Globalization: Why Everything is Made in China in 5 Minutes

Remember the opening scene to the amazing Nick Cage movie Lord of War? The one where you follow the life of a bullet from its birth in a factory to its shipment from the Soviet Union to the jungles of Africa? When I watched that I was mesmerized. Almost all of our material goods make a similar journey. From the extraction of raw materials found in the Earth, to their production in a factory most likely somewhere in Asia, to the retail store that you or I can head to down the street.

My Mic:

Music:
L'indécis - Day by Day

Script:

The last time you looked at your T-shirt tag you probably noticed that it was made in China, or Bangladesh, or Pakistan, or…wherever - you get the point. But have you stopped to ask yourself why they never say England, or France, or the U.S.? Well as most of us probably know already it has to do with cost. But that’s only part of the story.

Awhile back I read an interesting article on NPR that talked about the journey of a t-shirt. In their investigations they found that the cotton for most t-shirts are grown in either China, India or surprisingly the U.S. in places like Texas. If the cotton is grown in the U.S. it is then shipped over 7,000 miles to China or India where the milling process begins which transforms the plant cotton into yarn or sheets. From there it is shipped another 1,800 miles to Bangladesh where it is sewn into shirts by workers who are paid $40 a month in super sketchy conditions. In 2013 for example a factory collapsed and killed 1,100 garment workers. Most popular clothing companies like Gap, Walmart, Target and well pretty much every store you can think of rely heavily on suppliers from this region. When sewn the shirts are shipped another 8,000 miles back to the U.S. where they are delivered to retailers, folded neatly by workers who are paid whatever the minimum wage in your city is and sold for $20 bucks a pop. The estimated miles traveled for any given t-shirt from cotton farm to retail store? About 16,000 miles. $20 bucks for an item that has seen more of the world than you or I have? Not bad.

But why does this happen and how is it a viable economic model? During the 19th century the process of industrialization began which was basically the time when everyday household items became easier to make with the use of machines and standardization and allowed the prices of items to decrease making it more affordable for the public to buy. Along with this there was a transportation revolution with the invention of the steam engine making shipping using boats or trains much cheaper. At the same time Europeans were busy conquering the world which had the sometimes very unwanted effect of integrating parts of the world with other parts of the world. But nonetheless it happened and here we are. Because of this more and more nations began to embrace international trade while at the same time vigorously competing with each other to gain economic and military dominance over one another and their colonies. Eventually this competition grew to a tipping point and WWI happened. Then WWII happened. Then the Cold War. Finally after the Cold War when most major government decided to just chill the f*ck out, a period of rapid globalization happened. But it was really after the agreements made by the international community after WWII, that laid the foundation to the kind of globalization that we know and either love or hate or have no opinion about today. Most countries agreed to an international monetary policy which basically has made it easier for countries to trade with each other by eliminating or reducing taxes. This led to other economic agreements between the international community and eventually the World Trade Organization which currently provides a system for countries to make trade agreements with one another. There are also other bilateral agreements between countries – for example the U.S. and South Korea has a Free Trade Agreement which eliminates 95% of taxes or NAFTA between Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. which probably ruined the lives of millions of poor corn farmers in Mexico – but that’s a story for another time.

[yesiventure]

I wish my generation educated themselves more with information like this!

[Brandon-csgw]

40% for taxes in the US... That's right they're talking almost half of your paycheck~ Wake up & smell roses when minimal wages goes down & taxes go up!

[nonentitynaila]

thank you so much for addressing this issue. I think journalists are trying to inform what's happening, and I know of some reforms that are intended towards giving the workers better human rights, but the matter of fact is, not enough is being done for a really good change to happen. I know there might be a whole range of reasons why even trying isn't enough, because somewhere down the line someone stops trying. I think this issue has a lot to do with Capitalism and IMF and currencies, I would like to know your opinion/knowledge you've acquired on that matter, and if you could make a video like this about the IMF, it would be lit coz I have watched 2 documentaries on money, one on how it was created and the other on capitalism,  and 
both are too long, so my friends don't wanna watch it, and when I explain, I don't do a very good job.

thanks again. keep up ur good work!

[smnckl]

Great video. The sad thing is that most people more or less are aware of the situation but still choose to look away cause its more comfortable. Therefore nothing really changes. As a customer the only thing you can do is to educate yourself on the products you plan to buy. I would rather pay a significant extra charge for a product where I know everyone who worked for it gets paid properly instead of buying a cheaper product where above can't be granted. I also try to support local companies who have their production nearby even though these are rare.

[eesshal]

the fact that one tshirt is worth more than any of the workers salary is insane

[SuperJoan]

That's why jobs just don't pay, and you can't make a living wage anymore with one, you gotta have two to survive

[rileyoakes]

where are your sources?
link plz I am writing a paper

[shaduck]

workers in cHINA appreciate the overtime

[yuriborg]

It was not a factory it was a shopping mall which had shopping centres in first few floods and in the topper floors there where garments factories and it was called Rana plaza in Bangladesh, and actually 3000 people died.

[Brandon-csgw]

Paying for quality is not cheap, until you see the expensive product is made in China. The labor's cheaper, & more $ into the manufacturers pockets, but not good news for the consumer. It's a lie about quality insurance. Would you think cheaper service will offer higher quality than costly service? Workers are underpaid for the work they do which effects craftsmanship. Of course there are hard workers trying to make a living, but not under these circumstances. I'm not defending with the way things are now because it's not a good thing. I don't want cheap plastic anymore in my high end products. Plastic is trash, & should be used under discretion~

[shiny]

Ancient china along time ago they were the inventors like they made paper

[quinnflorence]

I will say I was sicken by this when I first learned of this in my high school Economics class I almost want to scream the ( monkey sound) ! I will support this bull(monkey sound) !!!!

But a online college ad said” if you are sick by this and you want to help these people out, let them sell you their stuff and help grow the economy and maybe just maybe help people get out of this nightmare.”

I understand that, but I still won’t feel any less sick thinking of this cheap/ unethically made workers labor.

I hope you all do well today and take care everyone and stay safe out there!

[muhammedakbar]

my phone is made in





South Korea...

[juligarjr]

If that's ur handwriting, u have nice handwriting

[analogaudiorules]

We really went wrong somewhere along the line.... Pitiful, as I type on my tablet made in china

[asparagussyndrome]

So basically because the world is full of horrible people. Got it.

[dew]

but economically speaking, those people that chose to work in sweatshops voluntarily chose so because doing that makes them better off than the next thing they could've done. No rational person would trade their labour and time for something that would leave them worse off.
This is only meant to be a phase like in the industrial revolution where people are paid peanuts. However, it's being prolonged due to the Chinese govt artificially devaluing their currency to stay on top of exports

[NinjGMX]

The filthy boss who puts people in those conditions should be punished with death penalty. The law needs to b enforced in those terms

[rockinghorsesciencemechani]

A VERY long winded answer when you could have answered with 1 word. Greed.
Word

[candytoo]

It's called Walmart. That was the blueprint.