It is my sincere belief is that the perceived downside resulting from the kind of factories exposed in iPod City is more than compensated for by the cash sent home by the sons and daughters of rural villagers and subsistence farmers. This comparatively little bit of hard currency transforms rural communities.
When I lived on a subsitence farm in Northern Thailand for a short while, my host family eagerly encouraged their young sons and daughters to work for a factory similar to iPod City for cash (which they did), most of which would be sent home to improve the state of the entire family (which it was) which it did so successfully that the rural farm is now a family compound with a deed to the land, indoor plumbing, motor scooters, and a car. All thanks to a cash economy based on factory jobs.
Engadget has an article on “iPod City,” Chinese workers reportedly toil in “iPod City,” that accuses Apple of doing very bad things to very sweet people in the name of keeping up with iPod demand.
In many subsistence farms and rural villages in Asia, at least one son or daughter has the responsibility to the family and community to try to find a job in a factory in order to bring in a source of cash income. These young adults have the responsibility of working in a factory for wages the majority of which are sent home. Hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of first-generation factory workers are finding hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of factory jobs that pay hard currency. Long hours, limited space, and the “low” comparative wages (to Americans) have always been part of factory work, especially when there are fewer jobs than job-seekers.
On the flip side, the cash that is sent home to the rural villages and subsistence farms is revolutionizing local economies, allowing homes to be built with foundations, with plumbing, with brick and mortar, and with a deed of ownership. What price ownership? What price estate? What price family?
