Seriously thoughtful Amazing...

[wodin]

Microsoft to blame? Well, yes; but no more than all of the other retailers that deal almost exclusively in goods from countries known for these atrocities against children.

A case in point, when I buy a pair of shoes, the first thing I look at is the country of origin. Unless I’m willing to pay four or five times as much for similar quality, I invariably find that they are made in China.

I am fortunate to be able to afford to pay one or two or even three hundred dollars for a pair of shoes made in Italy, or Spain, or USA; and that is what I buy. I am also aware that most people will not, and the Chinese sweat shops flourish.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by Pablo

They know. And so do all companies that use this method to lower their costs. It's called capitalism.

not to mention that there just aren't a lot of options. these factories don't exist anywhere else.

my cousin works for Nike and has to go to China 3 or 4 times a year to talk to the manufacturers. they take her through the "model" factories where everything is perfect. she is assured by some of her translators that these factories are only there to impress the buyers

[BeTePoK]

With all due respect, but why it could be possible to hire people for cheap price?
China has 1.317.000.000 people (last numbers according to Wikipedia), let's assume only half of them are working, which gives us 658.500.000 workers.
America has 281.000.000, and it gives us 140.000.000 workers, which is 4,68 times less than in China.

The simple answer is that there in NO decent work for 658.500.000 workers, and they are forced to select work for lower price. I'm seriously sure that China should intensify birth control. Maybe I'm mistaken, correct me if I'm wrong.

[GlennD]

You can read Microsoft's response to the situation here.

Also interesting to note that according to the original NLC report, other clients at the same manufacturing facility include "Hewlett Packard, Best Buy, Samsung, Foxconn, Acer, Wi/IFC/Logitech and Asus-Rd." Somehow everyone seems to be blasting just Microsoft.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by BeTePoK

I'm seriously sure that China should intensify birth control.

They already are-- it is called the "not enough women to marry all the men" method. It is being used in India, too. (A good solution would be for China and India to arrange a nice, large ground war between each other. Burn off those millions of extra males.)