Shanti’s Dispatches

Ever since reading Thomas Friedman’s The Lexus and the Olive Tree a few years ago, I’ve had a new appreciation for the complexities of globalization.

The masked anti-globalization revolutionaries, tossing bricks through Starbucks’ windows, seem kind of ironic to me.

Like hipsters who wear Che Guevara T-shirts (purchased from a friendly neighborhood hipster store for $17.95), without a trace of irony.

I’m reminded of all this because the Christian Science Monitor has come out with a great piece on so-called “sweatshops.”

CS Monitor:

We examined the apparel industry in 10 Asian and Latin American countries often accused of having sweatshops and then we looked at 43 specific accusations of unfair wages in 11 countries in the same regions. Our findings may seem surprising. Not only were sweatshops superior to the dire alternatives economists usually mentioned, but they often provided a better-than-average standard of living for their workers.

Read more here: Don’t get into a lather over sweatshops

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