T_Yamamoto
Lifer
- Jul 6, 2011
- 15,007
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One thing many people fail to point out is that the suicide rate at FoxConn is incredibly low compared to the United States.
There are roughly 7 suicides per 100,000 employees at FoxConn while in the United States the suicide rate is 19 per 100,000 citizens.
Also, consider this. Walmart has 1.4 million employees in the United States. Can you remember a time when 10 or 15 Walmart workers jumped to their deaths from the roofs of Walmart stores over the course of a few months? Have you ever heard of Walmart asking employees to sign a no-suicide contract, or putting safety nets up on all of its buildings? If this did happen, would you think maybe something is going on at Walmart? Or would you just say, well, 10 or 15 people out of 1.4 million is still waaaay below the national average?”
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Did you really just compare the suicide rate of an employer to a country?
Try: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate
China's overall suicide rate is 22 / 100,000. That makes Foxconn sound good until you realize the overall rate includes the unemployed, mentally, ill, angsty teenagers and everything else that working age employed people are not.
Now try finding statistics for working age, employed Americans who kill themselves.
I think what a lot of people don't understand is that the Foxconn Shenzhen factory employs like 300,000 people, it's basically its own city. It's not like this was 15 workers in a factory of 1000, the scale is enormous compared to what most people probably think of when they hear the word factory. And while every suicide is tragic for the families and friends involved, you can't just ignore the statistics either, and going by the numbers alone 15 suicides out of 300,000 really isn't a lot. US national average is 11.8 per 100k per year, so any US city of about 300,000 people on average should have about 35 suicides in a year.
I think what a lot of people don't understand is that the Foxconn Shenzhen factory employs like 300,000 people, it's basically its own city.
Not having the latest I-gadget does not equal living in the stone age.
I don't dispute that; I am sure I have plenty of chinese made or based products as well.Even my old Nokia flip phone which was completely free from my provider was made in China.
So was everything on my desk at work, and probably my desk itself.
If someone were to set out to provide no money to Chinese industry, they'd pretty much have to live in a log house and be very picky about which appliances they bought, drive an American car from probably the 1950s or ride a horse.
I don't dispute that; I am sure I have plenty of chinese made or based products as well.
What annoys me is the need to get the latest -suffix iteration of the latest and greatest. That drives the market a great deal.
I hate to say it, but this is like asking if you feel bad for the cow when eating that McDonalds Big Mac. (assuming there is cow in the product in the first place )