The sad part is that your "extra sexy bra" from Victoria's Secret, or your super "cool" tennis shoes from Nike may have been manufactured by one of these children. Why do you think companies "outsource" their labor? Because they are in a quest to benefit 3rd. world countries?

This is the REALITY. Bring back jobs to the US, where people can make the correct wages, and the owners may not make billions, but they will make enough to retire as "millionaires"

How much money does one person need to live comfortable for the rest of their natural life?

Even if they close all shops in India, there will be another third world country manufacturing products , with zero regard for laws or human rights.

Perhaps the WTO should have stuck to its original intentions of ending poverty, creating global labor standards, and ensuring free trade. Instead the WTO is just another tool for corporate criminals looking for cheap labor and funding from the IMF.

Yes and it annoys me every time i read a post by a right winger ranting that americans being lazy is why we can't compete with the rest of the world. There was a time 40 years ago when we were the worlds leader in manufacturing. Then thru successive administrations in the name of free trade more and more protections for our producs were removed and now if we can't compete with 9 year old slaves we're lazy.

I agree with all of you above.

We always ended up on the short end of the stick with free trade agreements . All of our manufacturing went over seas so the corporations could fatten their bottom lines. Next they moved their headquarters off shore to avoid paying taxes . All this so they could super size their burnouses . If our manufacturing lobs come back, that would solve a ton of problems with our economy. But alas all the banksters, captains & kings of industry are more interested in pulling the plug on our country, making us a third world country.

Hypocrites, that is the word that describes most of you. You pretend to be appalled by slave labor, but then you soon forget once you turn on your Icrap product, or put on your designer clothing. I'm piss poor, but I still can avoid shopping at Walmart or any other place that supports these kinds of conditions (And I use Walmart, because it is a known fact that they shortchange workers here in the US for overtime of lunch time).

We end up on the short end of the stick because Americans wanted the Best for the cheapest price. Cheap price means cheap labor folks. That's Economics 101. Not going to get that here with union & federal regulations.

You want American jobs back, then you have to pay the price for the American work.

Stop buying "Made in China" or "India". Buy MADE IN USA.

trust2112

Are we really hypocrites or just people trying to live within our means ???? Depending where you are on the economic scale, you do what you can to stretch a buck as far as you can. Food prices are high , gas out of sight and so it goes. Heaven forbid you have to go to a doctor or hospital. If you do just file for chapter 11. Because you will never be able to pay off the bills.

I don't know what's more disturbing...

a) The fact that police "rounded up" 26 children rather than the "employers".

b) msnbc readers concerned about these children stealing their jobs rather than the children.

India and all other poor countries will have child labor. It is a real problem but its the economics. My mother was a teacher in India and she had to scold the parents to let the children come to school rather than work on house farm. But in the end it is about economics. There are bigger things driving American jobs away viz. Tax Havens, Chinese Prison Labor, Chinese Currency Suppression, Corporate Greed in America and so on..

PJ- just have to say- there's a big difference between having your child work on your farm so everyone has enough to eat, and big corporations moving manufacturing to the cheapest possible place just so the big wigs can line their pockets some more.

Hopefully the kids were 'rounded up' so they can be helped in getting back home. Although, if the kid's choice is between being at home and not having enough to eat, or working slave wages and eating every day, they'll probably be coming right back.

PJ & inmissouri

You both hit the nail on the head !!!!!!!!

Tax avoidance and fattening the bottom line along with Super Sized Bonuses are the root cause of this problem . Todays corporations are self serving and a self rightious lot. They believe it is all about them and their lifestyle . By manufacturing the item here in the U.S. we can equal if not lower the cost of that item. The big boys don't want it that way. Because that would cut their fat pay checks and super sized bonouses . We are stuck between a rock and a hard place on this one. Unless of course we turn corporate America upside down.

I worked at a plant refurbishing cellphone right here in Alabama, out of 800 workers only 39 were American, most were very young and many where children of Latino origin. Our own ICE and politicians turn a blind eye. We had one boy who was tall for his age turn 13. We had one girl that had a surprise birthday party there, she let it slip during her happiness that she just turned 15, opps I mean 19. Yeah right. The average age of the girls was 14/15 It is illegal for an American Teenager to work in a factory environment. Alabama law requires you to be 19. Yet it appears to be okay for illegal Latino's. We had one girl working our shift start her first period in the womens bathroom. She was very afraid and crying. When management was contacted, Their excuse is all Latino women look young. The operations of this facility went to Dallas TX were they are still using the same cheap illegal labor. Management knew the were illegal. The US Govt does not issue the so called green card with Fuzzy bad quality photos. It doesn't happen. America needs to wake up and start policing our own plants be it electronics or poultry processing. We can cast no stones at India.

