Explosion At Foxconn Factory Kills 2, Injures 16 199
arielCo writes "There are several reports in the news about an explosion in a Foxconn factory in Chengdu that manufactures the iPad 2, killing two workers and injuring another 16. 'The Chengdu Municipal government said the explosion occurred in Foxconn's "polishing plant" at around 7 p.m. Experts say it is likely a cleaning stage at the end of the production process after devices are assembled.' There's a short amateur video of the ensuing fire, taken during the evacuation. Apple said they are working with Foxconn to investigate."
Re:Begs the question... (Score:0, Informative)
This factory isn't owned by Apple.
I would imagine you own plenty of devices with parts and components made at Foxconn.
Re:Broken society (Score:5, Informative)
It would not cost anywhere near that much extra. Germans still make cars, reasonable priced ones. They have much higher labor rates than even Americans. Paying line workers is just not that big a cost in such an operation. I bet they save more than the labor savings just on being able to dump whatever they want into the environment.
Either way, there is no reason why these products could not be built in China by 40 hour per week, well paid workers in safe working conditions. The ipad 3 might cost a whole $10 extra of you did that.
completely wrong (Score:2, Informative)
economics is not a zero sum game, where someone must lose so that someone else must win. economics is a more-for-everyone game. the chinese are enjoying more prosperity than they had before. you are assuming if they weren't manufacturing iPads their life would be better. compared to the usa, indeed, their life is worse, right now. but it would be even more worse without this plant
the chinese are where the usa and great britain were in the 1800s. and they are already fighting for their rights, like workers in the west had to to enjoy protections:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/business/global/09labor.html [nytimes.com]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire [wikipedia.org]
the chinese will eventually become just as prosperous as the usa, eventually, if not surpassing the usa, as soon as workers start fighting for their rights. but you don't get something by not fighting for it in this world
and you don't become economically prosperous by doing nothing. and you certainly don't get to complain about not having something that someone else has because you are doing nothing while the prosperous are doing something that made them prosperous. the chinese know that, why don't you?
the end game of globalization is prosperity for everyone. of course that's not painless. but stopping globalization perpetuates inequalities, it doesn't solve them