@msolga,
msolga wrote:The conditions in those sweatshops & the rape of the environment in these developing countries do not have to be an inevitable outcome of the industrialization.
They don't have to be, but avoiding them means barriers to the development and more misery. The bottom line is that the sweatshops are an improvement on their lives. Sometimes first worlders demand that it improve to the point where the sweatshop is not viable and they go back to the garbage heap and this is typical first-worlder ignorance that I rage about that hurts the poor more than it helps.
And as for the environment, I think first-world economies should pick up the emissions slack for the developing world instead of trying to saddle them with that handicap.
Environmentalism is a huge handicap to countries undergoing industrialization and the handful of filthy rich countries that have already gone through this process without the handicap should stop being so ******* niggardly about this.
America is a great example, we'd rather point our finger at China's polution while they are rapidly developing than cut our own emissions. The reason is that it's an economic handicap to do so, and the motivation is selfishness.
Quote:Much of this is done courtesy of obscenely wealthy multinational companies who could well afford to to do far better in these respects. They wouldn't dream of imposing similar working conditions or harming the environment to such an extent in the countries they are based in.
If they had to meet the same standards, they may not be there in the first place.
Look, I'm not saying companies can't do more, or that concern for labor and environmental conditions is entirely misplaced. But I am saying that these are fundamental economic disadvantages.
First-world countries resist such regulation (such as emissions control) because it makes their economy less competitive. And countries that focus on the environmentalism and labor conditions of other countries are usually engaging in a kind of selfishness that is more concerned with the trade balance with the other country than the issues at hand.
So in short, while labor conditions and environmental sensitivity are great ideals they are used as pretexts for selfish economic policies. First worlders are so quick to start at home when it comes to their poor, and they should do the same when it comes to regulating labor conditions and environment.
Quote:It would be against the law, as they know perfectly well. Their motive is maximum profit, bugger the consequences. Not altruistic motives of "helping" the poor of those countries.
They don't need altruistic motives to help the poor though. And your altruistic motives don't necessarily help the poor.
Quote: Sure there will be short-term financial gain for the poor of those countries as a result of being exploited in these sweat shops, but what about the long-term consequences of irresponsible industrialization?
What about it? Welcome to the first-world club, which of them aren't there as the consequence of the same process of industrialization?
Quote: Who will be cleaning up the mess when these powerful businesses move on to their next big profit making opportunity?
I think you aren't understanding how it works very well. As they economy develops further it migrates away from industrialization. Dirty industrialization is an early step in national development. The service sector (finance, tourism, etc) can come later but industrialization for all its warts is the step where they stop eating **** and get jobs (albeit shitty ones).
Quote:I strongly suspect that the children of these workers & their children might not be quite so grateful for what is occurring now.
Without the sweatshop the kids beg on the street and pick through the garbage. This is lifting people up and is a good thing.
Quote: Long term consequences are just as important, probably more important in my book, that these current short-term "gains".
Sure, but you don't have any point about long term consequences. This is a basic industrialization process that the first world already went through. The long-term consequences is to develop a nation (see South Korea, Japan as examples of shining success in this process).
