Post #101

I guess that's come kind of landmark or something, but here it is, post #101.

Wal-Mart's gotten a pretty bad rap in recent years for human rights "violations", and wiping out local stores (the latter could also be said for companies like Starbucks, etc.). Not to mention, I've heard many people make the point that for a company that talks about selling products that are "Made in the USA" there are an awful lot of "Made in China" stickers. Today I learned that just because something says it's "Made in China" doesn't mean there isn't a whole lot of US Labor force put into it.

Today I started a week long temp job at a local company that packages and ships border (the wallpaper kind, not the scrapbook kind). I spent eight hours of my life today stuffing, boxing and taping border for Wal-Mart. In addition to learning that there is apparently a pretty high demand for border (even though a lot of it is pretty ugly), I saw a lot of people putting a lot of hard work into preparing that product to go on the shelves at Wal-Mart. The box says that it's made in China, but the truth is a lot of the work is actually done in the USA, (in KY in particular).

For me, it demonstrates how connected the world is. Also, it seems obvious that sometimes the ones you think are benefiting the most aren't. One would think that China has a pretty good deal going. And maybe they do. But I know that there are a lot of people in my hometown who have jobs and put a lot of work into those "made in china" products- and I'd say that our community benefits pretty well from it. {The people I work with, although they are not paid nearly enough, probably get more than the ones working on the other end in China}.

I'm not pretending to be an expert on finance, economics or world trade. Just stating what I saw today. {I'm also not saying that I'm going to shop at Wal-Mart more, my issues have to do with the fact it's always crowded, too big, dirty, and the lines are too slow. But, if I ever need border with palm trees on it, perhaps I'll check out Wal-Mart first.}