MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

Time to crank up some more hard drive factories and iPod assembly plants.

Wait a minute, I thought Apple was pulling our leg with iPod mini demand..

Paul, care to explain?

Amazon is the new Walmart which, in other news, had a miserable holiday sales period.

And the Apple Retail Stores have completely silenced their critics who were predicting their demise 2-3 years ago, and have become the darling of retail. I was surprised to see a HUGE line outside my local store (and not many people holding products for returns) before it's early opening on Sunday 12-26. I decided to come back several hours later and it was still jam packed!

They ought to rename Wal-Mart "The China Shop", because everything that is not food is made there. Somewhere, Sam Walton is turning in his grave. I choose not to buy from countries that have prison factories full of people whose only crime is the desire for either religious freedom and/or a democratic government. When ever I have the option not to buy from the ChiComms, I will.

Let me get this straight, 3 of the top five sellers were: 20GB iPod, Silver iPod mini, and $15 to iTunes Music Store.

It seems to me that all those companies that declared war....well,

They're losing.

(The magic word is forward, as in, Apple is for the people who push the human race forward.)

Pretty much everything is made in China.
I try to buy products made elsewhere, but often have no choice.
Lowe's and Home Depot are the same as Wallmart when it comes to small electrical appliances:
Portable Heaters
Fans
Blow dryers
coffee makers
vacuum cleaners
the list goes on.

Uh.. Yeah.. Free Trade brings us commodities where unskilled labour is involved.

How do you feel about Indonesia, or Mexico...

How do you feel about having a 15 year old stoner taking your order a McDonalds or Pizza Hut... There's unskilled labour and shit pay... It would be even lower were it not for the minimum wage laws.. So what's the problem?

It's not a race issue .. it's economics. Once they get educated they get out of the system.. same as in the US and Canada.

Somewhere, Sam Walton is turning in his grave.

Hope you guys and gals realise that iPods are made in China!

My new 20" iMac G5 came straight from Shanghai to my door. What's your point, F&OT;? And doesn't the US have the highest prison rates per capita?

Oh, prison factories. Where they build prisons?

lol here comes another debate. =)

Alright. Let it be.

Mike-
"... Once they get educated they get out of the system.. same as in the US and Canada."

But the problem is in many of those other countries they don't have the opportunity to be educated. Many times the only way to get an education is to leave the town, and that costs money, but how do they get money if they work at those jobs? And how do they leave those jobs if they can't afford an education?

Its a cycle. A catch 22. Your right, an education would be an answer, but what if there's no means to get an education?

(magic word is change, as in, hopefully the global society will change.)

You know I have to ask...

Who comes up with these names:

Phillips DVP642 DivX Progressive Scan DVD player

and

Canon PowerShot SD 110 3MP Digital Elph camera

I think their jobs could be replaced by a random number-letter string generator.

effwerd
Oh, prison factories. Where they build prisons?

For those who have played Warcraft 3:

They are tiny artifacts you carry around, when you left-click on them, they create instant prisons.

Apple's stuff is made in Taiwan..

Taiwan is NOT a hole like China.. Taiwan is like US/Canada.. First World.. very rich there..

There's a whole argument about whether Taiwan is part of China... It used to be and they split off.. and China refuses to acknowledge their independence...

Taiwan is VEERRRY different from China.. Macs are made in Taiwan.. I'm assuming that's why you thought the iPods were made in China? Because you thought Taiwan was part of China..

Unless someone has a link to prove iPods are made in China..

At any rate. Tons of electronics are made in these 3rd world countries.. so yea.. it's pretty hard to boycott...


About the education thing.. If you watch a movie called Corporation.. they talk about Nike moving from country to country BECAUSE they are making people better off.. so once a certain area/district/country gets to a certain level of wealth.. Nike has to leave because they can't afford to hire these guys anymore.. so they go somewhere else where they can go back to a lower wage.. Point is.. Nike IS making people better off.. but get an education? That's tough.. but it's the answer. Therein lies the problem.. Here in Canada we have subsidized education.. some of the greatest schools in the world, Canadians can afford to attend because of Government subsidies. Does China support educational systems like these? Do they subsidize world class universities? Do they do it throughout China? Is there a system beyond high school that encourages higher learning?

China is moving, slowly, towards Democracy.. these things will get stronger over time. They're trying.

MIke-

Thanks for the the info. I did not know that about Nike. Yet still... that means that its a company that scavenges around looking for poor communities to prey upon.

And either way, the working conditions the factories subject people to are not justified by the tiny increase in the communities economy.

Most chemicals used to make shoes now a days should never be touched by hand during production.... yet most of them are hand sewn..... ????

If they want to better a communities economy, why not set up clean factories and not sweatshops? Why leave once they start rebuilding only so they fall again?


And also, the back of my iPod says "Designed by Apple in California, assembled in China"

Mike,
I, too, thought that Apple has Taiwanese manufacturers. This is true for the iBooks and the Powerbooks, but the iMac is assembled in the "People's Republic", as I was told by somebody who has one sitting gracefully on his desk.
Personally, I would gladly shell out an extra $100 for a product that is assembled by decently paid and treated workers.

One thing everyone is forgetting, Lowe's and Home Depot both treat their employees better than Wal-Mart does!

hagar.. really? even if you were paying a tax that meant people would have subsidized educations and higher minimum wages? woah... you just described Canada...

and every Republican is puking his guts at the thought of taxes helping the citizens.. through government expenditure...

Keynes anyone?

I've actually been planning to move to canada for the past 2 years....