That is very much what we are doing when we buy goods from factories in countries where workers have no rights, where they are often beaten, raped and otherwise abused, where they are paid less than a subsistence wage while top managers get extremely rich, and where none of the bounty of their production comes back to their homes to make their lives better.
We are also buying stolen goods when we buy from factories that use the air, water, and land as a toxic waste dump.
We must set high labor and environmental standards, but they are meaningless if we allow other countries to undercut them. Current "free trade" treaties allow countries to sue if our laws impede the sale of their products, and get to have their cases decided in special secret courts. Thus, they promote a race to the bottom for labor and environmental standards. We must withdraw from these treaties, and promote the only moral alternative, which is that we will only buy goods made following the highest standards we can set for ourselves, including the basic standard that workers must have rights and must be paid a living wage.
*****
This letter, which I submitted to a local paper yesterday, was inspired by an Op-Ed in the NY Times on January 16th By Steven E. Landsburg entitled "What to Expect When You're Free Trading", which alleged that not only are we all better off from "Free Trade," (about which I could write another essay, partly thanks to Doug, and also Robin Hahnel) but it's not even moral to worry about those "fellow citizens" who might get hurt. He gives a bunch of weird examples, including how would we feel after moving to a cheaper apartment, should we then compensate our old landlord.
His examples don't seem to consider actual workers.
Charles Peterson San Antonio, TX
____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping