6090: Re: 6075: Manufacturing (Dorce, Knowles & Burnham) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: LAKAT47@aol.com

Phil Knowles <Phildk@prodigy.net> writes:

<<My only goal here is to debate the options available for Haiti.  Can someone
define a program that will create jobs and raise the standard of living in
Haiti?    Can we do it without subjecting people to abysmal working
conditions?   If so , let's all get behind it.  What we seem to have now is
poverty, joblessness, poor schools, and illiteracy.  We see small projects
(classes, libraries, tree plantings, etc.) run by charitable foreigners, and
a million or so Haitians overseas sending enough goods and money for
survival.>>
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
You know, there IS a new president who will take office soon (if there isn't 
a successful coup and it sounds like one's a'brewing).   I think he and his 
advisors have ideas how to bring employment to a large number of the 
population.  Why dont we ask them?  It is THEIR job to determine how Haitians 
will make their living and under what conditions, not OURS.   Ask the 
people....the ones who will be the assembly line workers.  They shouldn't 
have to choose between death while not working and death while working.  I 
don't believe manufacturers even think or care of how their business effects 
their workers or Haiti's economy. They are thinking of one thing: making low 
cost items for sale in the US (mostly).  I agree with Tracy Kidder in her 
article in the NY Times (post 6071), Give Aristide a Chance.  Manufacturing 
may well be in the plan for employing Haitians, but it should be to 
everyone's benefit and not just to keep a person's nose above water while 
others get fat off the work of Haiti's poor.

Dorce~