Another Natural Fruit type incident in Thailand involving TESCO UK

[intel4004]

Looks like they are all coming out of the woodwork now, see here.

Makes me a bit uneasy when I as a consumer in the West wonder to myself how cheaply I'm able to buy certain things knowing nearly everyone in the supply chain still manages to make a healthy profit apart from the person at the bottom. So competition is good then?

I think this incident here in Bangladesh epitomises the plight of these workers.

You've got to ask yourself would they honestly be doing this kind of work if they knew better and weren't forced to leave school to support their families. You look around Thailand and other similar countries at the endemic high level white collar corruption and money involved. It sometimes leaves me in despair at the absolute unadulterated greed that exists.

Oh dear, must lift my spirits and have a cup of coffee. Just hope its fairtrade coffee!

[Chiengmaijoe]

There was I thinking someone had been attacked with a banana or possibly a honey-dew melon.

[beau thai]

When I was in India on a tea plantation, watching women picking many kilos of leaves in the heat all day, I calculated that if we paid 1 penny more for 125ml packets in UK, that 1p could double their wages .

Of course it would never happen as the supermarkets would have some of that penny as would the middlemen and the grower, and the workers would still break their backs and die young for the same miserable pittance.

Maybe if eg PG Tips became Fairtade PG Tips, it might change a little but I doubt it.

Surely the only solution is for countries to impose and enforce (by prosecution) minimum wage/maximum hours, but so many vested interests and corruption get in the way.

[Thighlander]

Starbucks and Apple are no different.

[worgeordie]

Corporate greed knows no bounds,they don't even pay their fair share of taxes,

while doing anything to maximize their profits.

regards worgeordie

[Thighlander]

but how come the Left get so upset with the 1% Exxon makes on a gallon of gas, but couldn't care less about the 5% the government taxes it? Greed? How about, when BP did 100,000,000,000 USD in damages to the Gulf of Mexico, how much were the pensioners crying, when they threatened to withhold the dividend? It was all "me, me, me....." you would have thought they were going to close the pubs. Meanwhile, back in the States, Comrade Obama and his cronies have decided to block a 2.3 billion Dollar deal for IBM to sell file servers to China..........there was just one small detail they overlooked; the servers are actually MADE IN CHINA. As Paul Harvey used to say, "Now, you know the rest of the story. Good day."

[CNXBKKMAN]

Starbucks and Apple are no different.

Starbucks in the UK said they don't pay taxes as they don't make any profit. The strange thing is they open new stores year in year out and they say they don't make any profit?

How many big companies can say they have installed "suicide nets" outside the windows for the benefit of their factory workers? Apple has.

[Thighlander]

I think Starbucks UK is based out of the Netherlands for tax reasons. Tax avoidance and tax evasion are completely different, but the line can be thin. High taxes often reduce revenue...another wonderful economic concept that the Left doesn't comprehend. US companies have 2,000,000,000,000 USD overseas that they won't bring home to a 35% tax. It's actually great news for developing nations, because that is where it will be reinvested; horrible news for the American worker.

[quidnunc]

but how come the Left get so upset with the 1% Exxon makes on a gallon of gas, but couldn't care less about the 5% the government taxes it? Greed? How about, when BP did 100,000,000,000 USD in damages to the Gulf of Mexico, how much were the pensioners crying, when they threatened to withhold the dividend? It was all "me, me, me....." you would have thought they were going to close the pubs. Meanwhile, back in the States, Comrade Obama and his cronies have decided to block a 2.3 billion Dollar deal for IBM to sell file servers to China..........there was just one small detail they overlooked; the servers are actually MADE IN CHINA. As Paul Harvey used to say, "Now, you know the rest of the story. Good day."

Actually, I think people on the left are more ticked off with Exxon over its massive funding of global warming denial. As for taxes on gasoline, the USA is about to run out of funding for highway infrastructure. The taxes on gasoline and diesel are not based on percentage. It's a fixed rate that hasn't changed since 1993 and is clearly inadequate to maintain infrastructure. .

