E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Reuters, file
Zhang Tingzhen (center) is given a doll to play with by his mother Wei Xiuying while sitting beside his father Zhang Guangde at a Shenzhen hospital in southern China Sept. 26.
HONG KONG - Apple's largest contract manufacturer has been pushing for a Chinese worker left brain-damaged in a factory accident to be removed from hospital in a case that throws a harsh new spotlight on labor rights in China.
Zhang Tingzhen, 26, an employee of Taiwan firm Foxconn, had nearly half his brain surgically removed after surviving an electric shock at a plant in southern China a year ago. He remains in hospital under close observation by doctors, unable to speak or walk properly.
However, Foxconn, which is paying Zhang's hospital bills, has been sending telephone text messages to his family since July, demanding they remove him from hospital and threatening to cut off funding for his treatment -- a move the firm says would be justified under Chinese labor law.
Foxconn confirmed it had sent the messages, saying that under Chinese law the worker must submit himself to a disability assessment, a process that in Zhang's case would require him to be discharged from the Shenzhen hospital and travel the 43 miles to Huizhou, where he was first hired by Foxconn.
As Apple CEO Tim Cook visits China to see factories firsthand, the Fair Labor Association's Auret Van Heerden tells cnbc about the overtime issues and safety risks found at two of Foxconn's factories that produce Apple products.
Risk of brain hemorrhage
The firm said in response to emailed questions that it would be prepared to return Zhang to the Shenzhen hospital after the assessment, though his father said Zhang was unfit to travel and that doctors felt he remained at risk of a brain hemorrhage.
The case has raised fresh questions over the labor record of Foxconn, one of the biggest and most high-profile private employers in China, after a series of well-publicized suicides among its army of around a million workers and recent outbursts of labor unrest.
Report: Riots break out at Foxconn factory in China
It has angered labor activists who say Zhang's plight also highlights China's patchy and sometimes precarious welfare system for workers seriously injured in industrial accidents and point out that there are many workers worse off than Zhang.
"They kept sending me SMSs every day to get my son out of hospital and to appear before an injury assessment body or they will stop paying all expenses, including his medical fees and our living expenses," Zhang's father, Zhang Guangde, said.
"You cannot imagine the suffering they put me through, how I had to fight every inch of the way just to get money so we can take care of our son," he added, speaking at his son's bedside at the Number 2 People's Hospital in Shenzhen.
Zhang was repairing a spotlight on an external wall at a Foxconn factory in Shenzhen, bordering Hong Kong, when he received an electric shock and fell 12 feet to the ground. He has since undergone five operations, has lost his memory, is incontinent and requires careful, regular monitoring.
Worker at Apple-supplier Foxconn in China: 'We're humans, we're not machines'
Workers who are disabled in workplace accidents and covered by insurance are eligible for compensation payouts, once their disability is assessed and graded by a panel of medical experts. The assessment is done after medical treatment is finished.
Foxconn sent the text messages -- and according to Zhang's father at one point briefly halted payments to the family -- despite a provincial law stipulating that injured workers can remain in treatment for up to two years before they must be assessed for disability compensation.
The company, however, denied that it delayed or stopped payments, saying it paid them on time.
Zhang, whose case was alerted to Reuters by labor activists, has been in hospital since October 2011.
'At the mercy' of system
Doctors at the Number 2 People's Hospital declined to comment for this article, but Zhang's father, 50, said they had not indicated that he could be discharged and had said they needed to keep his son under observation after implanting a tube in his body to drain fluid from his brain cavity to his bladder.
"The doctor told me they needed to monitor his condition and that for such serious injuries, a person was allowed to be treated in hospital for up to two years. After that, assessors can order treatment to be prolonged," the father said.
Labor activists in China say Zhang is just one of many thousands of Chinese workers who are left permanently disabled or chronically ill by workplace accidents, at the mercy of a system that often requires them and their families to fight degrading battles for treatment funding and compensation.
'This American Life' retracts damning report on Apple manufacturer Foxconn
"China now has laws specifying the types of compensation that are due to workers. But in many serious industrial accidents, companies still put workers or their families through a lot of suffering just to get what is due to them," said Choi Suet-wah of the Chinese Working Women Network in Hong Kong.
"They are robbed of their dignity," said Choi, who has extensive experience working with migrant workers in China.
Zhang is actually one of the lucky ones, social workers say, pointing out that Foxconn has at least been paying his hospital bills and the living expenses of his family, which has moved to Shenzhen from central China to be with him.
Worker suicide at Chinese plant of Apple supplier, Foxconn
They estimate that at least four out of 10 Chinese workers are not covered by any kind of insurance and are left to fend for themselves when seriously injured in the workplace -- despite laws requiring all employers to insure their workers.
"This is just one of many, many industrial accidents in China. And you almost certainly never get what you are entitled to, especially in serious cases," Choi said.
Dad: Son calls me 'mother'
Foxconn says it is insured against workplace accidents, which means its insurer would meet the cost of a compensation payment once Zhang's disability is finally assessed.
But compensation in China can vary depending on the city in which a worker's disability is assessed, and this, according to Zhang's family, is why Foxconn wants him to travel to Huizhou and refuses to have him assessed in Shenzhen.
Labor activists say wages and compensation levels are all substantially lower in Huizhou than in Shenzhen, one of the most expensive cities in China.
When asked why Zhang could not be assessed in Shenzhen, Foxconn said the law required him to go to Huizhou because he had signed his employment contract there. It added that it was prepared to send him back to the hospital in Shenzhen if the assessors determined that he required more medical attention.
In hospital, Zhang walks unsteadily, holding on to the bed frames of other patients in his shared room and, with a smile, sits down next to his father whose face tightens with emotion.
"He calls me 'mother' and calls my wife 'father.’ He can only mimic words you ask him to say, it is meaningless," the elder Zhang said later, holding a jar containing large fragments of his son's cranium. Doctors replaced a portion of Zhang's skull with synthetic bone.
He said that despite Foxconn's funding -- a monthly allowance of 11,000 yuan ($1,800) plus treatment costs -- the family had racked up 200,000 yuan ($31,800) in debt to pay for medicines not provided by the hospital and other expenses.
Back home in central Henan province, the family was building a house for Zhang to live in after his impending marriage when he was injured.
"We were building a three-story house," the elder Zhang said. "The project has since been abandoned and all the building materials we bought have been washed away by rain. But these workers still have to be paid. My whole life is over."
More world stories from NBC News:
- German cabinet approves controversial circumcision bill
- Tunisian magazine teaches children how to build a Molotov cocktail
- Video: Australian PM launches attack on ‘sexist’ opponent
- Pakistani teen blogger shot by Taliban 'critical' after surgery
- Reports: South Korea says defector is spy who plotted assassination
- China vs. Japan, but the loser could be the global economy
- Deadly crossing: Death toll rises among those desperate for American Dream
- Stay informed: Sign up for our newsletter
Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Leave a Comment:
I'm confident that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have no problem with this "Job Creator" protecting its assets.
Rot In Hell, Steve Jobs.
Mitt Romney Style. Mitt Mitt Mitt, Mitt Romney Style.
Ahhh yes, capitalism in full bloom.
iPhone, the tool that enabled Occupy Wall Street.
welcome to the real Apple:
- screw over everyone who works for them.....
- manipulate the legal and patent systems to take money unfairly from competitors and innovators
- charge 30% more for the same thing or less than everyone else is selling
- act arrogant about all the above
all the Jobs groupies need to go stand in line for Iphone 5s with screens 30% smaller than win phone or android now....
Mitt would just tell the guy to go to the emergency room if he starts to hemorrhage.
Thank you Bill Clinton for signing the trade agreement which enables this behavior.
From the link I posted:
So did every other president since Nixon, given their actual "in practice" economic policies.
This not a Clinton problem or fault, nor is it a Romney problem or fault. It is China's problem and fault and you can throw in Apple, Walmart and every other business that manufactures over there and their CEO fault and of course let us not forget the USA consumer that buys that stuff ( because we don't make it here)
I'm sorry. Who signed the agreement?
Nighthawk, I totally agree with you. The initial post in this thread blamed Romney (who hasn't done anything to influence this). Since there is plenty of blame to go around, I thought I'd make it clear that there is guilt on both sides.
Having said that, these "free trade" agreements that our legislators keep signing have a common failing. There are few provisions in them to hold business practices in these counties accountable. I feel that a definition for human rights and environmental policies should be established by the WTO. Before everybody shouts "Kyoto" at me, let me remind you that China was not included in the Kyoto proposal and they should have been. Furthermore, Kyoto (unless I'm mistaken) only addressed environmental concerns and had nothing to do with human rights standards.
In other words, the WTO should have established a standard of human rights and environmental policies that all countries MUST meet before they are able to trade with Western nations. This should have been done before countries like China were invited to participate.
Give China the final dose of the capitalism virus. Send them a gaggle of American scum lawyers to bleed the Chinese firms dry and give this deserving man some justice. Their profit margins will plummet.
Wow, aren't we all the hypocritical bunch this morning. I'd be willing to bet if you a look at all the pieces that went into the computer you posted your comments with you'll find a few parts made by Foxconn. That would make them your supplier as well. But I guess its easier to sleep knowing you can always blame it on someone else.
Ahhhh yes. I see the limp-wristed Libbies panties are all in a bunch. And of course they direct their perpetual anger at Mitt Romney because they just don’t know any better.
This as they probably sit there playing with their iPhone, iPad, iPod or Mac computer.
Apple has outsourced or offshored over 230,000 jobs to China and other nations. Estimates put Apples total overseas presence, including contractors, at over 700,000 jobs.
The company at one point proudly advertised its products as “Made in America”, however as a result of its ongoing outsourcing initiatives almost all of its manufacturing is done abroad. Even Apple insiders have admitted that the flexibility, diligence and industrial skill of foreign workers have so outpaced their American counterparts and that “Made in the USA” is no longer an appropriate slogan for most Apple products.
Apple has also been a pioneer in creating subsidiaries in low-tax places such as Ireland, Luxembourg and the British Virgin Islands. Now why would Apple do that?
To cut taxes it pays around the world. Oh my God! Apple doesn’t pay all their taxes?
