Jimspeak

I just ran down to the cafeteria in the lobby of our building to get a breakfast sammich. No, I don't need it, and shouldn't have spent the money but I am hungry and it sounded really good.

Anyway, they always have CNN on the tv and I was watching while my sammich was prepared. The stock talk came up, and the major discussion was about Gap. Their prices have fallen after it was discovered that a lot of their overseas factories were exploiting workers and that working conditions were very poor. Big surprise. Of course they claim to have taken their business away from these factories, a move applauded by human rights activists. Huh? Here's how I see it. The people in these countries have no money, and even though they are treated like garbage at these factories, the presence of large/rich American firms gives them work/money/food. Now the company pulls out leaving them essentially high and dry. Sure, now the big/rich company can say they are not contributing to these horrible working conditions. That's great PR and all, but are they actually doing any good? This may help The Gap's image, but it doesn't really do the factory workers any good. Wouldn't a more effective solution be for them to go in and clean up the factory and do their best to fix the conditions? These factories are probably not going out of business. The abuses are continuing, the Gap (or whomever) is no longer connected to it. Shouldn't these human rights groups try and convince these large companies to try and rectify the solution instead of abusing them and then dropping them completely? That is further abuse in my opinion.