$6-a-month raise ends Nike strike in Vietnam

[Ulua]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5667678.html

Outrageous. People working for Nike in Vietnam are now making $65/month and were asking for $11.80 (20%) to match inflation at 19%. Don't know the cost of living in Vietnam but kinda feel for the employees.:tsk

[lilbitsyspider]

I don't wear expensive athletic wear. If I spent more than a few bucks on tennis shoes I feel hosed.

[icebear]

i wear Crocs... as far as i know their intent is ethical, even charitable


(please correct me if i'm wrong, but with my heel spurs its all i can wear that gives relief)

[J.J.]

What's funny is that they moved all their labor to countries where people get paid peanuts, but yet the price of Nike's has not dropped a dime.:idunno

[yogi3939]

They have to have all that money they charge us for those overpriced vanity items to pay the big bucks to the professional shills - OOPS I meant athletes - to promote them.

But the biggest question I have always had about the situation is....

Why is the dollar so useless right here in the good ole U S of A and so valued in third world countries that people will work ridiculous hours for just a paltry few of them and consider themselves rich??? Kinda makes you wonder doesn't it.

[SumSam]

Well, it's partly to do with PPP or "Purchasing Power Parity" - a dollar will go a long way in the local economy when you consider a few cents will get you a square meal and you can rent an apartment for maybe 20 dollars a month. When PPP is factored in, countries like China, India and Brazil turn out to have bigger economies than the European countries that usually make the list.

$ 50K PA might put you in in the ranks of the comfortably middle class in the US, but it would land you right in the upper class or rich in many Asian countries, able to afford a decent house and several domestic helps / cook / chaffeur.

[yogi3939]

Well, it's partly to do with PPP or "Purchasing Power Parity" - a dollar will go a long way in the local economy when you consider a few cents will get you a square meal and you can rent an apartment for maybe 20 dollars a month. When PPP is factored in, countries like China, India and Brazil turn out to have bigger economies than the European countries that usually make the list. $ 50 K may have comfortablly middle class in the US but put you in the upper class or rich in many Asian countries, able to afford a decent house and three-four domestic helps.

I understand the parity thing, but what cheeses me off is that the same $6.00 I spent for a single unhealthy meal at the local barf burger barn will feed a family for a week or more in another country. What I wonder about is not that there is a parity difference but why there is a parity and why the dollar can be so weak on the international banking market and still be so strong in third world countries. It is the same bloody dollar.

[Jubilee21]

Here in the states we ( the consumers) tend to indulge, expect and demand a great deal of non essentional stuff to be on our shelves..and its grown quite out of hand in regard to why our dollar is impacted.

on one hand it our own entitlement issues on the otherhand it is the quality and duribility of some of the products..for example, how long will a vacum cleaner last that we buy today versus the models of 25 years ago..

It costs money to stock fashion jewlrey and a variety of clothes, sneakers with so many different styles and variations, when there was a time , basically folks did without these things because they were not essentials and viewed as an immoral indulgence...the ones who indulged are the outrageous parties IMHO!

A lot of the mark up is based upon the perceived value of these items and their essential "need" in ones life.

Why are fast food meals marked up to over $6.00 a meal, that can translate into enough to feed a family in another country over an extended period?

Simple answer..because consumption preferences have established that here in the states we are willing to pay this amount, basically entitlement and indulgence issues..we have come to a point where so many of our products are produced and imported so this builds in a cost effect. There are no such indulgences pandered to or availbale to the socio economic classes of other countries. so they find only things that are homegrown or produced around and make due or go without..

Some of this is obviously sensible, some of it is very oppressive to the extent systems like schools, health care, etc are not invested in..

A classic example would be the "Beannie Baby"..folks perceived them to be valuable, this market was tapped into, the number of variations were never exhausted to make the collection, simply limited numbers of certain ones..and folks drove themselves mad indulging in this to the extent they thought the future value of them would be an enormous investment so some brilliant mind said, why the heck not..and accomondated this delussion.

In other countries, not only was this not permitted, it was not indulged..hence their dollars di not shrink, they grew, becasue they were saved and not poured into this type of menatality of spending.

On the positive end our taxes do find their way into infra structures like educations and roads..sanitary facilities..and housing availability ( excluding the affordibility factor)

Walk through the stores and observe how many brands, portions of cereal, candy, icecream etc we have..and ask yourself why 'we can't function on just oatmeal or cornflakes if that..or why we can't produce our own eggs, milk or meat..we used to be able to..

and certainly at one point we lived without cable TV, cell phones, 24 hour banking and stores..credit cards etc..and this was in my generation ....nor did the world end or was life a hardship to only have one pair of shoes for recreation and church and one coat that last as long as it could be no longer have the seams let out..same with pants and skirts..

It used to cost so little to attend a baseball game and yet there were very talented and gifted athletes that performed for just the sheer privalege, pleasure and love of the sport.. nor derived a profit other than that from their God given gifts..as consumers we built in our own values of the price ticket due to our proclivities and appetites..

A diamond is still just a chunk of coal that has been turned into glass..

The accountibility is at the end of the consumer as much as it is at the folks who cater to this when it comes to ethics and appetites..when it comes to parity..

$6.00 today can buy quite a substantial amount of food even at today's prices to adequately buy a days worth of meal's for a family or even a single adult if its wisely spent and used..but obviously it won't if its spent on a greasy fast food meal by someone..who has a choice to not do this but perceives this as an essential need and right.

Same with all forms of sin that begins in with a mentality, folks indulge in them because it begins with roots of what feels good and right..as a temptation that get's tickled and eventually indulges it.:ohno Then the forseeable consequences simply arrive becausee there is always someone around to aggravate the itch and make a profit off the service of tickling 'itches'..

The old wisdom is true my parents and grandparents taught me..

Don't scratch and it will go away and get better faster - if you don't, it's gonna get infected and your nose will fall off..:doh

That and, "A penny saved, is a penny earned".

They are biblical truths and realities..sadly not abided by much anymore :candle