Thy to remember that "sweatshop" is not a binary function. The choice is not sweatshop or not-sweatshop, but instead a continuum of working conditions, often present in the same factory.<p>It may not be practical to demand western wages for these workers but we shouldn't support factories that beat the workers or subject them to environments that rapidly cause sickness and death either.
EddieC on that page (<a href="http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/international/buy-ethically:-buy-sweatshop/" rel="nofollow">http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/international/buy-ethically:-b...</a>) says:<p>><i>No, it means that without the distortions to incentives FairTrade and the like introduce, the market signals to all the most effective allocations of land, labour and capital.</i><p>The thing is, and why we need fair trade, that the market signals that human lives are worth nearly nothing because there are a lot of them.<p>In effect a purely market lead system would have (has!) people working in dangerous conditions without safety equipment (like the workers sprayed with pesticides in non-fairtrade banana plantations leaving them sick and infertile) until the supply of people runs low enough to make a sufficient price difference.<p>If you want to live in that sort of world, a world that ignores child slavery in Western Africa because it produces cheaper cocoa beans for example, then I really have nothing but contempt for you.<p>Fairtrade doesn't produce oversupply, it doesn't lock people in - how can sufficient funds to access healthcare, education and approach crop diversity be locking people in?<p>It's a well put argument that nonetheless is wanting IMO, it's oozing with malevolence and contempt for humanity.
This topic seems to coincide with the recent findings of a culture living in Peru that has not been contacted as of yet.<p>The standard arguments are that we will bring them "better" technology so they can make their lives easier. Of course, we also bring in the health argument and use that excuse because they will be healthier.<p>What natives living in Peru and sweatshops have in common are that we are trying to force a Westernized way of living regardless what those very people say.<p>In sweatshops, many have denounced them as bad conditions. Yeah, we had sweatshops in the USA, and child labor up until 1938, when the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed.<p>Sweatshops also dont have USA minimum wage attached... Well DUH. They aren't in the USA specifically because US labor costs too damn much. Even when automotive first went to Mexico, they later left to China because.... it cost too much! (Aside the drug cartels and lack of US immigration laws, Mexico is doing worse. But that's for another essay.)<p>It all goes back to quality of standards we project on others. Wether it is wealth accumulation, healthcare, living, electricity/clean water, and services, we project what we expect others to have. Of course they don't have it. However in the case of sweatshops, the people will assemble once they have enough income and start their own companies. They will grease the wheel of commerce, and we're providing the bootstrap.