Are Cheap Clothes Worth the Cost?

The sad fact behind the building collapse in Bangladesh in which hundreds died is that it isnt an isolated problem. The story will leave the headlines at the end of this week but on Monday hundreds of thousands of workers will return to factories that are frankly further tragedies waiting to happen, and will keep producing clothes for high street brands.

via Bangladesh collapse: What cost cheap clothes? – CNN.com.

US Poverty Explosion Hitting Young People Hardest

The mainstream media continues to insist that the economy is “getting better”, but the poverty numbers for children and young people just continue to explode.

via 20 Signs That The U.S. Poverty Explosion Is Hitting Children And Young People The Hardest.

“From Resource Curse to Blessing” by Joseph E. Stiglitz

On average, resource-rich countries have done even more poorly than countries without resources. They have grown more slowly, and with greater inequality – just the opposite of what one would expect.

via “From Resource Curse to Blessing” by Joseph E. Stiglitz | Project Syndicate.

Eliminating Minimum Wages as a Jobs Plan?

Fox News said Cain’s opportunity zone plan risks angering unions because it would enact policies they consider bad policy, such as the elimination of the U.S. minimum wage.

Eliminating unemployment is a necessary yet not sufficient solution. We need living wages.  At issue here is not whether eliminating minimum wages would diminish joblessness (increase employment); rather it is to question living standards. Implementing a policy as this would create a larger poverty class. Even currently employed workers in affected areas would suffer as they would now be competing in a race to the bottom.

via Cain to scrap minimum wage in poor areas? – politics – Decision 2012 – msnbc.com.

Ending Minimum Wage Won’t Create Many Jobs

Republican Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has soft-pedaled her opposition to the minimum wage law considerably since 2005, when she was quoted as saying, at a Minnesota State Senate hearing, “Literally, if we took away the minimum wage — if conceivably it was gone — we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level.”

Ending minimum wage won’t create many jobs.

What’s wrong with this logic?

South African Workers Pay the Price for Cheap Chinese Imports

[China’s] investment is proving to be a double-edged sword because South Africa’s once successful textile sector is now struggling to cope with cheap Chinese imports flooding their market.

South African workers pay the price for cheap Chinese imports – CNN.com.

America’s Poor

Mint.com put together a Flash chart depicting poverty in the United States.

http://www.mint.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/MNT-POVERTY-INT-R2.swf

If this blog supported embedded objects, you could see it here. 😦

Admin to Adopt Second Measure of US Poverty Rate

The Obama administration has announced plans to adopt an alternative formula for measuring poverty in the United States. Under the new approach, expenses including housing, utilities, childcare and medical treatment will also be factored in. The new standard won’t replace the current federal formula, which is based on the cost of food and family income.

Ref: Democracy Now!