According to the New York Times, Apple was among the first tech companies to designate overseas salespeople in high-tax countries in a manner that allowed the company to sell on behalf of low-tax subsidiaries on other continents, sidestepping income taxes. Apple was a pioneer of an accounting technique known as the "Double Irish With a Dutch Sandwich," which reduces taxes by routing profits through Irish subsidiaries and the Netherlands and then to the Caribbean.
Hmmmm, massive outsourcing to human rights violating countries, “Made in America” replaced with “Made Wherever Cheaper” and offshore accounts in tax-friendly havens to avoid paying taxes.
Where is the social and economic justice for the collective cabal’s outrage?
Now, hasn’t this been in the news almost on a daily basis recently? Haven’t we been hearing about a certain equity investment companies outsourcing and a certain mans tax issues? It seems our media and the Liberals have been screaming from the rooftops about these unfathomable transgressions. This one man has been ostracized for the same things that Apple has been doing for over a decade and on a massive scale.
So can anyone tell me if Apple has avoided more taxes than Mitt Romney? You betcha! Has Bain outsourced more jobs than Apple? Let me see, 230,000/700,000 jobs is hard to beat. How many Liberals and media are using iPads, iPods and Mac’s? Seems to me that there seems to be a double standard here, doesn’t it? Of course we’ll never hear about Apples massive job outsourcing and tax avoidance because it is the darling of the media and Liberals.
Hmmmm, massive outsourcing to human rights violating countries, “Made in America” replaced with “Made Wherever Cheaper” and offshore accounts in tax-friendly havens to avoid paying taxes.
Now, let's look at another American manufacturing icon.
Have we heard about General Electric touting themselves as champions of the factory worker? Of course we have. GE has also recently closed more than 20 factories, shifted avionics and radiology businesses to China according to Reuters, and pushed for public policies that will allow them to continue that course.
GE is self-identifying "core" manufacturing interests, as though its other manufacturing interests simply vanished from the books. The truth is, they closed many of those plants here in America. According to GE's own records and statements, it had 125,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs in 2000 compared to 50,000 in 2010.
Government records show at least 38 events since 2001 in which workers at GE plants in the U.S. were made eligible for Trade Adjustment Assistance due to outsourcing or import competition. Immelt has referred to China as GE's "second home market".
Now, isn’t GE’s CEO, Jeff Immelt?
Isn’t he at the head of Barrack Husseins Economic Advisory Board? The “Jobs Czar” for the Obama administration?
Isn't he the man that was sitting next to Barrack Hussein during a Council on Jobs and Competitiveness meeting last June in Durham, NC?
Isn't that when Barrack Hussein stated that “Shovel-ready was not as … uh .. shovel-ready as we expected" as they both erupted in laughter?
Yeah, yeah, it was. Our president and Jobs czar were laughing in your face about one of the biggest lies you all fell for.
So Libbies, answer me this.
How many jobs exactly has Romney outsourced or offshored? Try to be as accurate as possible. A source would be appropriate too.
I mean you all just keep spouting off in your endless drone about all the jobs Mitt Romney shipped offshore I'm sure you have accurate statistics to support you claims, right?
Did he ship off 10 jobs? A 100 jobs? A 1,000 jobs? A million jobs?
You have no idea do you? You have no facts to back up your pathetic attempt to demonize a man who has created more jobs himself than Barrack Hussein ever did in private life. You just sit here and spew your idiotic rants about Mitt Romney because you know he's been more successful in his life than Barrack Hussein can ever hope to be. He's more successful than all of you combined.
Of course success is not allowed in the dark and dank world of Liberals/Progressives. Liberals don't want to succeed, they're just happy to be mediocre. But in the meantime people like Steve Jobs and Jeff Immelt are millionaires and billionaires by the same route that you demonize Mitt Romney about.
But somehow, in the convoluted and dysfunctional mind of Liberals, that's OK.
Hypocrites!
Where is the outrage? Where are the demands to fire Jeff Immelt? Where is the demand by the Liberals to boycott all of GE's and Apples products? Where is the New York Posts glaring 5,000 word tirade about all these jobs being lost to China like they wrote about Mitt Romney cutting someones hair in high school? I'm sure the Liberals felt that was much more compelling than literally millions of jobs lost by GE and Apple.
So, anyway, I'll be waiting for those numbers on how many jobs Romney has outsourced as compared to these companies. They should be easy to find as you've all been harping about them for months.
Right?
ROMNEY/RYAN 2012 FOR REAL AMERICANS©
@Jim Spence
I started reading your essay on Libs so I could respond but DUDE you spewed for hundreds of words and about 1/3 of the way through I realized you know less about us than the avrage Bagger and saying SOMETHING! It is obvious your hate leads your opinions so have it Jim and enjoy Obama's 2nd term there guy!!
Keeping America working for us all Obama/Biden 2012
"Even Apple insiders have admitted that the flexibility, diligence and industrial skill of foreign workers have so outpaced their American counterparts and that “Made in the USA” is no longer an appropriate slogan for most Apple products."
Translation ..they work for much much less.
As for the rest of your post trying to blame Obama and calling others hypocrites ...well it looks like you are doing the same. We have been shipping jobs overseas long before Obama.
I since you are so good at looking up stuff I'm sure you already know its a fact Mitt/Bain shipped many jobs over seas and we don't have to have the number of how many to prove its so.
Hypocrite? Yes you are.
What WE ALL need to do is realize BOTH parties are screwing us over and only care for the big money that can finance their elections and keep them or put them in power.
JimSpence
I lean more towards the liberal side and hate Apple. Thanks for the generalization. And while I'm not disputing nor defending how many jobs Apple obviously outsources, just for devils advocate purposes, where are your citations. You just say everyone else has no facts, yet you just throw out your own numbers, without citing them. Just because you type something doesn't make it fact, either. I like your assessment though that Romney is okay because he outsourced less jobs. Let me know when he starts bringing jobs BACK to the US.
Also, even if you don't own Apple products, I guarantee 100% that something you own has Foxconn components. HYPOCRITE!!!!! Don't just point out GE and Apple as the only gross violators of outsourcing.
A sure way to get something read, is to try to collapse it, so THANK YOU!!!
I design things, and number one criteria is always eliminate the Human from the production cycle.
Or get a cheaper human.
DixieMay
I'm sorry I disappointed you with facts.
I understand that you Libbies only understand bumper stickers, slogans, tag-lines or talking points.
It's a shame you Libbies don't read on your own to undersand what a 21st century global economy is developing into.
Look, we all know you Liberals have NO IDEA how many jobs Romney has outsourced or offshored. You just parrott the typical nonsense that Barrack Hussein, Debbie Whatsername Slutz or the DNC order you to.
It's sad that you believe in the precept of “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it”. You may want to break down and read more and believe less than what your owners tell you.
ROMNEY/RYAN 2012 FOR REAL AMERICANS©
Romney is for Paying Americans, and if elected, I will make SURE my interests are backed up with plenty of good crunchy money.
I hear he loves the stuff, eats it right outta the bag.
Can we stop with the F-ING APPLE bashing.
This has NOTHING to do with Apple.
How about we change the opening line to (insert the following below)
So...XXX largest contract manufacturer....
Only stupid people think Apple has a political affiliation.
But kudos, because it is usually a crackpot pretent conservative who thinks they are 'tree hugges.'
Now we have a crackpot pretend liberal thinking Apple is Mitt Romney's company.
Extremists and their idiocy. JUST THE BEST!
Wow--reading all of this, I gotta say--both Dem and Repub partys accept very large contributions from big business! And some businesses donate to BOTH parties just so they have a leg up with whoever wins! That's why I am going with a third party--at this point, probably Green Party. I also like some things about Libertarians, except it seems to me that Libertarians are assuming that issues of environment and health/safety of workers can all be adjudicated in the courts. The one flaw that I see with that is that big business tends to have a lot of money so can buy the best lawyers.
Whew! To get back to the article--It seems to me that we are all in a pickle, because these components are probably everywhere! We have become so interdependent on so many different companies for their supportive products, that we as the human race have kinda painted ourselves into a corner. There are no easy answers. As for myself, I do what I can--make things last as long as possible (including my computer, a Dell with an old Windows program (at least 6 or 8 years old). And I look to buy American Made when possible. I even grow as much of my own food as possible because I don't like some of the things Monsanto is doing either. Quite frankly, the more independent I become, the less I am supporting those who have made money their Almighty Higher Power.
zorloc
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46398765
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/business/apples-tax-strategy-aims-at-low-tax-states-and-nations.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/267846/how-apple-sidesteps-billions-taxes.html
http://rogerpielkejr.blogspot.com/2012/01/apples-and-americans.html
http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/ge-deal
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/12/obama-jobs-council-outsourcing_n_1666443.html
I have many more if you’re interested but these are my favorites to educate you Libbies.
I’m not going to get into a useless pissing match with you Libbies about outsourcing because I don’t like to debate someone who is unarmed.
Your hypocrisy about Romney outsourcing is just pathetic for those of us who understand what the 21st century economies will look like. You Libbies can live in your 1960’s and 1970’s fairy tale land of unskilled, untrained and illiterate people making $70,000 a year with benefits and legacy costs.
IT AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN EVER AGAIN!
The reasons are obvious but you won’t accept the significant changes we need to make to become competitive in the new global economies. Your Liberal/Progressive indoctrination is so overwhelming you can’t accept the Draconian changes we need to make.
Worrying about Sandra Fluke, Mitt Romneys taxes and Big Bird is NOT going to fix our systemic defects. But you Libbies know that Barrack Hussein is incompetent so all you have left is demonizing the successful people in this world that you all wish you could be.
Class warfare and envy are powerful tools the elite statists like Barrack Hussein have consumed you with, unfortunately the only person it benefits is him. It’s sad that America has become so apathetic that it feels only some inexperienced community organizer, whose most significant accomplishments has been a few picnics in Chicago and writing a couple books about himself, is the solution to the strongest economy in history.
Now, I’ll wait for YOUR FACTS about Romney.
Don't worry I'm not holding my breath.
