We all know that Chinese workers, who make the products we use everyday, don't make much money. We know they work in sweatshops, some of them are children, some of them elderly, working overtime, most bring home under a dollar a day. If you make $2 a day, that's considered good money.
Now you may be thinking that if we don't buy those products, those workers won't even have a job at all. Not true. If we stopped trading with China, they would be forced to do something with their economy, instead of their government sitting pretty being paid off by large companies for allowing them to hire China's great workers for so little money. By stopping trade with China, we would be helping China more.
Here's an interesting fact: The Chinese government pegged their currency (the yuan) to the US dollar from 1995 to 2005. What does that mean? The value of different currencies are changing all the time. So one day where you might exchange the US dollar for the Canadian dollar and get $1.32 in Canadian money and the next day you might get $1.29 in Canadian. This is how it normally works, but when it's pegged, you would get $1.32 Canadian with $1 US dollar everyday.
In China's case, they kept their money artificially low so that the US would always be able to trade with them, keeping China from advancing itself. That sounds like dirty work to me. At least now that's been ended. All we have to do is tell China and tell the companies working in China using people for cheap labor, that we want rights for everyone.
To do this we start cutting back on products made in China (and other sweatshop countries.) Focus on products made in the USA or Fair Trade products. Fair Trade promotes the payment of a fair price for goods made in developing countries. Fair Trade is good for those who buy Chinese products thinking they are actually helping the workers when they're actually helping the companies. If you want to help someone and they get honest pay for it, helping them and their communities advance, consider items with the Fair Trade symbol on them.
I have seen products in stores with these symbols on them, if you don't see anything like this in any stores you shop in, consider writing the store and asking for Fair Trade products to be made available for purchase. You can also find products on their website here. Remember, Fair Trade is a certification given to companies, not a brand, so if you have a favorite brand that isn't Fair Trade certified, consider writing them and asking why.
Products made in the USA are also a great replacement for something you would buy from China. Not only are you getting a product that you know is safe for your family, but you are helping Americans keep their jobs and you know they got paid an honest pay.
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