As for the file server report... you didn't get it right. The US is blocking the sale of IBM's low end file server business to Lenovo -- not a sale of file servers.

The following might have something to do with it: "This is not the first time that the US government has demonstrated concern over a Lenovo-IBM deal. After IBM sold its PC business to Lenovo in 2005, according to an unnamed senior military cyber official who spoke with the WSJ, the US Air Force received a shipment of Lenovo laptops. Tests on the Lenovo models revealed that the laptops were "connecting to China," and while the purpose of these connections was unknown, it was unauthorized. The laptops were promptly returned and US-based company machines were purchased instead."

[Thighlander]

The highway trust fund has been looted annually to the tune of 38%. Covered bridge restoration? This has come up before. But at least they're doing better than the schools, where only about 50% of revenues earmarked for education make it into the classroom. http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2008/09/congress-undermines-americas-infrastructure-by-looting-the-highway-trust-fund

Didn't Obama already spend a trillion on "shovel ready jobs," that turned out to be a total fraud.

[northernjohn]

but how come the Left get so upset with the 1% Exxon makes on a gallon of gas, but couldn't care less about the 5% the government taxes it? Greed? How about, when BP did 100,000,000,000 USD in damages to the Gulf of Mexico, how much were the pensioners crying, when they threatened to withhold the dividend? It was all "me, me, me....." you would have thought they were going to close the pubs. Meanwhile, back in the States, Comrade Obama and his cronies have decided to block a 2.3 billion Dollar deal for IBM to sell file servers to China..........there was just one small detail they overlooked; the servers are actually MADE IN CHINA. As Paul Harvey used to say, "Now, you know the rest of the story. Good day."

Not if an American company doesn't give them the money. If it was Sony it would be buying from the Japanese.

[quidnunc]

The highway trust fund has been looted annually to the tune of 38%. Covered bridge restoration? This has come up before. But at least they're doing better than the schools, where only about 50% of revenues earmarked for education make it into the classroom. http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2008/09/congress-undermines-americas-infrastructure-by-looting-the-highway-trust-fund

Didn't Obama already spend a trillion on "shovel ready jobs," that turned out to be a total fraud.

The total cost of the stimulus bill was 800 billion. 39 percent of that was in tax cuts? Where do you get your numbers from?

[quidnunc]

The highway trust fund has been looted annually to the tune of 38%. Covered bridge restoration? This has come up before. But at least they're doing better than the schools, where only about 50% of revenues earmarked for education make it into the classroom. http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2008/09/congress-undermines-americas-infrastructure-by-looting-the-highway-trust-fund

Didn't Obama already spend a trillion on "shovel ready jobs," that turned out to be a total fraud.

And since cars are responsible for so much pollution, it's only fitting that drivers should be responsible for paying for remediation. And if you disagree with me, you're also disagreeing with that arch-socialist, Milton Friedman. Look under externalities. Here's an article for you:http://www.voxeu.org/article/can-passenger-railways-curb-road-traffic-externalities-empirical-evidence

[intel4004]

Starbucks and Apple are no different.

Completely agree. Either Corps in the west stand up to their corporate social responsibility and investigate their suppliers or consumers through direct action sites such as Avaaz step in.

[onthedarkside]

Off topic post removed

[intel4004]

Starbucks and Apple are no different.

Starbucks in the UK said they don't pay taxes as they don't make any profit. The strange thing is they open new stores year in year out and they say they don't make any profit?

How many big companies can say they have installed "suicide nets" outside the windows for the benefit of their factory workers? Apple has.

This will keep happening unless people vote with their feet/money. And this won't happen because we are not first and foremost conscientious Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, ......agnostics, atheists ....etc. We are by and large first and foremost consumerists. We don't want to ask the difficult questions we just WANT MORE!!

What we don't realise there is a price to pay and after 50 years of rampant consumerism it's finally coming around to pay back time.......I HOPE!

