Late Night

I intended to go to bed at 11 p.m. That is staying up late for me. I just wasn't ready to go to bed after Hell's Kitchen, and the "sanitized" version of Sex and the City is on at 10 so I turned to that channel. (Thanks to Miley Cyrus for a new word for edited) When it was over I flipped channels. I'm still not sure why, but I wanted to check out all the PBS channels. First I checked 47.5 nothing interesting, then 47.3. PBS Create, my favorite, had Rick Steves eating froi gras in France. Ewww... Finally I turned to 47.1 and it was a documentary called China Blue. I was enthralled and disgusted!

Do you remember your history? Workers live on site and buy their food on site, so very little if any of them actually have money after all the work? Oh yes, that's what is happening. Except the young lady you are following is 16 or 17. Her friend that she meets there? She's 14. They get fake id's so they can work. They make almost nothing, but they are cutting, sewing and trimming string from jeans. Levi's and Wal-Mart were both mentioned several times throughout by the workers. There is no overtime. The generous factory owner gives the workers a free snack at midnight when they work all night! The end of the documentary there are some facts stated. In the time it took to watch the documentary, Jasmine and her friends have completed 15 pairs of jeans and earned just 97 cents for it. These are jeans that Wal-Mart might sell for $10 (just a guess since I don't shop there). Levi's charges $19-39 depending on the style. I could ramble on for ever on this. It's disgusting. Yet as long as we continue (and this includes European markets too) to purchase the items, and allow companies to outsource work this will continue.