ROMNEY/RYAN 2012 FOR REAL AMERICANS©
The fact about Romney is he is an out sourcer and even went over to China to shop for one of these sweat shops. He has no problem with barbed wire fences and bunkbeds stacked as high as three beds on one section,120 women in a room. He thinks that is what the US should have he supports it and invests in it. This man made his money by guting american companies and sending them overseas. He is a ruthless man who will do what it takes to become president ,even lie.
DixieMay
If you're going to use terms like "bagger" you should avoid being critical of others for "hate" lest you make a hypocrite of yourself.
If you want to know why the world is so screwed up, watch the documentary "Agenda" by Curtis Bowers. It will be the best 93 minutes you have spent in your uninformed life!!!
@JimSpence - you lost me at "Hussein" and "you people"
China is a Communist country, and the democratic party is the closest thing we have to communism here. On top of this, socialized medicine is a communist (socialist, more or less the same) idea. This article is an example of what happens in a communist country. Frankly I am surprised the government let something like this get out into western media. They don't have freedom of press there. Perhaps they allowed the story to get out (or fabricated it completely) to shine a bad light on Apple.. it would make sense as Apple is a premium example of consumerism at it's worst.. a customer base that almost exclusively buys their overprice products more for status than anything else. Consumerism and capitalism undermine Communism.. it is a "necessary evil" to improve the economy, but China certainly doesn't want it's own people becoming consumers because then they would be working to improve their own lifestyles and not the country as a whole. Captitalism in China is the means toward becoming a larger entity in the world market.. money is power, and if you have 1/5th of all the people, and have the money to back it up, you are the most powerful nation on the planet.. You don't become economically viable when your business laws are derived from the communist agenda.. Look at the USSR..
Anyway, before anyone starts spouting off about how the disabled man in this article is the victim of some right wing philosophy, bear in mind that his situation is the DIRECT result of the opposite end of the spectrum.. extreme left wing politics (ie socialism) are directly responsible. Also, this man was not born with the same rights we are born with in the U.S.A.. In the U.S., right wing politics have paved the way for a man like this to sue and settle for millions of dollars. In a socialist environment, he will be just another disabled body on welfare..
And TinaLB, you do realize "hussein" is our president's middle name, right? Barrack Hussein Obama.. Hussein is a word of Arabic origin referring to royalty. While JimSpence was using it deragatorily, he wasn't using it dishonestly.. it IS his name after all..
Sounds like a Romney policy. Corporate profits first, people second, if at all.
wrong it's Obama care at work
Yes, and I'm sure you go out of your way to make sure you don't buy anything manufactured in a Chinese factory.
I'm happy to say that I don't own any of the products I've seen listed as having been manufactured by Foxconn.
Hal-2824511
Really?
You may want to look at the back of your computer to see where it was made. Unless you had it built here or by yourself Foxconn is involved.
No other company in the world has quite the manufacturing scale of Foxconn. Nearly every global electronics company has some tie to the manufacturing giant, and while much of its work can be done cheaply, with low-skilled workers, the sheer volume of goods and scale of its operations make it China’s single biggest exporter.
Seems that outsourcing and offshoring that everyone blames Romney for is insignificant in the larger picture.
ROMNEY/RYAN 2012 FOR REAL AMERICANS©
scottyconner
I assume you're being sarcastic, correct? Haven't had my normal coffee to wake up my brain this morning so perhaps the sarcasm is lost on me today. I can't imagine someone would be dumb enough to blame Obama's healthcare law for a healthcare issue, in another country.
If I KNOW it, I'll do something about owning a bloodied product.
Actually, you can find a lot of computer parts made either in America or by American allies.
The idea that you have to buy things made in China is simple laziness.
You really can find and buy American products, pay a little extra, and support the American job base in the process- thereby putting money in the pockets of those people you call customers.
Or, you can rant about that awful socialist Obama on your iPhone while strolling the aisles of WalMart, loading up on cheap products from a socialist nation we call China- a nation quietly killing our economy so people like Romney- who offshore American jobs and put people like you out of work- can get richer.
Brilliant....
Oh, now, Yash...Romney wants to cut taxes for the rich because they are the job creators. Yeah...they are creating a lot of jobs in China, and this tragic story tells us why.
Sorry, not anything on the list I found. ( not even Intel)
The list was :
Personally, I'm pretty big on buying American whenever possible. Unfortunately, it's not really possible as far as consumer electronics is concerned. But, my car, all my guitars, my furniture- all American. One of these electronic companies needs to figure out how to do it here economically.
At the risking of adding to the discussion without a quoted source, I read ('somewhere') that ONE of Foxconn's factories employs 250,000 workers, 60,000 of whom live on site. Nowhere in the US could that kind of scale be realized. I'm in Maine and those numbers would represent (approximately) all of the Greater Portland area's population would be employed by one company and all of the area around Portland would be living on company land, being housed, clothed and fed by the company. The scale of consumerism required to support the US and western culture prohibits anywhere near the possibility of "Made in USA". I also think it's important to keep in mind that as horrible as this case is, and the many untold stories like it, it is now moving to the front and that will allow/force the changes needed, just like 100 +/- years ago here in the coal/auto/etc. industries.
Sounds a lot like Obamacare when panels (yes, they exist; read the entire bill) make decisions based on cost cutting versus quality care.
Hi Donna. Are you suggesting that your independent Medical Plan does not have a board ruling on policy coverage and making decisions on special cases? Do you think that if your participating oncologist has said your cancer has metastasized and you will be dead in 6 months that your plan is going to approve a kidney transplant? The medical plan you have now is focused on minimizing utilization any way it can while still meeting the expectations of the consumers according to their policies. Having worked many years in the health insurance industry I know exactly how things work. The Romney plan makes things worse than they are already. ( for the consumers that is, not the insurance companies)
Yes I do, every chance I get. Bought pens from Mexico from Walmart instead of from China, fewer illegal immigrants when they can work at home. Buy a gym combo lock Made in the US for $1 more than the China lock. I spent hundreds more to buy car tires made in the US. I walk the walk, not double talk like 2 faced Romney.
Yeah it's a lot cheaper to "let them die" in the streets like the tea partiers were chanting at a pub convention not that long ago. Some pro-lifers, they're ready to snuff you 10 seconds after you leave the womb. Pro-war and pro-life, from the 2 faced Romney.
America tells brain damaged Apple to quit Foxconn.
FACT: They are quietly moving ALL of this to Taiwan, where cheaper humans abound at the moment.
These things have a definite set of evolutions as workers get pay, they always demand enough pay, then basic respect, time off, etc. So the slave-labor practice has to move where it is needed*.
*Economically speaking, sweatshops have always served as a necessary but short-lived precursor to better working conditions in free market countries. America is no exception.
China is going through it's own "The Jungle" phase, as exploited workers become anything but workers.
This is the GOP's vision of American workers' future, too.
Are we going to vote for our own destruction?
Whether they move or not is not the issue at hand. This man was permanently damaged at one of Apple's plants while on the job----and they simply don't want to continue to pay for his health care needs and hospitalization bills.
How rude, especially from one of the wealthiest companies in the world. Please think about how Apple treats its employees tyhe next time you look at your Apple phone, pad pod or laptop. Abuse of Duty is what makes these devices for you and you support such each and everytime you talk, text sext or read on one of Apple's devices!
Human abuse for the sake of another pad! What A Great Company?NOT!
This is DEFINITELY the Republicans view of the future
Julkie: So let's get this straight..... under the Republican's plan this is our future, but under the Democrats plan, we have no jobs?
Nice way to spin this.....
This isn't an Apple issue. Apple may be one of their biggest customers, but they don't own Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn).
This is a heartbreaking story and undoubtedly this will put pressure on Apple. Knowing them as we do, you can bet the buck isn't going to stop there...but it will on the desk of the Tien Chong Cheng, Foxconn's CEO. This is a good thing.
But Apple isn't going to dump Foxconn. There are billions of dollars at stake and yes, this is where business and humanity clash. When money like that is in play, human considerations take a distant backseat. It shouldn't be that way but it is. It's an unfortunate fact of life.
This is one of those cases where the Court of Public Opinion holds more sway than the courts of government.
Unhappy:
From today's MSNBC:
Jobless claims drop to lowest level since 2008
We lost 598,000 jobs in the last month Bush was in office. Do you want to go back to that?
Mitt's "plan" is fairy dust and delusion.
Julkie,
I wasn't aware this was a political story, but I'll play along.
I'm a Republican, but I don't hate Obama. I respect him as our president...but my respect stops there.
So...how're you doing these days? We can predict and extrapolate all we want, but the fact is the Democrats held the Oval Office for the past four years. I heard a lot about "Hope and Change" in 2008, but my observation is that the people who put faith in that mantra aren't seeing much of it.
Mitt Romney didn't take half this man's brain. He didn't--and wouldn't--send messages to his family that he leave the hospital and urgently needed care.
Whether he'd make a good president is still in debate. I only know what we've got now. And I'm not happy with it.
If I was happy--and despite being a Republican--I'd have Obama/Biden bumper stickers on my own car.
Ah the entitlement group hitting it hard today, give me, give me, give me.... I don't want to take responsibility for myself. I will vote for the most Holy of Holy.... Allah Obama.
This is what Obamacare will look like once the panels (yes, they exist...read the entire bill) make decisions based on cost-cutting versus quality care.
If this were to have happened here in america, Apple/Focxconn would be paying thru the nose. This is why big companies like Apple , MS, and many others flee to overseas for cheap labor, and no medical coverage for the people they enslave.
This needs to be stopped, and any company that flees to another country should as well be forced to pay American taxes, and medical benefits for their employes as well.
This is pretty much what Robme Romney and Lyan Ryan wants here in America. They want the poor to be their slaves so they can collect every dime of your income so they can live the life of luxury.
OBAMA 2012
Almost every thing this company has been doing to this man in China would happen if the Company and man were in America. Accept in America if your company wanted you out of the hospital you'd be put in a wheelchair and rolled out the door. In America you have to fight for fair treatment and compensation. If you are seriously injured the first thing companies do is try to minimize their liability. They try to make it your fault. It's sad that people work for companies for years then get hurt and the companies then see them as adversaries which force's workers to get lawyers. In America this guy without a lawyer would be screwed worse than what's happening to him now.
