Both China and India are Amazing Stories of Poverty Reduction... We Should Stop Demonizing Them

[girl gone mad]

61. Does it matter?

Going from subsistence farming to working in a factory may mean they earn a few cents a day, but are their lives any better?

I say this as the granddaughter of two farmers. My grandparents worked hard dusk to dawn from the time they were children, but they have always been happy. They're still healthy and strong, too.

Will the Chinese workers who move into slave labor camps and do menial tasks like gluing one part in place for 32 hour shifts look back fondly on these days? Will they be healthy, even into their 30s? Many are already sick and injured, with disabilities more common to old age. What will they do when they get older with broken bodies and no skills to care for themselves?

My grandparents built a life and a home, working the land and raising animals. What will these Chinese slaves have to show for all of their hard work? The stuff they make ends up in landfills when Americans get bored with it or it breaks in a year or two.