tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6645385.post7716856547253794548..comments2023-10-30T06:01:41.492-05:00Comments on Sam Davidson: Oh Forbes! You Came So Close!Sam Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13049749319910657955noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6645385.post-34143970125427002342008-02-26T23:48:00.000-06:002008-02-26T23:48:00.000-06:00Currently, the Department of Labor is putting toge...Currently, the Department of Labor is putting together a list of goods and the countries those goods are produced in which are produced by forced labor and child labor. While the process will not capture all goods produced by child labor, once the list is published later this year, that could be a good place to start looking when making purchasing decisions. Unfortunately, the DOL has decided not to list companies known to use child labor, preferring to list a more general "industry."<BR/><BR/>I would also encourage everyone to purchase Fair Trade products. While product certification like Fair Trade cannot guarantee that children were not involved in production, it does guarantee that the company has made significant efforts, and put monitoring systems in place, to detect child labor.<BR/><BR/>Hopefully, in the near future, other certification programs similar to Rugmark, Fair Trade or even a broader sustainable agriculture certification that includes child labor monitoring, will be developed and will provide consumers with the information they need to make good purchasing decisions.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6645385.post-6447519936199532972008-02-26T08:58:00.000-06:002008-02-26T08:58:00.000-06:00Sam,Just wondering what an "unfair" wage is. Shoul...Sam,<BR/><BR/>Just wondering what an "unfair" wage is. Should people in India be making 7 dollars an hour? Would 5 suffice? I mean, obviously, they'd be much wealthier if they were making 10 dollars an hour, correct?<BR/><BR/>When your other option is begging in the street and starving to death, 20 cents an hour looks good. And people making that is the only way for an economy to develop. Eventually, people from the factor will save their money and start some sort of business to cater to those that now have consistent income to buy things. And wages will rise as the economy grows as long as Indians slow down with making babies.<BR/><BR/>It happened in New England in the 1800s, and look at us now. Who would have ever imagined that a third world agrarian nation would eventually become the economic powerhouse of the world?mundiejchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17029540431840334762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6645385.post-36229721497166625172008-02-26T05:56:00.000-06:002008-02-26T05:56:00.000-06:00i am pretty sure it is because nobody wants to do ...i am pretty sure it is because nobody wants to do what it takes... obviously, if we are going to not live off the backs of unfair wages, then there are going to have to be drastic changes... either the shirt has to cost more, the company has to profit less or both... and that doesn't even touch the issues of what's going on in the countries... i have lived in various parts of asia for 5 years and the other dynamic includes the fact that parents NEED their children to work in order to survive - whether it be begging or in a sweatshopt... i once offered a woman to allow me to be the foster parent to her 5 year old daughter who was running the streets with her hand out... the mother refused purely because she knew the little girl was able to earn a lot for the family.... <BR/><BR/>anyway, the issue is painfully complex.... but then again simple at the same time... we want to make sacrifices, then there can be changes... we don't, then there will not.Emma https://www.blogger.com/profile/06618383038994191738noreply@blogger.com