The trolls are out in full swing today. Donna and WeAllHaveOpinions = TROLL ALERT!
This is such a heartbreaking story. The idea that I have even one Apple product sickens me. But I am glad that the workers are starting to demand more rights. Horrible employers can only suppress workers for so long. This is still happening in the US, too. My mom was injured at a factory twice and they refused to pay for the first injury and declared the second injury to be the side effect of the first injury, which they said is now considered a "pre-existing condition." Her insurance dropped her right after that. I hope they rot in hell.
We allow companies to stand or hide behind what is "legal." We should not forget the not so distant past when child labor, unsafe coal mines, polluted rivers and lakes were "legal" in this country. Legal does not mean just or moral. The people who want to deregulate our commerce and industry are driven by greed. Apple is not in China to give Chinese workers opportunities for a higher standard of living, they are there for cheap labor. If import duties were raised to compensate the difference with American labor those jobs would return. These are the same issues voters were faced with in the elections of 1912. One would think we could have progressed to a more inclusive state in 100 years but we allow ourselves collectively to be led around by "spin" specialists instead of taking a hard look at politicians records. Our middle class is heading to the poor house, but our politicians will make sure laws are passed so the companies will be doing it legally. There is just no other word for collective stupidity.
UNHAPPY.. you really do need to spend some time doing reserch prior to posting in here.. it is the obstructionist house that has caused this labor problem here in the USA.. Give Rep Boehner a call and ask how many jobs bills he is holding.. those bills he is sitting on could develope into more than 4 million jobs..
seems as though that would be a great deal better than the hundreds of thousands we were losing monthly under BUSH43
This more-for-management-less-for-workers attitude has permeated our country and is permeating the rest of the world, bit by bit. Where will all the jobs go? Wherever the labor is the cheapest and the people the most desperate. Eventually, greed will whittle the entire world down until all that's left are starving people and the obnoxiously wealthy, who will look down their noses at us and consider us parasites.
Shartorius "I'm a Republican, but I don't hate Obama. I respect him as our president...but my respect stops there.
So...how're you doing these days?"
I'm doing significantly better NOW than I was when Bush was president.
Though, I dont think who is president has had ANYTHING to do with it.
Trust me, i'd love to give Obama all the credit...but how would that even make sense?
You remind me of this really liberal friend I have, who was unemployed prior to Obama taking office - and delusionally belived the minute Obama was elected, everything would change...she'd magically find work, and VOILA, life would be perfect. and when that didnt happen, she blamed HIM.
Rather than herself, because let's be honest, she wasnt out there looking very hard for work, wasnt willing to take jobs like cashier at target, and really didnt want to do weekend work...so, in a down economy, her options were REALLY limited.
She eventually woke up and realized it doesnt work like that, took the first job she could find, and then eventually, she landed a nice office job at a dentists office...which lead to her current job working in a hospital, making more now than she ever has.
Again, should she give praise to president for what she has now?
It's illogical...just as illogical as blaming him for things not MAGICALLY turning around.
I hope you wake up just like my friend did.
Julkie
Two things strike me here.
1st Julkie, you know that is not true, that is Obama's goal for white americans.
2nd all of you who love those cheap China goods and the Obama supporters who want everything free, have to realize that nothing is free, someone pays for it somewhere either with their money or thier slavery. Buy American or do without.
3rd MSN and NBC are partners and Microsoft is having a tough time compete with Apple these days so there is that influence to these stories.
Jessica-1170252
Seems those that are still just living in la la land and not paying attention to what is happening in our country and to our freedoms are a huge part of the problem. Wake up and see reality.
Jessica-1170252,
I read your post and respectfully disagree.
No human being is a miracle worker, and I never expected our current president to be one.
Bush was no bargain, either. I don't compare one president to another...I just know what I want in a leader and criticize when I don't see it, predecessors notwithstanding.
I most certainly don't give any president credit or scorn for my getting--or keeping--a job. Some would disagree with me on this, but that is my responsibility. I don't ask anyone, including our president, for help there. Your friend apparently agrees with me on that one.
And I am awake. Very much so.
And I think you are, too. We just disagree...and that's okay. We both want what's best for our country; we just differ on how to get there.
Peace.
Julkie
but under the Dems nobody has any jobs (or we have to give 60% of our pay to the corrupt government) lol, ok lets talk facts under the Reps american workers have had it much much better. But i guess under the Dems we will all be on welfare and beholden to the government.
Now that's a comment that deserves an AMEN!
And under pubs only those working for the military industrial complex will have jobs. Watch Romney take every penny he saves on civilian programs and blow it all on the military. Sepnding ain't coming down, spending on the serfs is about to shift elsewhere. You'd think people would have a clue after 8 years of the Bush puppet regime.
Sounds like good ole American capitalist ingenuity to me. The company works the system, and the injured worker, and in this case his family also. The object of business is lower cost's and increase profits. That is why they came up with a Department called human resources. I know first hand what their job is and I also know the bigger the company the more laws they can break.
China is a communist country, and communism and socialism are FAR more in the left side of the political field than in the right.. So to say that a man who is living in a communist country, and is victim to the laws that allow a company to settle based on the man's contribution to society, being treated in a socialized medical facility is somehow the victim of REPUBLICANS is about as far fetched as you can get.. THIS is what you get when you go with things like OBAMACARE and an extremely left wing president who shows marxist tendencies over and over. Don't even think to spin this as something that would happen under a right wing controlled government.
@Yash "And under pubs only those working for the military industrial complex will have jobs. Watch Romney take every penny he saves on civilian programs and blow it all on the military. Sepnding ain't coming down, spending on the serfs is about to shift elsewhere. You'd think people would have a clue after 8 years of the Bush puppet regime."
Um, where does that money come from that Romney would spend on the military? Taxes maybe? From hard working MIDDLE CLASS Americans? And if they ALL worked for the government (military or not), there wouldn't BE any money to pay them, and you can't print new money without an economic foundation for the wealth.. You see, someone has to work in a job that either harvests, mines, or produces something, or that is derived from one of those industries (ie sales, infrastructure, support, housing, etc).. Otherwise you are just moving money from point A to point B, which is what a government job is.. You might think that since Obama can "create" a job by spending money on a highway, that money was added to the system, but all he did was take tax money OUT of the system and spend it creating a job that has a finite limit.. he basically offered a short term chunk of money to whoever wanted to work for it.. the job WILL end and the country will NOT be better off for it financially. (Obama "robbed Peter to pay Paul") However, if we mine our resources, harvest our crops, and manufacture goods, THOSE are jobs that will increase our GDP.. But those are also the kinds of jobs that Democrats want to get rid of.. No more mining or drilling for oil, just pay the farmers to NOT grow things, and make it impossible for manufacturers to make a profit with unions and overinflated wages and pensions that nobody can afford to pay, and if you CAN make it in one of those fields, you will be taxed until you can't, only because at the top of companies that do this are a small number of people who *gasp* make a lot of money and don't give more than 50% to the government in taxes.. This is the democratic way of things..
Under Republican control, businesses are given tax incentives to expand on U.S. soil so that there are actual jobs available (and not 12 million people out of work living on the government teat), actually USING our natural resources instead of relying on foreign countries for steel and oil (ALL our steel comes from China), overpaying unskilled factory workers is discouraged so costs can stay low enough that the products are actually purchased (and hence the manufacturers can stay in business), social programs are considered based on what the government can AFFORD, not on what the people would like to have (even though they didn't earn it), and people who work hard are rewarded for the effort, not taxed until they have bled out. It may be a colder system in terms of helping those people who didn't plan for retirement or who won't take a lesser job once they lost their middle management job, but it is FAR more realistic.. you can't spend money you don't have, and you can't take it from the workers and give it to the non-workers indefinitely.
As I mentioned, ALL our steel comes from China now.. So if China, who has 4x the population we have and is using capitalism to become a solid economic power, were to wage war against us, how could we produce weapons to fight them? The answer is, WE CAN'T. In the last world war, we won because we had the manufacturing, natural resources, and economy to prevail over anyone else in the world. Now China is in that position and we are RELIANT on them. So why WOULDN'T we want to redirect some money toward the defense of our country? Do you REALLY think that China will never decide that the rest of the world should be under their rule? History teaches us better, and if you think for even a second that the last few decades have "enlightened" humanity that war is not the answer, then you are in for a rude awakening. It isn't a matter of IF it will ever happen, it is a matter of WHEN. We are setting ourselves up for a fall that is more epic than that of Rome. In another generation, our population will be trying to respond to a military threat from China by challenging them to a video game match, winner take all..
We may not see another global conflict in our lifetimes, but it WILL happen, sooner or later, and as things stand right now, we would be hard pressed to come out on top. We NEED to be more self reliant again, even if it means we can't get those flat screened TV's for cheap and can't provide social programs to continue to offer unemployment for over two years..
With all the money Apple has they should be finding a way to bring jobs back to the USA.
Haven't you heard... Jobs died.
@Jimcolorado - I see what you did there! clever man. :)
With the Republicans and Bush II administration.
Jimcolorado,
Nicely done.
"He who would pun would pick a pocket." ---Samuel Johnson
On it,
Whatever your on, I'd suggest you try to get off it...it's destroyed your ability to reason. 4 years of Obama doesn't seem to have "changed" things, does it?
Are there more unemployed now or under Bush II?
Bush II
Beel Cleenton's fault. He made cheap humans available to American "Job Creators".
And pass the 'Bring Jobs Home Act'.
You hear that, Paul Ryan?
Sounds like you are too young to know but during Bush II there was a over a trillion lost in the stock market, more than that in real estate values and a recession. I suffered greatly because of him and his policies. You want to know where are the jobs, well Bush II told you they would come with the tax breaks for the wealthy, but I guess you were too young to remember that promise also. Change is here with Obama, over a trillion gained in the stock market, we are out of a recession and the economy is going in the opposite direction of up than down when Bush II left office. Facts are facts, stubborn though.
But the most important change is ACA where millions of Americans can now buy health care insurance and the rates are only 4% above last years (some have gone down). Premiums have gone up over the last 15 years 10 - 20% a year before ACA. This will go down in history as his greatest achievement, affordable health care for all.
