Apple Investigates Own Supply Chain - Finds Abuses

This is regarding the article in UK's Telegraph -
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/7330986/Apple-admits-using-child-labour.html

Apple investigated its own supply chain and found numerous abuses. More than half of the factories audited force workers perform 60+ hour work weeks. 35% shortchanged their workers on salary and benefits some even employed child labor. Worker Safety and Environmental regulation compliance was equally abysmal.

Kudos for Apple for doing this. However, I find one thing telling and another I find disturbing.

The simple reason that the things we buy are so cheap is that so many corners are cut. If this led all companies to inspect and demand, upon threat of termination, that all products be made in compliance with international labor laws then all the gadgets and junk the Western world lives for are gone. I would happily pay the premium for a few key gadgets, but would cut down overall.

The thing that I find disturbing is that this is unlikely to happen. Apple can threaten termination, because they will always find a factory willing to work with them. Palm, for example, does not have such leverage and makes me wonder the conditions which my Pre smartphone was manufactured under. Even if Apple makes perfectly good on correcting all of its supply chain's ills, very few companies will even attempt to make such corrections next to nil will succeed.

I Hate the Stock Market

The single reason stock prices matter is because the market says it does. If I ever find out who declared that the market should matter, I'll strangle their descendants.

My fortunately brief experience with the market was working for a Fidelity call center about ten years ago. After learning about the fraud that is the DOW, the absurdity of short selling, the inanity of trading options on indexes, and the general fickleness of the market I completely gave up on it.

There were days, after having access to very detailed, up-to-the-second quotes on any index or exchange you could possibly think of, that I would leave work completely ignorant of what the market did that day. Bliss.