[intel4004]

I think Starbucks UK is based out of the Netherlands for tax reasons. Tax avoidance and tax evasion are completely different, but the line can be thin. High taxes often reduce revenue...another wonderful economic concept that the Left doesn't comprehend. US companies have 2,000,000,000,000 USD overseas that they won't bring home to a 35% tax. It's actually great news for developing nations, because that is where it will be reinvested; horrible news for the American worker.

Honestly if large corporations are investing in developing countries due to taxes back home I don't see how the indigenous workers are benefitting all that much, temporarily yes. But its not enough to make a lasting benefit. All I see is the gap between the rich and poor in developing countries growing even wider as it is in the west.

I hope I'm not be too negative but I'm tired of hearing about workers being abused in every which way by companies who should know better AND can afford to know better.

[intel4004]

but how come the Left get so upset with the 1% Exxon makes on a gallon of gas, but couldn't care less about the 5% the government taxes it? Greed? How about, when BP did 100,000,000,000 USD in damages to the Gulf of Mexico, how much were the pensioners crying, when they threatened to withhold the dividend? It was all "me, me, me....." you would have thought they were going to close the pubs. Meanwhile, back in the States, Comrade Obama and his cronies have decided to block a 2.3 billion Dollar deal for IBM to sell file servers to China..........there was just one small detail they overlooked; the servers are actually MADE IN CHINA. As Paul Harvey used to say, "Now, you know the rest of the story. Good day."

Actually, I think people on the left are more ticked off with Exxon over its massive funding of global warming denial. As for taxes on gasoline, the USA is about to run out of funding for highway infrastructure. The taxes on gasoline and diesel are not based on percentage. It's a fixed rate that hasn't changed since 1993 and is clearly inadequate to maintain infrastructure. .

As for the file server report... you didn't get it right. The US is blocking the sale of IBM's low end file server business to Lenovo -- not a sale of file servers.

The following might have something to do with it: "This is not the first time that the US government has demonstrated concern over a Lenovo-IBM deal. After IBM sold its PC business to Lenovo in 2005, according to an unnamed senior military cyber official who spoke with the WSJ, the US Air Force received a shipment of Lenovo laptops. Tests on the Lenovo models revealed that the laptops were "connecting to China," and while the purpose of these connections was unknown, it was unauthorized. The laptops were promptly returned and US-based company machines were purchased instead."

How blatant is that by the Chinese? I wonder what happened to those same laptops after they were returned.....Ebay!

Always thought Lenovo was a top company with very decent quality laptops. I'm astonished they cocked up like this.

[willfreeman]

why does everybody blame the 'greedy' corporations? then they turn around and buy the cheap imported products, the minute the same product comes available cheaper they switch brands. We send the message to the corporations that we dont care how its produced or where its produced we just want it cheap

[amexpat]

why does everybody blame the 'greedy' corporations? then they turn around and buy the cheap imported products, the minute the same product comes available cheaper they switch brands. We send the message to the corporations that we dont care how its produced or where its produced we just want it cheap

Maybe because we understand that the actions of one person or one transaction can't make much difference. That's why we have governments.

They are supposed to act on our collective behalf. Unfortunately, they are mostly controlled by those greedy corporations. It's very discouraging but some movements and organizations are still plugging away.

[beau thai]

why does everybody blame the 'greedy' corporations? then they turn around and buy the cheap imported products, the minute the same product comes available cheaper they switch brands. We send the message to the corporations that we dont care how its produced or where its produced we just want it cheap

Surely that's because if you choose to buy expensive to help poor people, they never see the benefit as your extra just lines someone else's pocket along the way.

That's why I think it is up to governments of the poor countries to impose minimum wage and working conditions-maybe pressured by bigger wealthier governments.

A consumer buying so called ethical product is tilting at windmills in my view. Makes them feel better but changes nothing in the third world.

[onthedarkside]

I have removed so many off topic posts. Seems like the OP started this trend.

Given that the topic is not Chiang Mai related - //CLOSED//