I agree with you wholeheartedly On it.
Obamacare will save costs in the long run....and save lives. There will be no death panels, because insurance companies can no longer refuse to insure you.
Since Obamacare, my health insurance premiums have slowed down with regard to premium increases. People don't want FREE care, they want AFFORDABLE care. I am sorry to those who disagree, but I think being able to get medical care when you are sick is a RIGHT, not a privilege for a few elite.
The trend is improving in America. Bush II did not include the cost of warmongering in his budget. He also did not want to address those expensive government contracts to his buddies such as Halliburton. My husband was over in Iraq in the Infantry, patrolling the city....Halliburton guys were doing somewhat the same thing making 15 times more than our soldiers.
People want facts? Go watch a few of the documentaries on Youtube about Bain Capital. Go and compare the tax returns of Obama vs. Romney to see who is more transparent.
As for this 26 year old young man who now only has 1/2 a brain? I feel so sorry for him and his family. We get ONE life, and he was permanently brain damaged trying to make a living. Because he is not related to someone rich and powerful, they want to toss him aside like garbage. As a worker he should have basic rights, and if we do not stand up for the worker, we will all eventually be treated as garbage.
What exactly are you ON? Millions of Americans can NOW buy health care insurance? Premiums have gone down? Where do you live? I want to move there. First...millions of Americans have always been able to buy health care insurance....if they could afford it. That has not been the problem.....never has been. Health care insurance has always been available. That is.... to anyone with the cash to pay for it. Millions of Americans couldn't afford it. And still can't. I have been in the work force since I was 16 years old...and trust me I am a few years older than that now. Not once has my health care insurance gone down. NOT ONCE. Every year, now matter what job I have held, my health care insurance premiums have gone up, my deductable has gone up, and the medical procedures that my health insurance will cover has gone down. I have been among the lucky Americans that at least I could afford insurance. There are millions of Americans that just can't afford health care insurance. That hasn't changed. So I don't know where you come up with this will go down in history as a greatest achievement.....you need to get out of your bubble and ask folks that live in poverty if they can now afford health care insurance.....seriously....millions can't afford their rent or food, how are they going to afford health insurance. They will do what they have always done, used Medicaid or just go to the emergency room for health care and not pay the bill.
No bubble just facts. Millions of people could not buy insurance because insurance corporations denied people with preexisting conditions. Didn't you know that? Premiums have gone down and insurance companies are sending rebates back to the buyers because they were overcharged. Get with the news.
Look at China. See the future.
God forbid!
Look at Greece, and Spain, see the future...
Look at Mexico. See the future.
Look at Mars. See the future.
No, the past.
China's problems are mostly social: they've pretended to set up a Democracy.
If we only had enough workers killed on the job, we could stack the bodies high enough to get to Mars! That's the ingenuity and out-of-the-box thinking that will get us literally and figuratively to the top! It's what keeps America Great. The Job Creators will make it happen, you'll see. We'll be just like China. Romney-Paul will make sure that all the onerous and costly regulations, like health, safety and environmental protections, are removed. Don't you know that after enough people die from corporate misdeeds, that the market corrects itself?! That's the invisible hand!! It's what the lawyers do! Getting rid of government interference in this process will pave the way for great productivity and more jobs. Bonus; every time a worker dies on the job, it's a new job! They'll get us to Mars and kill us all doing it. Then the rich can live there and let our planet become a factory planet for that lazy 47%!!! Romney and Paul. God Says SO!!!!
That's odd....I look at China and I see the past, not the future.
I see the reinvention of slavery, the trampling of human rights for the sake of profit, and the enrichment of the few- and while I always knew the Old South would someday try to rise again, I never expected it to do so in the Far East....
Iron Oxide Dreams: the problem is, the Republican South is trying, ever so desperately, to bring back the good ol' days from the industrial revolution back. They really do want to eliminate the minimum wage, workers compensation, unemployment insurance, OSHA, NLRB, and most of the other protections that most workers now take for granted.
That is the future under the Republican party.
That is our future
Actually if Mitt gets in the future will be worse for the whole world. He has a complete lack of knowledge how to help people (other than himself via vulture capitalism where he and his cronies steals the assets from solvent companies). His "secret" plan is to have WWIII. He's stupid enough to think we can bomb our way to prosperity.
If the public is dim enough to get him elected they'll be calling for his head in short order once his militarism plunges the world into its darkest period in history.
It's really not fair that this piece singles out Apple. Yes, Apple may have a hugely popular product being manufactured there - but they aren't the only AMERICAN company with Foxconn contracts.
Other major customers of Foxconn: Amazon, Apple, Cisco, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, and Vizio. And that's just the big players.
AND.....Foxconn's behavior is not limited to China. Seems there has also been labor unrest elsewhere. Ironically, it seems to always be in those geographical areas where jobs are scarce and the general populace is very, very poor.
I am sure we will hear the same BS that Foxconn is too big to fail....
Apple gets targeted not because its the only customer as you have pointed out, but because most of the incidents that have occurred happened in plants that were built specifically for Apple per their contract with Foxxconn. This gentleman's issue from the article I read happened in part of the assembly area for the Iphone. A plant Aplle has stated is "well within it's standards for safety" yet it has yet to pass many of the safety inspections.
Mark440, you are forgetting the biggest player of all.............Wal-Mart! I remember the good old days when Sam Walton ran the company and most of the products they sold were made in the U.S. Now everything is imported and they treat their employees about the same way that workers are treated in China, India, and elsewhere.
Yet Apple stock and Walmart are at it's highest level ever, Shows that it's all about the money and not anything else, I will not invest in these companies for that reason, nor will I use their products.
GM and Ford used the same excuses when the Nazis used slave labor in their German subsidiaries, and claimed that they did not make a "significant profit" from said slave labor.
Foxconn is a foundry manufacturer. It's policies - including labor policies - are bound to be heavily influenced by its contractor..which, in this case is Apple. There's simply no way that Apple can escape ultimate responsibility.
Amazing how far people will go to rationalize buying Apple.
Apple is currently the big dog, so they get all the scrutiny as well as the blame. Fair or not, they are in the position to make the most change and be in a leadership position.
My initial comment here was pertinent: somebody at Apple "did the math" on how many iPhones' worth of profit he'd use up. And I think we can EXPECT "protections" for "job creators" with a Romney/Ryan show.
My initial comment here was pertinent: somebody at Apple "did the math" on how many iPhones' worth of profit he'd use up. And I think we can EXPECT "protections" for "job creators" with a Romney/Ryan show.
My initial comment here was pertinent: somebody at Apple "did the math" on how many iPhones' worth of profit he'd use up. And I think we can EXPECT "protections" for "job creators" with a Romney/Ryan show.
It is critical to American success that companies like Apple have access to disposable worker inventory. How else will our kids play Angry Birds and text while driving?! The Libertards and Democracks don't understand that without a cheap pool of labor to exploit for minimal cost, we are doomed to failure. The Job Creators will suffer, and we cannot have that. The only thing keeping our economy from plunging off the deep end from Obongotron's Seekrit Muslin Agenda is the profitability of a massive pool of cheap laborers who can be quietly buried in shallow graves in rural Hunan Province. Think of the Angry Birds, think of the Job Creators. OMG iPhone 5!!! So cool. Vote Romney and Paul. They will get those jobs back to the USA if they have to remove all the worker safety laws, environmental protections and human rights to do it!!! YES THEY CAN! We must all tug on our bootstraps.Romney and Paul will save us from ourselves.
Mark, Apple owns the Company----end of subject!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cramy....It's a person like you, who makes people like me, more tolerant of people like you.
I won't be buying another Apple product until they break their contract with Foxconn and bring those jobs to America. Why support a foreign country and put people there at risk. Seems that Apple would wake up and see that they are enabling china to treat their workers like animals. It makes it look like they condone this treatment even if they put up a small reprisal for this. It isn't enough Apple, shut it down or lose your American consumers.
Yes it is fair,they may be one of many but they are definitely part of the problem. I don't excuse anyone that uses this kind of labor and you should not either.
The world doesn't need your money anymore. How will Americans react when they become second class citizens of the NWO. Thanks to the WTO and a whole bunch of other acronyms used for manipulation. The truth is we can't compete. The US has opened the gate to the barbarians to purge the land for a new beginning. Guess who gets the shaft?
Hey, I'd be willing to pay more for my iPhone if I knew it was made it the USA, employing Americans at a living wage which was assured by government/union regulations. Of course, that's about as likely as unicorns flying out of my ass.
I found out about Foxconn slave labor/suicides (suicide nets) and for the luckier ones, up to $2/hr (if being paid). iPhone 4 (I didn't know about Foxconn/Apple issues) was my last upgrade and will be my last Apple product ever. For years, I've been looking for the "Made in America" stamp and always pay more for it, if it is. People blame politicians for jobs however, if the people stop buying "Made in China" the stuff has to be made in the USA. Yes, politicians should have closed trading with China/any other country that uses child/slave labor period. How can the USA compete? Of course most American's don't think this way because they're too entertained with TV shows, music, iCrap products and sports so, the main goal is just to buy low/cheap when shopping without considering "Made in America" then crying about "no jobs available." Duhhhh!
So that is where all the flying unicorns are coming from.
Nice sentiment, but it really won't make a difference. As long as there people in the world willing to work for 1% of what those here are willing to work for, companies will find a way to use that. Globalization+Capitalism dictates that we CAN NOT maintain our American standard and way of life. If you take a large object (America's standard of living) and a small object (China's standard of living) and average them together (globalization), the large object will lose out while the smaller gains.
Ever hear of Mexico, Vietnam, Malaysia, etc. It must say "Made in the U.S.A."...note the periods after the letters, or it could be made in USA, China.
Employment ops SHOULD have a ladder, if the system's healthy.
If conditions are bad at FoxConn, somebody else should be happy to have their trained employees.
Please awaken to the fact that90% of all labor in China is slave labor for minimal fees!
@ Logic4U: if you lack the intelligence to support your own country, what's wrong with supporting other democracies?
