>Yes, if they can't be happy because we pay them well, let them at least be happy because we force them to cheer.
>
>When rich Westerners rediscover the value in decent quality, it will be easier to pay workers more. Until then, corporates have to serve our desire to pay as little as possible.

Which is also a self-fulfilling prophecy... we'll have to buy the cheapest possible stuff because we'll be paid miserably, and we'll have to be paid miserably because we're buying cheap stuff... another catch-21.99.

On the other end of the spectrum, even trying to buy not-so-cheap, I found out that the preamble to the legal system ("caveat emptor") is in force even more than for the cheap stuff. The frequency of, ahem, suboptimal (©M$) merchandise seems to rise with the price. I've had a long discussion with a friend at home about the issues of trust, that brand names are supposed to solve, that a brand means quality. And my take was that it's not so, not anymore - if I could buy a Chinese made Pierre Cardin shoulder bag in a low end shop for $7 (and later found that it probably is a genuine Cardin, made in China), or if my wife was able to find the same things in different shops at quite different prices (going 2:1 or worse in some cases), then know what - I'll take the cheaper. If everyone out there is trying to cheat, let's lower the stakes then. I'll pay more only when I'm sure I'm getting a better thing, not the same crap at a more expensive location, or from a better con artist.