In article t, "World Traveler" wrote:

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
m...
[snip]

Wake up. A lot of the stuff coming out of China is produced by prison
labor.

[snip]

That statement won't stand up to inspection. Prisoners do work in China, --
just as they do in the U.S.!!

One major difference is that a substantial fraction of the prison labor
force in China is people who were imprisoned for expressing their political or
religious beliefs. We don't do that here.

Things operate differently in China and it's a mistake to take single
examples out of context. For example, standard procedure in a hospital is
for the patient (or family) to provide the meals

It's also standard procedure for the government to bill the next-of-kin for
the cost of the bullet used in executing a political prisoner. So what?

; the military grows its own
crops; cities and provinces get involved in commercial ventures as
profit-making enterprises. Everyone is producing and looking for that edge
to make themselves more profitable.

Pretty much standard operating procedure in societies that have been
impoverished by decades of Communist rule. Everybody's scrabbling to try to
make a yuan, because they have to eat.

The Air Force operates commercial
vegetable farms and a commercial airline (China United Airline); Chengdu
city was a partner with Hughes to develop the cell telephone network -- for
Chengdu city.

How comforting. What's your point?

But my chief point is that the concern about products made by prison labor
is waaay overplayed -- if you were serious why wouldn't you worry about U.S.
license plates and street signs??

I don't worry about US license plates and street signs because:
a) those products are not in unfair competition with private industry in the
consumer marketplace;
b) prisoners in the US are not slaves, they're actually paid for their labor;
and
c) prisoners in the US are in jail because they committed crimes, not because
they criticize the government or practice a religion that is not officially
approved.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?