Why do you have to roll over and support a genuine, murderous, kid-crushing socialist state like China- while petulantly whining about "socialism" here?
You claim to like Democracy?
Put your money where your mouth is, bub- or accept the fact that you lost credibility a long, long time ago.
I might be willing to buy and iPhone if it was made in the USA and wasn't already out of date.
READ LABELS FOLKS. Do all you can NOT to buy products made in China. It's difficult, but, trynd American made. It is out there, but you may pay more. If nothing else, look for products made in countries that you know are free and fair (nothing wrong with "free" trade....as long as it does not entail slave workers in Communist countries). Lots of stuff out there from Central/South America, Korea, Japan, Poland, Canada.
I'd like to add that for all those who wail about illegal immigration from Mexico.....consider buying goods made in Mexico instead of China. If Mexico's economic situation improves, illegals may be less likely. It's not likely they are sneaking across the boarder just to go to Disneyland.
No, in MOST cases, it isn't. Retailers will not carry what the public will not buy.
The ERROR that killed American Manufacturing was that "Innovation" equaled "Eliminate worker human".
Wrong, 'Bucket. WRONG WRONG WRONG. The error was letting the government get in the way. If human labor was kept cheap, by removing worker protections like insurance, and safety regulations, automation would not have been competitive. If automation was such a huge cost savings, how come those Chinese factories aren't full of robotic equipment? No, automation is costly and the amortization too long, in light of the rapid advancements made in technology. Existing automated production equipment becomes obsolete long before it is paid off. The better ROI is disposable labor inventory which can be trained to perform new tasks. But here in the U.S. the government and it's regulations on how they are used makes using humans prohibitively expensive. We don't insure our batteries or plastic razors, right? Because they can be tossed when they don't do the job, right? Same with workers. If we just get rid of the cost of hiring workers, by removing all the costly regulations that protect them, the Job Creators would delight in returning to this country with plenty of manufacturing jobs. Shareholders would delight in the dividends that this new-found source of cost savings would bring. It would usher in a golden age. The 47% just needs to get off its high horse, realize that the Job Creators have the right to use them until they break. Romney and Paul will make it happen! Vote for Romney and Paul. They'll get us just as competitive as the Chinese. They'll keep government from getting in the way of profits and dividends! It's the American Way.
@ CRAMY: You do realize that there are people on this string who are so....challenged...that they take what you say at face value, right?
I enjoy your sarcasm- but someone who hasn't been following your posts for a bit might go: "Ah, a kindred spirit"....no, wait.....probably more along the lines of: "Lookit, Bubbah-Joe, he smart like me!"
hahahaha, I know, FeO2 Dreams! I got a big chuckle out of that one too!
I worked in electronics manufacturing in the nineties. I'm really not sure why people seem to be so eager to bring those crappy, underpaid jobs back from China.
APPLE has banked billions of dollars so 12 year old children can own a shiny new Iphone made by the finest Chinese slaves in Asia. It sucks.
I have never owned an Apple product and I doubt I ever will.
China poisons products destined for the USA. A couple years ago they were painting children toys with lead paint, dumping chemicals in powdered baby milk and recently were shipping poison dog treats to the USA.
Apple knows Foxconn mistreats it's workers and that they work in slave labor conditions and are paid $2 a day average. Apple likes the BILLIONS of dollars they have stuffed in the bank. The cost of an IPHONE is $20 to Apple and the retail price is $400. They could manufacture the products in the USA, pay workers $10 an hour and still make a HUGE profit selling their garbage.
Boycott Apple.
If you look at America right before the Depression, you have China: Finally enough Working Class exist, to turn the system on their employers.
We got Unions. They'll get a famine.
Unions?!?!? The ones that insist on protecting the human inventory!? LOL!!! This isn't the industrial revolution, you know. All unions do is make the Job Creators cry and move jobs to India or China. We don't need unions. Nobody does. What we need is a capitalistic system without the impediments of costly regulations that make it expensive to utilize humans. Think of how many jobs would be created if Job Creators weren't saddled with workers compensation, or safety regulations, or environmental protection costs?! We would all be doing jobs!!! And every time a worker died from unsafe conditions on the job, the market would adjust and replace the dead worker... CREATING MORE JOBS!!! See, it is a Can't Lose situation. The Shareholders would delight in the immense profitability and the Captains of Industry would, no doubt, donate cake to the poor. Utopia if ever I heard it. You Pro-Union Libtards and your Obongo president will be the death of us all. Only by reducing government regulation and rewarding those who make others take risks to attain profits can we become strong again! Romney and Paul will safe us!!!
Yeah we don't need no stinkin pure water to drink or stinkin CDC to stop epidemics. We should all die at 45 like they did at the turn of the last century form Influenza, which killed more than WWI, or diptheria, tetanus, rubella...plague.
As long as we are all in sweat shops making the robber barrons like a Vanderbilt richer.
"St. Peter don't you call me cause I cant go---I owe my soul to the company store!"
I too eschew the poisoned Apple; but Apple isn't the only outfit that uses FoxConn.
It's actually pretty hard to avoid FoxConn products- though not impossible.
For a pretty good basic read on the topic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn#Major_customers
Sounds like these workers are part of the 47% Romney thinks are worthless mooches. Actually Romney has to think of most people in this light or he couldn't do the despicable things he did-and will do-in "business". Why not rob and cheat a bunch of workers, they're all shiftless and will end up on welfare eventually anyhow, right? Romney wants to bring back the grand old industrial age of Robber Barons and sweat shops. And half the country may put him in the position to do it. Criminals like him are easy to explain, they're narcissists who care for nothing except their own greed and self importance. What's amazing is how many poorer people want to provide him the axe he'll use to chop off their heads.
Here In US, they would call Foxconn the GOP, and of course this poor sap is one of those worthless 47% doncha know!
The 47% should at least pay something...
Jimcolorado: They do pay something. Sales tax. Property Tax. They just don't pay income tax because their incomes are too low. I'm sure they don't pay capital gains tax either, but hey, it's hard to have capital gains when you are at or near the poverty line. So why aren't you complaining that they don't pay capital gains tax?
You righties have lost your damn minds.
They do have Xbox's, large flat screen TV's, iPhone's Cars and/or motorcycles and all the other up to date gadgets, plus all the government handouts they can steal. That is only to be expected here in the land of the entitled. There are many in this country are below the at or near mark that can't get assistance because the thieves at or above the poverty mark know how to beat the system. The system knows but to do something would be bad for their job security.
Why work anyway? Look at all the benefits, medicaid, food stamps, welfare payments, SS disability, unemployment payments, plus you can lay around all day, drink and smoke, play games, party and the best part is you done have to worry about getting injured on the job because you did something stupid or getting fired for not following safety procedure, but we all know that is not your fault.
Jimco, contrary to the lies told my Romney, et al, the bottom 47% pay 2% income taxes. That may not sound like much to you, but they only make 11% of the total income made in America. How much do you expect them to pay? Another $100 a month to someone making $15,000 a year (average of the 47%) is pretty significant. $1,000 a month to someone make $573,000 (average of the top 3%) a year is not.
Thank you Paul.
lib&proud, the ones who have really lost their minds are those that think the country can continue to finance (with borrowed money) what Paul describes.
Pablo, I have yet to hear explanations from R&R as to how they would like to fund the ludicrous increase in defense spending Mitt wishes for, and how they will fund their tax breaks in a revenue-neutral manner. Do you seriously believe that R&R wouldn't borrow money? Please.
I don't remember mentioning Mitt or R&R in my post?????
Pablo,
To the libs, Mitt is already to blame for the mess we're in...can't blame the "Messiah"...he's only had four years to change things (needs more time). They think money grows on trees or more correctly, on Obama's printing press.
The 47%--like Mitt, right? Mitt's dad took welfare. Mitt pays no federal income tax (he pays capital gains at a MUCH lower rate)
Also all those claiming the poor have "Xbox's, large flat screen TV's, iPhone's Cars and/or motorcycles and all the other up to date gadgets, plus all the government handouts they can steal."
SERIOUSLY??? Are YOU on Welfare? If not, try it, and then get back to us please. Because that's a bunch of b.s. Until you're there--don't b.s. the rest of us, ok? I guarantee you--you'd be in for a RUDE awakening if you were really poor--and forced to try and live off Welfare.
You can ask Mitt's dad.
"Jimcolorado-2047646
The 47% should at least pay something..."
Mitt is that you or are you just stupid?
Its not hard to look up what that 47% pay and who they are. Here's one hint for you: How much do you think your retired grandmother on SS should pay?
Yo Maxwell, it is prefectly legal to pay the tax on capital gains at a much lower rate. That is the law of the land. It does not make Mitt or me a criminal to take advantage of that. Besides he makes very large contributions to charity on top of that. Anyone that has any money sense, including you, would do the same. If you read Paul's post, he's directing his complaints at those who game the system at the expense of those in real need. If you don't think that happens you are being very naive.
I enjoy how people are so clueless in their pro Romney attitudes that they have no idea who even completely makes up that "47%" you keep thinking its entirely made up of moochers on welfare who don't want to work. Sure, they're in there, but it's also you're retired grandmother on SS, it's also many average hard working families taking deductions like the child tax credit, etc. Romney keeps talking about all these tax cuts, but is the tax cut on say your average middle class family enough to offset the fact they won't be able to take certain credits anymore that Romney wants to eliminate to fund his tax plan.
I also enjoy how hypocritical the right is. You people want to sit here saying how successful of a business man Romney is for doing what he had to do to in order to earn his wealth, but then want to condemn all the outsourcing companies are doing. At the end of the day, the CEO of any company is there to increase the shareholders wealth. If that involves outsourcing, that's what they'll do to stay competitive, lower costs, and bring the most money in. Don't get me wrong, i think we need to be bringing jobs back to America, however Romney is no different than CEO's of any other company that outsource to increase profits. You can't have it both ways, support Romney for all the business success he had but condemning everyone else who outsources.
YAY! My point exactly.
