Chapter 2

This chapter I must say impacted me way more than the last chapter. The blood, sweat and tears that go behind what we take for granted everyday amazed me the most. It hit so close to home. I too am guilty of enjoying a latte at Startbucks or indulging in the great low prices of Wal-Mart. As a flood of guilt came into play, I realized that as unfortunate as the conditions are as spoken about in chapter two, why isn’t anyone trying to stop it? This is when I began to understand the idea that is free trade. Good cheap labor=good cheap products which means GREAT BIG PROFITS for companies such as Wal-Mart and Starbucks at the expense of poor workers in Chinese sweatshops. When put like this, it seems more like exploiting than trade doesn’t it? I feel that in reading and gaining more knowledge on the matter, I have a responsibility now as a consumer to do something. My efforts alone won’t stop anything but the spread of consumer knowledge can lead to change. We must learn to research where our dollar is really going…