Conditions In Chinese Factories
January 17, 2012
Just a few days ago I felt compelled to blog about the conditions of workers in Chinese factories like Foxconn. These factories are responsible for assembling our iPods, iPads, Xboxes, and other electronic devices. Workers in these places are slaves. If you can’t see that, you’re completely blind. They can be at times worked for 35 hour long shifts, paid a whopping 35 cents an hour, and are often caught attempting suicide within the factory. What kind of workplace has nets hanging from the walls to catch suicide roof jumpers? I’m really tired of hearing people praise Steve Jobs. Companies like Sony, Apple, and Microsoft are earning billions of dollars in profits as they exploit the poor and helpless. 35 cents an hour? Twelve year prison sentences if they try to form a union? Eight people to a small dorm, crammed together like sardines? It’s evil.
Jon Stewart covered the issue, and I think you should watch him.
The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook
It should be illegal to do business with companies that fail to meet various working condition standards.
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Worshiping the Invisible Hand
January 13, 2012
I don’t know where I sit on the political spectrum, but I know I don’t fit into any particular party or ideology. I’m not a socialist, nor a communist, and I suppose you could say I reluctantly advocate free markets, though I don’t think the invisible hand deserves much praise.
I feel that large amounts of money in few hands is a dangerous thing. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. My views toward the rich could be summed up with this quote,
‘To convert the business man into the profiteer is to strike a blow at capitalism … The business man is only tolerable so long as his gains can be held to bear some relation to what, roughly and in some sense, his activities have contributed to society.”
- John Maynard Keynes
As long as businesses create products and services that improve people’s lives, in fair competition, then I won’t complain about large profits or even a large degree of income inequality. I’ll bear it. As Mark Zuckerberg rakes in billions of dollars selling our private information to marketing firms and private corporations, I’ll turn away because I know of the millions of people, like my mom, who love Facebook, and it really does provide a service people love.
But there are those who worship the free market. They lose all common sense and spew out total nonsense. Many if not most hardcore libertarians are this way, and that’s why I can’t associate myself with them. One of their central websites is the Ludwig von Mises Institute, and I occasionally read their articles. Just a few days ago I came across the most ridiculous post entitled Defending Kim Kardashian.
I saw the title and immediately rolled my eyes. I thought, “Are you kidding me? Are you seriously going to defend the millions of dollars Kim Kardashian is making?” I read on to find gems like these,
Unlike the majority of us who live relatively boring lives, Kim Kardashian has made a career out of selling the public an up-close-and-personal view of her private affairs. This recently included a rumored farce of a wedding to NBA superstar Kris Humphries, which fizzled after only three days but made the reality star millions.
…
Whether or not you agree with the type of life Kim Kardashian leads is ultimately a question of morality and ethics. However, her ability to attract fans and monetary compensation is something to admire. Unlike the government, Kardashian forces no one to purchase the products she endorses, view her television reality shows, attend her birthday party, or cover her exploits for various media publications. What she gives up in terms of a private life has brought her and her family a financially comfortable standard of living.
Oh yes, Kim Kardashian lives such a fascinating life. *rolls eyes* We all know reality television is poison for the mind. American culture has went down the toilet, and it’s really an indictment against our society that anyone is interested in Kim Kardashian at all. I’ll admit she earned her money in the free market, and nobody was forced to participate in her wedding, or watch her television show, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t a parasite to society.
Of all the people in this world, you think she’s the one who deserves millions of dollars in the bank, which she earned through a sham wedding, to a man she obviously didn’t love? Just a few weeks after the fact, both her and her ex-husband were bad mouthing one another. ”You’re only famous because you made that sex tape!” ”Oh yeah! You’re just an inconsiderate bastard!”
She’s the one who deserves to have the best of everything life has to offer? Are you seriously trying to defend this woman, in the midst of our economic crisis? This is what I mean. The free market is their religion, and it blinds them to common sense.
