So you're Apple computer. Not unlike other computer sellers, such as Dell, you want your margins to be as high as possible, right? Otherwise you would manufacture your stuff in the U.S. But that would lower your margins, so, you go to China. Take the iPad and iPod for example. Manufactured by Foxcomm in China, where employee suicide rates are through the roof. Meanwhile here in the U.S., we stand in line to buy the iPad, get the iPod, and other Apple products, and we use our credit cards because we can't afford it otherwise. Think of how much we couldn't afford it if Apple paid U.S. wages to build these things. So we're happy to get 'a good price' while the young kids that build these in China kill themselves.
From Gizmodo.com:
Foxconn has gone into serious damage control this week, with CEO Guo Tai-ming inviting 100 members of the press to view the facilities today. Even Apple and Dell, two companies whose products are produced in Foxconn's factories, have spoken out.
Apple released a statement saying that they are "saddened and upset by the recent suicides at Foxconn," confirming that they are "in direct contact with Foxconn senior management and we believe they are taking this matter very seriously."
While most of the media fixates on the relationship between Foxconn and Apple, for want of a sexier story, Dell meanwhile has also spoken about the suicides, saying that -
"We expect our suppliers to employ the same high standards we do in our own facilities. We enforce these standards through a variety of tools, including the Electronics Industry code of conduct, business reviews with suppliers, self-assessments and audits"
This sounds like those plants in Honduras that make clothing using child labor. So my question is: how do you like globalization and wage arbitrage now? Ready to make what the folks in China make to assemble widgets for the elite around the world?