SNIP
>- vacating all the factories where U.S. corporations exploit workers and the environment so us "haves" can have fancy sneakers and cheap clothes and cheap toys and...


This one bothers me the most. It is a HUGE issue here in NC where many factories have closed and people have lost their jobs that they held for many years. They lost years invested with a company and many cases their retirement investment as well. The factories close because it is too expensive to pay employees what it must in the U.S. economy and provide the benefits the employees demand when it can be done cheaply in other countries. So the company moves their operations overseas where the host country ALLOWS the company to pay low wages and provide no benefits and sometimes not even a safe environment. How is this our fault? We are left here with many without jobs and no place to go. Citizens in the host country get new jobs and NO ONE forces them to work there. Perhaps if the host countries would require the same working standards that the U.S. does then these companies would not relocate at all to begin with and the jobs would stay here in the U.S. and no one would complain about the conditions. Of course those jobs would not exist for those host country natives that CHOOSE to work for those companies also. We seem to forget that those working conditions exist because it is ALLOWED by the host country, not the U.S. The U.S. does NOT allow it here. So who is to blame? The host country if you ask me. I don't buy sneakers because they are the 'cheapest' ones on the market. If you can't make them cheaper then they will cost more and sometimes the price is worth it. It is really ridiculous to blame the U.S. for this situation when it clearly is the host countries fault that this is allowed to happen. Businesses are just taking advantage of the situation to make the most profit.