I live within my means, for the most part as I do have some governmental assistance (Do to a hernia, which basically bars me from working because no company wants to assume liability if I injure it further, and my state has a freeze on Tenncare (State run Medicare) put into place since 2009). And while I was busy making that barely above minimum wage pay, I did not qualify for insurance because I was considered a Temp). But I am not the one who decided that I didn't want to work anymore, so no I am not lazy.

I don't have a fancy cell phone that I am trying to replace my computer with, nor do I have a 100 dollar a month data plan. I don't have a 100 dollar cable bill, my car is just about as old as most people (A Ford, so it's American) I don't have a 70 inch tv (28 inch). I buy my meats at Kroger because they are the only store who promises their meat is Pink slime free. I also stay away from Mechanically Separated pork or beef (the other pink slime of food industry). I quit drinking soda (Lost almost 20 pounds in 2 months) I feel good, look great and try to be positive, at least for my grandson who lives with us. And I've lost hope for government actually giving a crap about anyone who isn't rich. And I worry about our declining rights as individuals.

I do not condone children working under the age of 12 but for them to work part time I do not see problem. These children seem to have clothes on their back and appear to be healthy. I really would like to see these jobs come back home to America but it is not going to happen and even if it did the big box department stores would not buy the expensive American made products and neither would Americans. Lets face it people, there is no clothes being made in this country and if you plan on wearing them you will have to buy clothes that have been made by slave labor as the big corporations do not care about anything but money. When you go to buy clothes how many of you check the label as to where it came from? and if it said India would put it down if it sold for 3 to 4 dollars less than a American made product, be honest with yourself. These children work for slave labor to buy food and clothes and over there food and clothes are cheaper than here. There are other children in parts of the world who would work just for food. This is a sad world and while Americans mostly try to do what they can but we cannot feed and cloth all of the children who are starving, and even when we try the heartless leaders confiscate the food for their army's.

There was no battle, this was strickley about politics and money. Period.

Perhaps if we treated other countries as we would a family member then this world would be a better place to live for all, rather than letting the corporations represent us and their twisted version of how to survive. But thats just me.

Jerry: not trying to be snide, but this is SLAVE labor. These kids do not get paid. They most likely have zero personal possessions. They were probably sold by their parents to keep the rest of the family fed. They live on the work-site, and never leave it. They are fed an clothed there by their owner and work very long hours, up top 18/day, seven days a week. And they will stay there until the owner sells them to someone else, or until they die.

Larry...American workers aren't lazy they just want to be paid $30.00 an hour to produce goods that only retail for $19.99. What American company can compete with countries with cheap labor producing cheap goods?

I am all for American worker making an honest living that is equal to the cost of living. Look at the post office...going bankrupt but paying mail carriers over $23.00 an hour to deliver mail.

The issue is that there can be no "free trade" when other countries have institutionalized slave labor and child labor. What the US needs to do is to reinstate tariffs and import taxes on those countries which do not enforce labor laws. If a country does not enforce laws which protect workers, tax those goods to the point where it is not profitable for the products to be produced there.

If there was a 30% import tax on ipads, iphones and idontcares, do you really think Apple would produce in China ? The same goes for any other manufacturers using foreign labor. Fair trade laws have done nothing but made it possible for the greedy to make more money on the backs of the poor.

The slave labor we refer to is very different from what is normally perceived as "slavery". Often times the children choose to work by choice or work to help support their families who cannot make ends meet. Many times they don't want people to interfere because they need the money. We can boast that they are being saved while they are trying very hard to find a similar job which will probably pay them less or be more unfamiliar. The actual solution is preventing families from having so many children and or having the countries produce jobs that can support the whole family. Seeing as we are relying on welfare and food stamps even in America, I doubt that these jobs are readily available.

Corn, do you really think they make a $, thats why manufactures use kids so they can pay so little. Although Im sure their families back home get part or all of what little they make.

Corn Holio: These kids aren't making a buck. They are slave labor. If they make anything at all, they use it to buy food.

Corn, when "Pay Day" comes, after the deductions for housing and feeding is taken out, want to bet how much is left over for the "workers"?

Let the poor kids make a buck.

A buck is exactly right. They may be doing 16 hours shifts for a buck an hour. That is criminal. If the companies had a soul -as Mitt Romney says that Corporations are people too- Then they would create places to train these children as apprentices. They would not use them as slaves. If anybody has ever seen pictures of the conditions where these people work, you would be appalled.

IRESPOND,

If they made a buck an hour they would be very wealthy in their society. Maybe a buck a week.

