The cost of greed

[whiffey]

Made in China, everywhere you see it. Cut costs, make more profits, and if it costs a few hurricanes and floods then sobeit.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6946425.st m

The human race will over the next decades reap the full benefits of more and more greed.

It has a terrifying inevitability

[jno]

this seems to be more about shaky safety standards than about cost-cutting. Mr Zhang has already paid the price, and China has taken firm action which should actually raise their standards well above Europe's.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/d51bbe50-49b0-11dc-9ff e-0000779fd2ac,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89d f-0000779e2340.html

[whiffey]

This specific example aside, the point is a philosophical one. We all want as much as we can get for the least cost. This is why so much is now made in China and India and flown in (along with flowers from Africa !!). Standards of safety are undeniably lower there, while mankind scrabbles to make a quick profit.

The cost could quite literally be the planet.

Made in UK - keep a look out for it, it is becoming ever more rare.

[Gromit]

Product recalls are very common, and because this one was manufactured in China means nothing. Safety standards are regulated here and working, that is how the product has been discovered to be unsafe.

Exploiting a cheap workforce is nothing new. That's how the British Empire was sustained.

There will always be foreigners somewhere we can blame for our woes, if they are not chopping down the rainforests, they are building a new coal powered Power Station a week.

[whiffey]

I agree Gromit, it was all our fault.

:( :(

British Empire was all bad.

[Gromit]

whiffey

The Chinese are doing nothing which we haven't been doing ourselves for the last two centuries. You could always not buy their products if you have a problem with them, might be difficult finding a computer or TV that's not made in China, though.

[Oneeyedvic]

Luckily manufacturing in this country is absolutely perfect:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hereford/wo rcs/5203726.stm

[vehelpfulguy]

Old American Indian proverb:

Only when the last tree has died and
The last river has been poisoned and
The last fish has been caught,
Will we realise that
We cannot eat money

[tigerlily11]

Well what can you expect from a country that to all intents and purposes does not seem to have any values concerning its own people. They are not likely to have any concern for anyone else.

[jno]

This article

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2 148878,00.html

adds weight to your theory. But it is of course not about wicked China and its standards, but about the British propensity to regard immigrants as scum and treat them like slaves. No doubt AB rightwingers will therefore applaud Tescos for exploiting them to the max.

[Oneeyedvic]

tigerlily They are not likely to have any concern for anyone else.

the boss of the factory concerned was so distraught that he committed suicide - his last act was to make sure that his staff had all been paid.

Don't see any European bosses doing anything like that.

[tigerlily11]

the boss of the factory concerned was so distraught that he committed suicide

Tell that to all those poor soles who have lost there homes just because the chinese Goverment wants the Olympics to look good to the outside world. Then theres the people who have lost there homes to the developers who want to make money reguardless.
You say hes the boss doesn't mean hes the owner.
I heard about those Bulgarians. Its a sad state of affairs but so long as some one can see a profit then this is still going to happen.