Another discussion about gifts/holidays

musicalmama5

@expatmama While you make some good points, you forget that in the majority of these cases (and this is a generalization), American corporations swept into developing countries and killed their local economies, which essentially forces local people to work for them. So, when you say that if we stopped buying from these companies that jobs would disappear, consider that their original jobs disappeared as a result of the American corporation.

I have a good number of friends from various countries in Central and South America who have seen this happen firsthand. 

And I don't claim to know what to do to solve this problem. I just know that the first step is understanding all sides of it. I think a lot of really good points have been brought up here, and I for one am glad to see some real action on this board.

DH and I decided a while ago that we would only do homemade or local-made gifts for Christmas. If we go the local-made route, we end up spending more than if we went to Target or Wal-Mart, for sure. But with the right budgeting (trust me, we're on a tight budget and I like to save money just as much as the next person) and not going overboard with gifts, it's possible. I think where you spend your money says more about your ideals than most other things.

wifeofadam

Ack.  I can't stay away. 

I appreciated the last few responses.  expat -I agree to an extent.  It isn't always slavery, but there are many instances where it is.  And since we have high labor standards for our own citizens for various moral and ethical reasons, what makes it right to just force the labor overseas where we can't see the unethical and moral labor standards?  What makes buying products from there any better than buying them here?  We wouldn't let a 15 year old work a 12 hour day without proper safety measures taken in the factory for less than minimum wage in America, so why is OK to enjoy the fruits of that same labor taking place elsewhere?

I feel like this argument is eerily similar to what was going on in America when we worked to abolish slavery.  Many argued that if we did away with the slave trade/labor, it would be devastating for the southern economy, and the slaves would not be able to support themselves when freed.  This is the same argument people use for working conditions in China and elsewhere  - if we stop buying the products and those industries no longer exist for those countries, their economies would be devastated and the people would have no other way to support themselves.  I feel like just as the South evolved and figured out a way to thrive despite the slavery and that African Americans (although it's been a long, hard road for them) have been able to survive and probably feel they are better off now,

I'm very much a capitalist, but this is the downside that I see to the system (although Communist countries are also a big part of this problem).  People are always going to want to use cheap labor to make a profit, whether you're the pharoah building the pyramids, s a plantation in the South or a modern corporation churning out widgets.  I guess it's been that way since the beginning of time.  The only thing we can do is choose to decrease our dependence on the goods that come from that type of labor.