Are Chinese Workers Paying the Price for Cheap Goods?
To the Point
KCRW
4.4 • 583 Ratings
🗓️ 28 November 2008
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
More than a year ago, we looked at the health and safety of workers in China, who make so much of the merchandise in American stores. In the meantime, the summer Olympics gave China's image a shot in the arm, but for millions of working people, nothing has changed. On this archived edition of To the Point, we hear who's paying the real cost of supposedly "cheap" merchandise. Also, a gloomy outlook for holiday spending, and the last word on traffic.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point. |
| 0:07.8 | Cheap imports from China, who pays the real cost? |
| 0:14.0 | Hello again, I'm Arminolny, and this is an archived edition of To the Point from Public Radio International. |
| 0:18.9 | A daily look at the issues. Americans care about most. |
| 0:21.6 | Late last year, |
| 0:22.3 | as Congress considered a ban on imports |
| 0:24.1 | from overseas sweatshops, |
| 0:25.8 | we broadcast a program |
| 0:26.8 | on working conditions in China. |
| 0:29.1 | Witnesses backed by journalistic investigators |
| 0:31.3 | told of workers exposed to a witch's brew |
| 0:33.8 | of cancer-causing chemicals, |
| 0:36.2 | 84 hours a week for 53 cents an hour. This year, if they're |
| 0:40.9 | buying it all, Americans are more inclined than ever to be looking for bargains. But in China, |
| 0:46.1 | nothing has changed. We'll rebroadcast our look at the health and safety of human beings |
| 0:50.7 | 5,000 miles away. On reporters' notebook later, the facts, the figures, and the psychology of driving in traffic. |
| 0:58.1 | First, the news. |
| 1:00.3 | Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio |
| 1:05.7 | International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation, the John |
| 1:10.3 | D. and Catherine T. MacArthur |
| 1:11.6 | Foundation, and the Skoll Foundation, supporting social entrepreneurs around the world, uncommon heroes |
| 1:17.9 | dedicated to the common good. Learn more at scole.org. Hello again, Mormon-Aulney, back with a |
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