Someone sent me an e-mail comment. It's included below:
------------ Well, I hope John found himself a cheap plastic flag for the 4th and didn't spend too much time thinking about the irony of it being produced by slave labor in countries that imprison people for demanding the freedoms the flag represents. --------------
My response: This comment presents a false choice: an American-only requirement, and turning over all our consumption to products made with slave labor. There are plenty of non-slave-employing countries that we should trade with, ignorant appeals to populism be damned. And even among the countries with the most unsavory practices, it's often to know who makes what under what conditions. Further, what we find unacceptable (say, 14 hour days in a factory without air conditioning) others will accept in exchange for a rise in economic status--something we did in our own country not too long ago.
Here's a deal: show me a plastic American flag made by slaves, and I won't buy it.
(And even in countries with slave labor, not all workers toil under such conditions anyway.)
The standard classical argument is that trade begets, in time, demands for political freedom. That's not always true, but we have reasons to hope from South Korea and Taiwan, both of which are functional democracies.
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Well, I hope John found himself a cheap plastic flag for the 4th and
didn't spend too much time thinking about the irony of it being produced by slave labor in countries that imprison people for demanding the freedoms the flag represents.
--------------
My response: This comment presents a false choice: an American-only requirement, and turning over all our consumption to products made with slave labor. There are plenty of non-slave-employing countries that we should trade with, ignorant appeals to populism be damned. And even among the countries with the most unsavory practices, it's often to know who makes what under what conditions. Further, what we find unacceptable (say, 14 hour days in a factory without air conditioning) others will accept in exchange for a rise in economic status--something we did in our own country not too long ago.
Here's a deal: show me a plastic American flag made by slaves, and I won't buy it.
(And even in countries with slave labor, not all workers toil under such conditions anyway.)
The standard classical argument is that trade begets, in time, demands for political freedom. That's not always true, but we have reasons to hope from South Korea and Taiwan, both of which are functional democracies.