Henry Ford did a lot of great things, but his personal and social predilections left something to be desired: he was a eugenicist, and something of an anti-Semite.
True that. I was really just generally alluding to one of his labor policies.
Don't compare owning BMWs, Ferraris and Boeings with owning a darn phone or a laptop.
I bet everyone who works for Nike or Adidas can afford a pair of Nike/Adidas brand shoes, or you choose the shoe brand. Same goes for all other goods which are, say, cheaper than couple of hundreds bucks. More expensive goods go into "really needed can/cannot be afforded" category.
1. The Foxconn workers are not Apple employees, they work for Foxcon. So, the comparison to Nike and Adidas employees are not accurate.
2. I bet the factory workers making the Nike and Adidas shoes can't afford them. I know for sure as I am from a country where these shoes are made. Similarly, those workers producing Blue Harbor value Jeans in Marks n Spencer can't afford them.
3. Do you know many people in many countries earn 2-4 USD a day? So, buying something with a "couple hundred bucks" do not apply to them. As I said earlier, these workers in Foxcon is earning more than their neighbors. May be they are stepping up the ladder slowly, not trying to jump 3 floors up at a time.
4. On the other hand, not everybody need to afford an iPhone/Adidas/Nike. They are for the more affluent segment. Not everybody needs a Ferrari, you have Honda, Toyota etc to satisfy your needs.
That's why you find people with different level of purchasing power buying things from different price level.
I am all for everybody able to afford the highest quality things but the reality will always ensure some levels of segmentation.
Ok, how about parochial and shortsighted to begin with? What you describe is the way of industrial development wherever it occurs. As one area moves from industrial to post industrial, another labor force begins its progress from preindustrial to industrial. Now it's global instead of happening within one nation or continent. The fact that one nation is post- another pre- or presently industrial is economic and technical, not political. You are thinking in 1950s terms.
Human progress is tectonic first, ideological second. Let's get over the politics of paranoia. It is time for humanity to work together to sustain, in fact repair, the earth.
Afterthought: It's our postindustrial job to design and invent stuff for others to manufacture and buy, just like Ford did for his own workers, like Apple and BMW are doing right now for the Chinese. We should stop fretting and embrace our role as "intellectual capitalists." Actually, maybe not BMW yet, since they're not making things in China, are they? But they are doing in the US, along with Benz, Toyota, etc., what Apple is doing in China. One big world.
Comments
Henry Ford did a lot of great things, but his personal and social predilections left something to be desired: he was a eugenicist, and something of an anti-Semite.
True that. I was really just generally alluding to one of his labor policies.
That is putting it lightly.
Ah, yes, the famous rag, The Dearborn Independent.
Quite unbelievable, what was considered acceptable those days. (I wonder how we'll look on 2011, say, a hundred years from now.)
Don't compare owning BMWs, Ferraris and Boeings with owning a darn phone or a laptop.
I bet everyone who works for Nike or Adidas can afford a pair of Nike/Adidas brand shoes, or you choose the shoe brand. Same goes for all other goods which are, say, cheaper than couple of hundreds bucks. More expensive goods go into "really needed can/cannot be afforded" category.
1. The Foxconn workers are not Apple employees, they work for Foxcon. So, the comparison to Nike and Adidas employees are not accurate.
2. I bet the factory workers making the Nike and Adidas shoes can't afford them. I know for sure as I am from a country where these shoes are made. Similarly, those workers producing Blue Harbor value Jeans in Marks n Spencer can't afford them.
3. Do you know many people in many countries earn 2-4 USD a day? So, buying something with a "couple hundred bucks" do not apply to them. As I said earlier, these workers in Foxcon is earning more than their neighbors. May be they are stepping up the ladder slowly, not trying to jump 3 floors up at a time.
4. On the other hand, not everybody need to afford an iPhone/Adidas/Nike. They are for the more affluent segment. Not everybody needs a Ferrari, you have Honda, Toyota etc to satisfy your needs.
That's why you find people with different level of purchasing power buying things from different price level.
I am all for everybody able to afford the highest quality things but the reality will always ensure some levels of segmentation.
Ok, how about parochial and shortsighted to begin with? What you describe is the way of industrial development wherever it occurs. As one area moves from industrial to post industrial, another labor force begins its progress from preindustrial to industrial. Now it's global instead of happening within one nation or continent. The fact that one nation is post- another pre- or presently industrial is economic and technical, not political. You are thinking in 1950s terms.
Human progress is tectonic first, ideological second. Let's get over the politics of paranoia. It is time for humanity to work together to sustain, in fact repair, the earth.
Afterthought: It's our postindustrial job to design and invent stuff for others to manufacture and buy, just like Ford did for his own workers, like Apple and BMW are doing right now for the Chinese. We should stop fretting and embrace our role as "intellectual capitalists." Actually, maybe not BMW yet, since they're not making things in China, are they? But they are doing in the US, along with Benz, Toyota, etc., what Apple is doing in China. One big world.
As Tyler Durden once said: Good answer!