You know you are in trouble when your company installs safety nets because of the high suicide rate among workers. The article mentions that the average worker pay is roughly $130 a month. What it doesn't mention is that the minimum cost of living in China is $400 a month. The 30% pay raise that the heads at Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group approved won't even increase their base income to half of that. "With the pay raise, we hope workers don't need to work overtime as much and thus gain more time for leisure and have a happier working environment." Yeah, that ought to do it. He goes on to say that the meager pay raise will also help reduce the turnover rate. Do you think they include the replacement of suicidal employees in those numbers?
With all of lip service being paid to the environment with our newly found "green" attitudes, it would be nice if we could start admitting that our consumer habits effect more than carbon footprints. Half of the world's population is being slowly worked to death so the other half can update their Facebook status from the coffee shop.
Maybe we can create an iPhone app that allows users to send a buck or two to the wage-slaves overseas producing their electronic toys for them.
Wow! So inventories and sales didn't drop as much as we expected! And China is exporting more toxic lead-painted toys then anticipated to our crowded bargain-basement department stores! On top of that, people are apparently buying more flat screen televisions and iPods during the biggest consumer shopping season of the year, ignoring crushing debts and skyrocketing food and utility costs in a desperate attempt to enjoy the holiday season. The economy MUST be doing better!
What is wrong with us? There is something seriously wrong with us; as a country, as a people, as a whole.
Home foreclosures continue to climb, reaching record-breaking numbers one year after another. Many (if not most of these) are do due bankrupting medical bills piling up and destroying families and homes, most of which ironically are medically insured. There are millions of people without medical insurance to deny their coverage for them. The number of children going hungry in what used to be the greatest industrial nation on Earth is growing at an alarming rate. And throughout all of this, our government continues to spin its wheels blindly, either unwilling or unable to pass any meaningful legislation to solve, curb, or even address these problem.
But forget all of that. Target's "$5 Appliance Sale" was a smashing success! Things must be getting better! Snuggies for everyone!
There is something seriously, horrendously, tragically wrong with us.
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