Jim in Colorado--EVERYONE pays sales tax, property tax. The working poor pay payroll tax,as well as the middle class. What we call income tax returns is the money most of us get back from filing our 'income tax'. That can be all the way from getting it all back, to having to pay extra to the IRS. Most of my life I have gotten from a little back to most of it back. A couple of times I had to pay extra. Now I have a few stocks that I bought with money I inherited--so far this year, the income on the dividends have amounted to $100 and 27 cents. Wow--I have $100.27 of the same kind of income that Mitt Romney has $megabucks income from! What's really sad is that 4 1/2 years ago I lost my job due to cutbacks in funding (I'm a 'retired' Substance Abuse Counselor) I'm 61, almost 62 years old. Although my first husband made sure I would have a modest income before he died, it was not enough to pay my mortgage, bills, etc. With the job I had, I was able to meet my needs, and even a few occasional wants. When I lost my job, I had to dig into my inheritance. If it weren't for my wonderful boyfriend marrying me and sharing bills, I would have lost my home! So there you have it--I'm one of the 47% with just a tiny, tiny toe into the kind of 'income' Mitt Romney was talking about!
I am not against the poor getting their taxes back because they pay very little anyway. What I am against is giving them thousands of extra dollars in tax refunds. You don't even have to be a citizen to receive these perks.The last blue or red I voted for allowed another 12million +or- to get on that gravy train legally. Both sides of the halls of government corruption signed on.
Above post for second in thread (Jimcolorado) Paul post is redundant!
Actually, this is an example of Obamacare - prioritizing the amount of medical dollars available. When they run out, so solly, sucka, you die!
On the contrary. If this happened in America, his insurance company would have found a way to say he had a pre-existing condition, or that he hit his dollar cap, and then they'd kick him out. Obamacare would remove the pre-existing condition scenario.
Good thing for you! Brain dead people still don't get it, WE Still Have to PAY for it. UNLESS you are in one of those groups that was exempted, Unions, Blue States, or Obama contributors.
Paul, yes, and Romney thinks using emergency rooms - for which we all pay - as a healthcare plan is a good idea.
NFIL, so what will change? We will just get to pay for it twice, except those that were exempted.
"Comment collapsed by the community".
I make sure I ALWAYS see these, the same way I look forward to reviews of terrible movies.
ALL Politicians are the puppets of corporate greed...
stop arguing about politics and go after the REAL issues
Partisan hacks is what we have here and there is NOTHING to see....
Start looking behind the curtain for the true culprits of greed and of money...corporations and world banks...they both use politicians to keep you all arguing and the eyes off them.
Really not that much different than the INSURANCE companies dictating care in the USA us it?
My mom (former cop, best insurance on the books, retired) went in to the hospital last month. A sudden issue, infection contracted in CALIFORNIA.... received excellent treatment. Looking better. We were told that she would be going home. I asked for at least another day. She could hardly stand. Still disoriented. But improving. The response????? If we paid the extra days. Her insurance company dictates how many days for the stay based on diagnosis.......just like the car makers dictate how much a warranty repair is reimbursed to the dealer right?
OK, we will take her home. She is now back. Same issue. Only this time... so bad that kidneys have failed.... liver on the way... and talking removing a lung.... It "didn't respond as well as we hoped." Probably would have been caught if she spent 2 more days like I asked...... but Aetna and Medicare dictated her care.
The death panals have begun..........................
Very sorry to hear about your mother, but this: "The death panals have begun" is ridiculous. People were getting pushed out of hospitals early LONG before obamacare.
Death panels already existed in the US; they're called insurance companies.
You seem quite confused. If your mother had traditional Medicare, hospitalization would be a one-time fee of $1132.00 for a full 60 days. Then it would get quite costly at $238 per each additional day. Everyone with Medicare knows this and knows how to play the game: Discharge then get readmitted again... it resets that clock.
She must have an Aetna rider, not an Aetna Medicare Advantage policy because the 2nd would charge much less for the one-time admission and $0.00 for days 61 to 90. Then rinse and repeat as above.
It's unfortunate that we have to play games with health care, but more so is one that would rather complain than learn to play the game. There are no death panels, you had the choice to stay longer - you just didn't want to pay for them.
So, in other words, Savvy, you're defending US treatment policies similar to that of Foxconn in China. I bet the Chinese hospital would give their patient a "choice to stay longer" if you "pay for them."
You just endorsed barbarity.
Well, the net of it is that the insurers and Medicare hope that a significant number of elderly folks do not know how to play the game, and hopefully will die before costing them more. No, there are not death panels, per se. Just an institutionalized policy by the insurers and Medicare that promotes and encourages death.
@CaliforniaFirst - I think you are misreading the article. Right now the company (Foxconn) is paying all of the hospital bills, but they are pushing for the employee to get assessed because it is only after that assessment that Foxconn's insurance will begin paying for the employee's bills instead of Foxconn itself
Perhaps you should read a little further, and discover that Foxconn wants him to be discharged from the hospital so he can make a 43 mile road trip to be examined by their "medical experts" to assess his condition. I'm sure they hope he dies on the way, and wouldn't be surprised to see them take steps to insure that, like maybe having a box truck T-bone the car he is in after running a stop sign. Perhaps you also failed to read the part where they say he had nearly half of his brain surgically removed, and has a CSF drain tube. So please tell me, what is the difficulty with the panel of "medical experts" traveling the 43 miles to the hospital to "examine" him? Or are you just shilling for Foxconn?
Nero,
Assessment is certainly fair B-U-T in the hospital the patient is at, not 43 miles away in another city, don't you agree?
Yea! Why not assess him where he is right now?
The issue of 'death panels' came up in this thread. Quite frankly, our health care system has been broken for a very long time. My first husband died in 1997, and had both good and bad experiences out of the same HMO!! 3 days before he passed, he wanted to be able to stay home, and die there--but the silly Utilization Nurse denied him a hospital bed to be delivered to our house! So his primary care doctor instructed me to take him to the ER, then made sure he got admitted to the ICU!!! As you can see, that wound up costing the HMO a LOT more money, and didn't get the patient what he truly wanted! It's amazing, the power that Utilization Review has! But our intelligent, compassionate doctor found a way around it! Wow, sorry for all the exclamation points. I obviously still have feelings about that incident....
Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that we already have 'death panels'....
I had another thought on this: where are the intermediates? It would seem to me that the likes of AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile should be opening their mouths a bit about this.
But then, how could anyone expect a corporation to actually possess any moral values?? Labor laws dictate their morals.
"Labor laws dictate their morals"
Actually the love of money and greed "dictates their so-called morals"
Because corporations are people. Remember?
Yea, we don't need any medical experts telling us what to do, we're happy with the insurance company executives doing it for us, because we know we can trust them with our lives!
But don't you Apple buyers worry about this poor sap, he is just some schmuck that apparently risks his life so you can buy an iphone at 1000% markup. Keep shoveling your money to China!
Another case of keeping someone alive that should have passed on. He has no redeeming value to himself or to anyone else. This is one of the worlds problems, we continue to give medical help to those that should not be here in the first place.
So you would just put a pillow over their head, and in your saintly compassion and concern for the world's economies, press down with all your might until the twitching stopped, eh?
That's some real compassion there Mr. Mengele. He's not even "here" in the first place. He's in China.
While I do feel sorry for Zhang and his parents after everything that's happened, I can't help but think he would be better off dead. He's lost all memory, can only speak by repeating what was said to him, and can barely walk without holding onto something stable. To be honest, he's really only a shell of his former self, and the parents will never get back their true son. Zhang is basically in a near-comatose state for the rest of his life.
Even though Dick227 put it harshly, he does have a point about medicine today. It's amazing what we can do with all the medical technology, but I can't help but think that it hurts humanity as much as it helps individuals. Spending billions of dollars on research to extend people's lives several more years really puts strain on the earth's limited resources. Think about it: the more people there are and the longer they live, the greater our population increases through procreation and the more money needs to be spent on resources for survival. Now I'm not saying we start pulling the plug on everyone past the age of 60. What I think is that humanity needs to consider the ramifications of an ever increasing population on a soon to be overcrowded planet.
So you support euthanasia for people who cannot give consent? Just because they are of no use to you? Nice. Really nice. I'm so glad I don't know you or live anywhere near you, as I have cancer and am over 60, and am on long term disability from my employer. Thus, I am a burden to your vision of a utopian society where only healthy people who can contribute to productivity are allowed to live. So you would have no problems removing me from your corporate bottom line, permanently.
The love and hope a parent has for a child, and probably an only child, means nothing here, does it? To make money or to shed blood for one's country are the only reasons for living, for existing, to some people.
Dick (apt name BTW) "He has no redeeming value to himself or to anyone else. This is one of the worlds problems, we continue to give medical help to those that should not be here in the first place"
I think you should include yourself in this judgement. From your remark, I see you have no "redeeming value to yourself or anyone else."
Out of curiosity, are you a Christian? If so, Jesus must be SO proud. Is this what Jesus told all those he healed for free?
Good thing the free market in China is allowing the Job Creators to enjoy their right to disposable human inventories. As an Apple Shareholder, I am DELIGHTED. They should kill more of their non-American employees if it will boost share values. See THIS COULD BE AMERICA!!! All we need is more cheap Chinese made bootstraps!! Romney & Ryan ALL THE WAY!!!
hmmmmm ASIAN SLAVE LABOR PUTS THE MONEY IN THE CORPORATE BANK ACCOUNTS?
SAID CORPORATIONS LOAN MEGA BUCKS TO THE USA GOVERNMENT?
American's pay thousands for a $100.00 product made by asian slave labor?
whats wrong with this picture?
What's wrong with this vision of neocon utopia, you ask? I'll answer!
WE NEED MORE OF IT! We need all the lazy middle class in this country to realize that they are just as disposable as the Chinese Worker Inventory. You don't buy insurance for batteries or disposable razors right, so why ensure the health of workers if you can just replace them? Look, government interference through worker / human rights protection is arduous and capricious, and only serves to depress shareholder value. Think of how great our nation would be, and the military force we could project into emerging markets if we had all that added investment! If our nation would become progressive and realize that workers are a disposable, renewable resource to be cast aside and disposed of when broken or dysfunctional, the Job Creators would be able to finally Create the Jobs. Romney and Paul realize this and will set things strait. They will protect the Captains of Industry who are truly the worlds brightest stars and reward them for guiding the mindless and lazy masses to The American Dream of walled private communities, private police forces and privileged existence for those special few who have the luck to afford it. GOD BLESS ROMNEY AND PAUL!!!! Jesus commands it.