After babbling on about capital, the free market, and the importance of saving, the article proceeds with,
The act of savings both forestalls present consumption and, when placed into a bank or financial institution, adds to the amount of funds available to be lent to aspiring entrepreneurs. With more funds available, longer-term and better methods of production can be sought to increase the supply of consumer goods. In an economy not subject to continual monetary debasement and inflation via a central bank, prices are allowed to fall, thus raising real income for consumers.
Reality stars such as Kim Kardashian aid in this process as their revenue-generating ability allows them to set aside more of their income. This accumulation of savings leaves more money to be invested in base capital, which increases the productive capacity of the economy. This isn’t supply-side economics; it’s a simple acknowledgement of the scarcity that dominates our world.
This libertarian author is trying to convince us that it’s ok that Kim earned all this money, even through she contributes zero benefit to society. She’s going to deposit her millions in the bank, and they’re going to lend those funds out to entrepreneurs who are going to do wonderful things for all of us. So don’t worry. It’s all going to be ok.
That’s ridiculous. But do I want to live a society where all of our decisions are regulated and controlled by government bureaucrats? No. If you want to support such a worthless woman with your time and money, then I suppose I can’t stop you. But please, stop defending her. I can understand that you don’t want the government to tax her, and feel that bureaucrats would just spend it all on wars and payoffs to their buddies. I get it. Just don’t worship the invisible hand. You look like an idiot.
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Chinese Factory Workers Threaten Mass Suicide
January 11, 2012
Some days I just lose hope in humanity.
Around 300 Chinese workers who manufacture XBox consoles took to a factory roof and threatened bosses with mass suicide over a dispute about pay, unconfirmed reports have claimed.
The workers were employed at the Foxconn Technology Park in Wuhan in Hubei province. Foxconn is an independent, global manufacturing partner to companies including Apple, Microsoft and Sony.
- Source: Huffington Post
Think how miserable you’d have to be to even make demands like this. With this in mind, look at these tweets from American children, complaining how their parents didn’t buy them the latest iPad, iPhone, or XBox for Christmas.
Across the world, those devices are being made by despondent Chinese workers, so poor and miserable that they’re threatening to kill themselves in mass by jumping from the factory roof.
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A Universe From Nothing
January 7, 2012
Lawrence Krauss, a theoretical physicist from ASU, has just written a book called A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing. I highly recommend you get yourself a copy. I also really enjoyed the book’s promotional video.
Krauss finds something in nothing from ASU News on Vimeo.
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Brain Electrodes Fix Long-Term Depression
January 6, 2012
I love to read Nature magazine. It’s probably my favorite of all publications. On their website, I stumbled upon an article that many people are likely to be interested in. Though I’ve heard about this years ago, scientists can now implant electrodes into a person’s brain (subcallosal cingulate to be exact), and by artificially changing firing patterns connected to the frontal cortex, they can remove depression and bipolar disorder. It’s now going through testing and is proving itself effective in most people (11 out of 12 people are cured).
The effects aren’t necessarily immediate though. Most patients require a year before drastic effects are seen, but studies are showing that most who undergo this treatment are cured.
Patients who have received the surgical implant describe it as lifting a dark cloud off of them. They’re once again interested in what’s going on in the world. It’s no longer a struggle, feeling as if each day they’re having to swim against the tides of a black vortex trying to suck them in. It’s like a calm. It’s a change in the brain’s rhythm.
Other patients have described it as turning on the lights. It takes their focus away from themselves and invites them back into the world. With that vortex gone, they’re able to climb their way out, their thoughts and feelings begin to change, and over the course of that year they’re able to reprogram their brains. The device doesn’t give a person happiness, but it takes away what was keeping them from being happy.
I should note that it’s not a total cure though. Once you turn off that electrode, their depression comes right back. Even so, it’s wonderful that people can be relieved of such a terrible disease.
Here’s a lecture on the topic if you’re interested. This seems to be from 2009, so it’s a few years back. Back then, only around 60% of patients were treated successfully. You can see that over the past few years they’ve been able to tweak their methods and improve upon them.
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