zenoink@ix.netcom.com(Zenoink) wrote:

>In <327b1bbe.21681967@nntp.ix.netcom.com> whirlpool@mountain.brook.com
>writes: 
>>
>>budazach@ix.netcom.com(Mr. Neutron) wrote:
>>
>>>	Anyone contemplating buying a Barbie doll this Christmas needs to
>>>think twice.  In a recent Wall Street Journal article, it was reported
>>>that Mattel has a factory in Changan, China, that employs 3,500 people,
>>>mostly women.  The women work long hours in intolerable working
>>>conditions.

>Certainly there seem to be two issues here: 
>
>One is Mattel's continued profit-making off something as sexist as
>Barbie which gives them an economic stake in perpetuating some really
>grotesque sex and body myths.  

Barbie was modeled after what was popular, and what would sell.
Fashion models are usually very slender, barbie just copied that
style.

If a little girl stops eating properly because she was given a skinny
doll, then there is a much deeper problem there.

>The other is Mattel's new profit-making strategy involving transferring
>jobs to very low-wage areas, even China, and exploiting sexism in that
>direction as well.  

O.K. ....................

Here are the stakes.
1)  I want to live in a huge house and drive a really nice sports car.
2)  I manufacture dolls that many little girls would like to own.
3) There are many people on this planet who have  families to feed,
and are willing to work hard to do this. (myself included)

Now......

There are 2 groups of people.

Group "A" lives in a country whose average wage is $10.00 an hour

Group "B" lives in a country whose average wage is $0.25 an hour.

If I hire from group "B", at $0.30/hr,  I can hire 5 times the workers
and for far less money, than if I hire from  group "A"

The result is:
-3500 people can quit their $0.25/hr job, and go to work for me for
more money.
-5 times the number of  families will benefit.
 -More children can afford the dolls because I didn't have to raise
the price to pay the $10.00 /hr
 - I even made enough so that I can buy my new sports car. (I wouldn't
have done it otherwise.)

Because of my desire to own a sports car,  I created jobs, and made A
doll available for purchase by children all over the world.


The purpose of my business is to make money.
     If I can help 3500 chinese workers make enough to feed their
families, and give little girls another option in their doll buying,
so be it.

>Question: Were you under the impression that Mattel was doing this for
>the good of their Chinese workers, some sort of long-distance charity?
>
>Kay

No, this benefit is just one of many side effects of  capitalism.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
P.S.
  Nobody forced those chinese workers to quit their $0.25 /hr job to
come to work for me at $0.30 /hr.
 
 If you want to open a business with FAT fashion dolls as your
product, then nobody is stopping you. We'll see how well you do.

I do not have any affiliation with Mattel, but I do have an affinity
for capitalism.