Cramy - the sarcasm is strong with you
I HOPE that was sarcasm... Not to take a pot shot, but it's honestly getting harder to tell left wing sarcasm from right wing policy since the right has dropped off the deep end.
You know Cramy, they should just set up Company Stores and Worker's "Camps" for us. Maybe they could use old military bases? They could bus us to work and back, feed us like cattle. I mean, if it saves $$ for the JOB CREATORS, then my lazy American self should be THRILLED to get this free perk.
You have CHANGED my way of thinking. The bottom dollar will SAVE America! Romney and Ryan 2012!!
All companies that have goods manufactured in China have the responsibility to pressure the manufacturers to enforce human rights. There are many manufacturers there, and we can make a difference, just because we support their economy. You can sure call it corporate greed, but it also falls to us as consumers, and it doesn't fall on any president, elected or trying to get elected.
Companies' responsibility to the shareholders comes FIRST!!! Fighting for human rights will only increase their operating costs, digging into profits, thereby hurting shareholders' return on investment. Government has no right to deny me my dividends!!!! The optimal situation is one where the workers are kept in fear, used like disposable inventory. Mit Romney and Paul Ryan see the truth in this and will help the Job Creators bring this efficiency to the US of A!!! Take the chains off the Free Market! That 47% is disposable. God commands it! Pat Robertson says so! Praise Jesus!
Jeebus luvz you.
Cramy you crack me up!
TanManTexas--you have a good point! And I as a consumer am endeavoring to NOT buy products from companies that do not meet certain basic ethical standards. I can't do it 100% because it's so pervasive, but I can make progress in it--which is better than not doing anything at all. I wonder if there is a way--no matter who wins at election time--for us as an electorate to simply stop doling out money to those we have issues with, and start up our own little businesses of fixing things to last longer, building local economies, growing things for farmers markets, etc.
To the poor man in China--what a horrible thing to happen to him. It is TRULY catastrophic to him and his family. Foxconn/their insurance needs to SEND THE ASSESSORS TO THE PATIENT!!
These stories will become everyday news in the US if Rmoney is allowed to enter the Whitehouse.
The man is no good for this nation, no good for humanity and must be stopped at all costs.
The dehumanization of the lazy 47% IS the best thing that can happen for this country. Romney and Ryan will usher in a glorious new golden age where the Job Creators will live in golden towers overlooking squalid fields of factory laborers toiling for cheap trinkets. The sick and dying, who are useless, will be thrown into pits. If you toil hard enough you can be a Job Creator!!! Just keep toiling and don't get sick. See, it's that easy. Just tug on those Chinese made bootstraps. ROMNEY & PAUL.
You know, it might just be for the best that way... because when the 47% have finally had enough, it will be a glorious day to behold the Job Creators cast from the tops of their Golden Towers, to spatter on the streets below.
The New Civil War will be born, the 1% wiped from the face of the earth, corrupt politicians put down, oil and gas speculators crucified on lamp posts, and best of all, Rmoney and Ryan duct taped together, naked, and publically drawn and quartered.
Oh what a glorious dream of a better future...
Indigo-Rage, you are an UnAmerican Terrorist. I'm glad there are expensive corporate lawyers and a privatized prison industrial complex to lock dysfunctional worker inventory like you up! How dare you threaten the Job Creators who are saintly and godly and donate to the GOP?! Oil speculators are Captains of Industry who delight shareholders! Some day I might own some shares of something and then I too would be delighted aND I WANT TO BE DELIGHTED. You are an Evildoer and I hope the Patriot Act comes crashing down on your forbidden speech.
CRAMY : I'm sure the Brits said the same things about George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin, and we know what that line of reason got them. So I must correct you - I am a wholly American terrorist - threatening whoever violates the precepts laid out for us by that band of rabble that were our nation's Founding Fathers. To quote: 'That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
And Destructive of these ends the bloated monstrosity we call our federal government has indeed become!
@ CRAMY: I told you so...
Foxconn's starting to act like an American insurance company...who says we're losing the culture war! Part of their argument is "you only need half a brain to work here".
If Foxconn wants this guy assessed, why can't the assessment body go to him. He is the one in the hospital. This guy's family should sue the pants off Foxconn. Maybe they'll move their factory back to the states.
wryobserver--you made me spew my tea!! Hahahahaha--BTW, I'm NOT a tea bag party person--I buy Fair Trade tea whenever possible...:).......;)
There are interesting parallels between the way this worker is being dealt with and the way American companies deal with their employees. We are better than China in many ways but the burden of proof of on the job injury, even in cases where there is virtually no room for argument, is on the employee. There are many in America who are dealing with chronic pain or disability due to an on the job injury. There is a mindset, born by those with lazy proclivities, that anyone who files for workers compensation is just trying to scam the system, to become a leach on the teat of society.
Most people would rather work than deal with the pain and psychological issues surrounding the profound life change a permanent disability holds for their future.
Unfortunately, there are lazy, dishonest people who DO file false claims. This should constitute a crime since it indirectly victimizes those who file legitimate claims. Of course in our country today we can't even afford to send the police to investigate a burglary, let alone chase after people who file false L & I claims.
Employers aren't the only ones who make it difficult for people to get treatment. Anyone ever had their insurance company tell them that the treatment they got "isn't covered"? What a crock! In the midst of an emergency you are supposed to consider how much your insurance company will pay? How about we turn the tables and tell them how much we're willing to pay for their lousy coverage? It's all about the money though, insurance companies must ensure that their shareholders get their dividends, even if it means their policy holders suffer.
I even have a supplemental policy to pay the cost of transport by helicopter because my insurance company won't pay the cost of air transport in the event it is needed. I think they hope that if they won't cover the cost injured people will more likely no survive to file a claim.
No helicopter transport, patient succumbs, no claim, NO PROBLEM!
If you sustain a serious injury, or acquire a major illness, that costs a lot of money to treat, your employers, your insurers, and your government will all do everything in their power to bankrupt you by forcing more and more of the cost on you, which will hopefully ultimately lead to your untimely demise. That's the way they want it and like it. Your life and health are of no meaning to them, and the moment you start costing them money is when they start devising ways to deny you needed care, treatment, and diagnostic procedures. Anyone who thinks their health insurers, employers or their government has any interest in prolonging their live or improving their health is either delusional or intensely stupid. That's the way it is, and will be, and it will only get worse.
Lesson learned in the Nam: Any life is expendable in the achievement of political goals.
GOP addendum: or for the sake of profit.
What's sacred to someone defines the limits of their avarice.
If the only thing sacred is profit- an increasingly common meme on the right- no such limits exist.
Covering up such open greed is an absolute requirement for obtaining votes from the people they are intent on devouring- so, they wear the flag and often a cross- both of which, were honesty mandatory, should be worn upside down.
Apples next big thing.... bringing all manufacturing back to teh USA.
As soon as our wages and benefits are equal to the Chinese, they sure will. They are Job Creators. They just need the labor pool to cooperate by rolling over and lubing up. Romney and Paul will get us there!!!!
Laws to protect workers are part of the 'excessive regulation' we have here in the U.S., and one of the main reasons it is cheaper to manufacture products in the third world where life is cheap, and profits are high. Unbridled capitalism is every bit as frightening as communism, and the result it largely the same. A few at the top have everything, the rest have nothing. Odd how humanity keeps repeating this cycle, isn't it?
Which is why Romney and Paul will make our country great again. The Job Creators will open their Job Faucets as soon as American workers are as productive as the Chinese. The Chinese don't need insurance or retirement or even pay. They just need to WORK WORK WORK WORK! That is how we must be... bootstrappy! Tug on those Chinese made bootstraps from Walmart!!! We need to get rid of all the onerous regulations that are hurting American competitiveness in the global labor market! Romney and Paul will do it! It will be a new Golden Age*
*For the Job Creators.
Back about 2 or 3 hundred years ago, the "job creators" were also known as "slave owners" by their admiring contemporaries, and as "massah" by their "employees". This is the new labor paradigm for the future. Welcome to Dystopia.
So what?
-sent from my iPhone
That's the spirit! And so can you!!!!
If you are using ANY computer, you are using one made all or the majority in China. There is no computer or Cellphone made completley in the USA.
News flash: I roll my own computers. Most of the components are made in the United States or in an allied nation- and none of them are made by FoxConn.
Re cellular...Google may dabble in the "made in U.S.A." market, beginning with the Nexus "Q"- a product I am planning to buy.
It will interface with other android based devices as a media streamer- and if successfully launched, Google will manufacture mobile phones here as well.
People like who insist on a richer feature set at a lower price are cutting their own throats for a few bucks- but that's not my call.
I'll be buying as much in the way of American as possible because I like having customers.
In the interim, my workaround involves using old sets made in countries other than China- and currently I eschew smartphones as oxymoronic.
I have a tablet PC for a lot of those functions- but I built it in kit form in 2010; still works well enough for everything I do with it.
Thank you FeO2! I just made some notes! BTW, my cellphone is a flip phone by Nokia--I have no smartphone--I don't know what is inside my Nokia, but I am learning where to go for my next phone (when this one becomes broken) when it's time for me to replace it:)
FeO2--did your PC tablet kit come with detailed instructions? And can you give a website from where to get one? I think that my hubby and I probably have some more life in this computer--but eventually it will permanently brake and we will need to replace it....
Sigh.... I wish I could build my own computers, cell phones and such! Takes all the fun out of using this stuff when you are aware of the HUMAN cost to make this stuff!
I did get a used "Smartphone", though.
educatingjan-2413097 --- At least you are aware now, and can begin to use that awareness to make better choices whenever possible. It may not be perfect, but it's a start. And aiming for progress WILL get us further down the road towards where we need to be.
FeO2: BS, your kit was boxed in america, the parts came from china, taiwan or indonesia. If your video says 'assembled in america' the parts came from overseas. A few intel chips are still made here, but most of those are very high end chips.