A viscious business cycle

by Kelly McGregor

The dispersion of wealth around the world has, obviously, created a great segregation of the social classes. The beginnings of a revolution are underway in the U.S., but this won't have the global impact needed to reform Chinese labor practices.

However, it's important to ask - is having a job, even if it is a grossly underpaid job in poor working conditions, better than having no job at all? Is having a leaky roof overhead better than having no roof at all? Perhaps the working conditions are horrendous compared to the state-of-the-art computing technology I am using as I gaze out my office window over a little man-made lake, but perhaps their job conditions are better than the alternatives available to them?

Every nation started somewhere. Naomi Klein can criticize all she wants, but there was once underpaid, slave labor going on in the neighborhood where she lives (or at least says she lives at the time No Logo was published). People recognized they deserved to be treated better, rose up and fought for better and better working conditions, and eventually became so greedy that they are currently putting Detroit's Big 3 out of business.

If China (or any underdeveloped nation) can develop a compromise, building an environment that allows it's people live comfortably and happily without leading to a culture that continuously wants more, they may be able to avoid this viscous business cycle.

Unfortunately, it appears to be too late for China, as cities like Hong Kong and Shanghai move more towards a North American mentality every day. Once Chinese workers experience this inevitable movement, perhaps Nikes will next be manufactured in the deserts of Africa.