japanese companies are struggling in part because of what economists say was their slow ability in moving their manufacturing to China. All the stuff in our lives are either made in China or have components that are made in China. A lot of the wood products come from trees that were illegally cut down in Brazil, Siberia, Indonesia just to name a few. Then shipped to China and turned into high quality furniture, flooring etc. All this had made China fabulously wealth and financier to the world so do not feel too badly for the country. But all this is fairly common knowledge and impossible to get away from. Ain't free trade wonderful? (lame attempt at sarcasm) BTW... shouldn't this thread be in the PI section?

[danceronice]

A certain small subset of the Chinese population (the politically well-connected and those in a position to buy those people) is wealthy. The workers get motivational posters like "Do your job today or someone else will do it tomorrow." And their 'environmental controls' are...nil.