Brad DeLong wrote: ``Do you *really* think it's immoral for a U.S. employer to hire Cambodians as typesetters?''
``To whom is this addressed?'' Doug
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For listmembers who don't understand this exchange at all, it comes from the back of the latest LBO issue under Miscellany:
`...He [Larry Summers, Harvard, Pes] also defended the decision by the _Crimson_, the student newspaper, to outsource typesetting to Cambodia, saying it was the only moral decision possible, because to poor Cambodians a sweatshop job is better than none at all. (How philanthropic this sounds, coming from the CEO of an institution with a 20 billion endowment.) And finally, he disclosed that Exxon has done a lot more around the world to help poor people...than a lot of NGOs have..''
What makes the idea of out source typesetting to Cambodia ludicrous is that it probably isn't typesetting at all, but printing. Typesetting is automated in layout software and the cd's are probably air mailed or up loaded via internet to completely modernized Cambodian print shops. A lot of the newer offset presses have direct computer interfaces, thus skipping the film stage. These are very expensive and many are located in SEA and probably use Japanese equipment. (I know about this, because the travel company that shares our warehouse has all its printing done in SEA---tons of print materials.)
Therefore, this Harvard thing is more likely a way to avoid the local union shops in town. So the real issue is dodging US union labor, and not some moral bullshit about sweatshops. But if you insist on putting a moral spin on it, you could call it anti-american. Shameful. What disrespect for our fellow americans in this tragic time of need, after Sept 11, and all...
So the answer to Brad's question is, no, it is not immoral. It is a anti-union fashion statement that probably saves little or nothing. Rather more likely, it is a object lesson for the business managers at the _Crimson_ on how to do US print media in current neoliberal designer fashion. The presses of US newspapers have been a pain in the ass to management and owners for at least a century.
Chuck Grimes