They CAN control which country they outsource to. JUST like the consumer can vote with their pocket, SO can APPLE.

That's the kind of stuff I expect APPLE to use as an excuse.

There is no such thing as a free market... the consumer PAYS, and usually MORE than he/she should have to.

Also, where did you get this idea of "fair laws" in the so-called free market?

While there are 'some' consumer protection laws, the laws in the 'free market landscape are more one-sided, and come down heavily in favour of the seller/manufacturer/corporation.  The law, and has been for centuries, protects the rich/wealthy from the deprived... those they deprive

Does it make me worse than most if I'm willing to admit that I can't really be bothered by this? If I had a button I could press that would make all of the despicable slave labor stuff go away, I wouldn't hesitate a moment before pressing it, and I'm glad to see any of the corrupt fuckers to burn, but I accept that things are the way they are and that I exploit the lives of millions of people every day as I live in the western world. I'm not about to go out of my way to sacrifice my living quality for them. Emphasis on "out of my way"; easy and clear decisions to help out are no-brainers.

I also admit that I don't deserve this quality of life anymore than any of the workers at Foxconn deserve the misery they have. It's all about probabilities, and I've struck gold on that, and so have you guys. There's plenty of parts where I've been shit out of luck, too. It is what it is, and when I can make easy choices to help others out I take them. But as days go by, I don't really lose any sleep over this. The world is a tough place, and most life gets crushed before it has any chance to thrive.

starkers, when you get that pirate ship ready, come to Canada and pick me up. How would a crew of bruiser hockey players do ya?

And that's what they need to put on the t-shirts they should give out with all products associated with such conditions. It would make life so much easier and we'd all get a free t-shirt to boot. Maybe Kid-Rock could make the t-shirts?

I admit that half my motive in that reply was to poke the Doc about the fact that all decisions are political. But the other half is a sincere effort to get more folks to understand the difference between the casual notion of anarchy and philosophical anarchism. Under the latter, there would be no need for legally enforced human rights because no one would attempt to use force on anyone else. That's part of why it's a dream that I gave up in favor of the much messier but more pragmatic business of democracy.

PoSmedley probably made the best single point in this thread so far when he pointed out that those of us who care need to vote with our dollars. Boycotting has gotten harder and harder with the rise of interlocking directorates and 'complex financial instruments,' but if enough people who are disgusted by the notion of anti-suicide nets around buildings in a company town encourage enough other people to get off the bleeding-edge bandwagon things might get better for us all, regardless of where we live.

Really? Which other (outsourcing) country do you have in mind? I don't know one that could do it... maybe Korea or Japan... I don't know, and would hazard a guess that you don't either. Either of those two countries' labor force would cost more... again, let the price go up. It won't kill anyone not to have an iPhone/iPad/iPod.

Also... what Apple would or wouldn't say is really speculation, and I'm not their apologist.... I believe there are abuses by Foxconn... read my OP. Just how much freedom to choose where to produce Apple has (realisticly), I'm not really honestly convinced.

Here is the article I read, it seems to be the most in depth. From this article it would seem that Apple could influence Foxconn if it was ready to give up some profit. Which they probably could because of their ability to differentiate their product and their market dominance.

Well, China may actually be the only country in the world where you could wake up 8000 workers to put in a new redesign on the glass face, have them start at 12 hour shifts, and within 96 hours have 10,000 iphones and pay them next to nothing, no benefits, ho knows if they get breaks or what happens if they fall 2 pieces behind in an hour, and all that fun stuff because a geek some 3000 miles away said 'I want a glass screen, and I want it perfect in six weeks.'

Every time Apple points out what China can do and we can't they leave out the fact that China can pull 8000 or 80000 unemployed people out of their ass on a whim because they have almost a billion and a half people in China AND they are so desperate for work they will take almost any job under any condition for the least amount of pay.  They leave out the part that their are children doing some of the labor. Hell, we could pull 8000 children out of our own ass if we hit every homeless shelter on the East Coast and would probably only have to hit New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York to do it.

Instead of all of Apples bullshit, no comments, we can't control what that government does, bad mouthing the US labor force ,  etc. etc., why don't they stand up like they have a pair?

Because the bluff will be called?

Foxconn no doubt lines PRC Pol's pockets to have their pressure (whatever itmight be) off their backs. Do I wish they would stand up and really crump them? You bet. Will they? No, because if they could have, they would have.

How about what's happening tomorrow?

http://business.financialpost.com/2012/02/08/angry-apple-customers-plan-global-petition/

There was a time when American industry could respond rapidly enough & efficiently enough to changes in demand to offset any costs associated with overseas production.  We were the best in the world at it.  Wonder what happened?  (It's a rhetorical question).

Yeah, its all whitewash to hide the main fact that low wages with no rights wins. Once China starts to get any worker rights they will just move to some other poverty location.

Stock holders of these companies would gladly use slave labour if they could. To me free trade means a corp is free to exploit people and thats it

True enough. Look at WWII and the industry shift. Not as fast as today, but wth? There are plenty of empty buildings. Someone has to wait a week or month more for an iPad? End of the world. Bring on the Mayans.

From docs link in the related articles

Nokia Slashes 4,000 Jobs To Send Windows Phone Production To Asia

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/nokia-slashes-4000-jobs-to-send-windows-phone-production-to-asia-2012-2#ixzz1lpXnjdWM