dopeydwarf: [cultofmac.cultofmaccom.netdna-cdn.com image 485x312]

That looks like it could be a still from a hostage video.

Sir Cumference the Flatulent: dopeydwarf: [cultofmac.cultofmaccom.netdna-cdn.com image 485x312]

That looks like it could be a still from a hostage video.

in a way, it is. the entire population of china is held hostage.

gothelder: The apple devices should come with a tour of the plant where they were manufactured. Sort along the same vein where the townspeople living near the concentration camps during World War II were "encouraged" to visit them in order to reveal to them what was going on in their back yard.

Full functionality on the apple devices would not be achieved until a quiz was taken and passed on the documentary.

And where do you think the parts for your computer came from? No, really. Look inside your computer. It doesn't matter which brand. And the parts that come from other Chinese manufactures come with the same, and sometimes even worse, worker suffering attached to them.

The problem isn't Foxconn. The problem is China and American companies farming their manufacturing business to the cheapest supplier of labor, regardless of the cost to American jobs or the conditions of the foreign laborers lives.

Bob Down: I suppose it's better than living under a box in a rat-infested subway or under a bridge.

THIS

The problem with the "improving working standards" is that they have a cost. Give workers in Shenzen the conditions that western workers get, and each iPhone will cost more. Apple might find somewhere else cheaper to make their phones, and then what do you think the Foxconn workers will do then? Well, they'll probably become peasant farmers, which is what they're trying to escape from.

China is going through what we went through in the late 19th century/early 20th century and what South Korea went through in the 1950s. These working standards are only really bad by our standards. My grandfather would have had worse ones than this.

Ultimately, if someone will do the job cheaper than you will, you'll be finding yourself another job.

gothelder: The apple devices should come with a tour of the plant where they were manufactured. Sort along the same vein where the townspeople living near the concentration camps during World War II were "encouraged" to visit them in order to reveal to them what was going on in their back yard.

Full functionality on the apple devices would not be achieved until a quiz was taken and passed on the documentary.

Be careful when you are preaching from a place so high and mighty. I'm assuming you feel you can make such restrictions since you don't own any apple products. Good for you.

Of course, Foxconn is pretty much the single biggest private employer in china and they have a laundry list of clients that has included: amazon, cisco, dell, Motorola, Samsung, HP, Microsoft, Nintendo, Nokia, toshiba, Sony, and Visio.

Now, if you are somehow able to say that you don't use any products from the above companies, I'd be impressed. But you'd also be lying.

This is not to absolve Foxconn or Apple. The conditions are horrible and they should be improved. But, it is quite dishonest to single out apple and it is quite ignorant to not realize that everything from shoes to computers (of every company) uses cheap labor in other countries. That's why shiat is so cheap and middle America can afford it.

Now, if you would like to expand your crusade to try and educate Americans on the horrible labor factories that produce their cheap products, fine. If you'd like to continue to prattle on about how you are superior to Apple idevice owners, you'll probably need a different topic.

randomjsa: Evil Twin Skippy: In Europe what passes for "health care" in the United States is considered an anachronism on par with the workhouses of Dickens or the flogging of sailors in "Mutiny on the Bounty." The crippling debt we crush students leaving college under is as distasteful as the Feudal system of the middle ages.

You are a complete and utter fool. America has the best health care in the world. We also have the best university system in the world.

I'm impressed that you are here beating the drum on Saturday mornings too.

You must get paid a lot.

HindiDiscoMonster: Serious question... is there any reason why the US government can't require workplace regulations to be met in order for a company to sell their product here in the USA?

profits. duh.

HindiDiscoMonster: Serious question... is there any reason why the US government can't require workplace regulations to be met in order for a company to sell their product here in the USA?

Result: you raise the price of goods to consumers. Consumers find themselves with less disposable income.

It's electoral suicide.

People can blame Foxconn, Walmart or whoever else. It's consumers who buy this stuff. In the case of laptops, I don't think they were given much choice, but in many other areas, they just buy cheap Chinese stuff.

By what freaking metric do we have the best healthcare? It isn't by cost or health of our citizens, so I'm at a loss.

Perhaps it is purely by "level of care really rich people can get"

ChubbyTiger: At its best, our medical/hospital system is significantly better than any other country's. On average for all citizens, not so much. Similarly, our university system is generally great, but we've got some issues there, too.

That's my point. If the only metric is "the rich get awesome shiat", then we have awesome healthcare and the best university system in the world. All you need is hundreds of thousands of dollars for experimental technology and $50,000/year for school.

Me Chinese,
Me play joke,
Me work 90 days in a row for Foxconn before I croak!

No wait a minute...

"I enjoy repeatedly singling out one company for something because it helps me stroke my hate-boner."

bulldg4life: That's my point. If the only metric is "the rich get awesome shiat", then we have awesome healthcare and the best university system in the world. All you need is hundreds of thousands of dollars for experimental technology and $50,000/year for school.

...so that you can get a $20k/year data entry job that requires a Masters degree, go nowhere because everyone and their brother went into the field you want into, get canned when you're 30 because there are new college grads who will do the work for $18k, flounder around doing crap jobs, rack up millions of dollars in debt for medical costs, and then live out the last 50 years of your life as a Wal-Mart greeter because you were never able to save up any money for retirement and Social Security was thoroughly gutted.

Sounds awesome!