India is the world's worst abuser when it comes to slave labor, with an estimated 1 million people under that yoke. In many cases, entire families work for generations, very frequently in mud brick factories, to pay off a debt that never ends. Children as young as 2 work in brick yards, filling molds with mud while their siblings, parents, grandparents and great-grandparents stack them. Make a buck, huh, Corn? How much do you suppose they feed a two-year-old slave?

My calculations are you're talking about a buck a month, am I correct?

#2.6 Eevie, 1 million is way too small. India has the world's largest number of child laborers, estimates range from 60 million to 100 million. UNICEF estimates that there are 45 million underaged domestic helpers there, more like serfs, subject to torture, rape. There are at least 2 million underaged prostitutes in India. They still have eunuchs ("hijras" in Urdu) there (2 million). China has been under the spotlight, whereas India has not. It's a zillion times worse. It is in fact much like the dark ages in most of the country. you'll know if you go there for a visit.

Yeah, TF-1561528 I believe it. However, the US State Department estimates -- and they admit that the numbers are impossible to verify, so their figures are conservative -- that around the world, 27 million people live in slavery of one sort or another. 1 million in India.

But as you say, the actual numbers are far, far higher. And the worst thing is that a lot of the local officials see no problem with it, because a) the people who suffer under this system are of the two lowest classes, or Dalits, who are considered to be lower than animals by many people of higher castes. So who cares if they get paid? That's their station in life. And b), way too many government officials on all levels make a decent buck out of this. And there is no changing it if the general population sees no problem with it.

Yeah, India: ancient and civilized, a good friend of the United States and on its way to joining the industrialized world as a developed nation. Right.

Zapper, I have been saying this for years. We have only improved our scores in math and science every single years since the 1970's. No one reports that FACT!

As a country we are one of the few that test ALL of our children . YOu know why China is so highly rated on math and science tests-----because only the wealthy children that can afford good schools , who live in large cities are tested. There are hundreds of thousands of orphans across China .( There is a new statistic that says there are on approximately 25,000--50,000 orphans living on the street per providence) These children often find food and shelter working as a slave labor too. It is time that all slave labor be put to an end.

I don't have first hand experience with India but stories from my friends that have visited as aide workers it appears that India is far far worse. There are stories of children that are still chained to their work tables and beaten regularly. Girls are regularly "sold" as child brides in the country.

My question is now that these children have been rescued.......what now? Return them to families so that the families sell them again as slave labor???

Kallie

Zapper, I have been saying this for years. We have only improved our scores in math and science every single years since the 1970's. No one reports that FACT!

Because it isn't a fact. The US recently ranked 17th in math and science against other nations

If the US scores had improved for 40 years and we still rank 17th recently, where were we before all that improvement?

The FACT is that the US has a cultural impediment against intellectual endeavors and a huge percentage of the population prefers faith over science, FOX news over PBS, and fast food over cuisine.

It was progressives that put an end to child labor in this country and now we hear conservatives just this year calling for an end to those laws in order to teach "personal responsibility".

My question is now that these children have been rescued.......what now? Return them to families so that the families sell them again as slave labor???

Good point. I think all we can do here is to make ourselves aware of the situation world wide, boycott and call to task companies complicit in this sort of trade and vote against the politicians who would try to diminish child protection labor laws here.

Yes Amanda, you are right. They can expect to beg in the streets and hope to find another slave job so that they can survive.

Think of these kids when you look at South Asia. Any wonder why they are so willing to blow themselves up in the hopes of finding heavean? When you live in hell, anything is better.

I agree with the first paragraph but disagree with the second. Blaming people blowing themselves up on poverty doesn't explain the fact that almost all who do so are muslim. Most of the population in india is hindu and there are desperatly poor people of every religion but consistantly it's muslims that commit random bombings.

These people DO NOT look for jobs. They are SLAVES, which means they live and die at the whim of their owner. They were either sold into slavery by their dirt-poor families or were born into slavery, with the entire family toiling generation after generation, usually to pay off long-ago debts that will never go away. Even if they managed to somehow buy their way out, or run away, they are Dalits, the lowest-caste people, and have no chance at advancing in society. They do not blow themselves up, MOSinEUR, because their status is pretty much set. That is the way of a society as heavily stratified as India.

Eevie, when I write of South Asia, I include Pakistan and Afghanistan where Islamic schools take kids like this and turn them into suicide bombers.

I agree with you there, MOSinEUR. Except I think the scale is greater, in the sense that suicide bombing is not about just those on the lowest rung of society. So many of these suicide bombers come from a decent backgrounds, and many had a university education. That said, Yes, they are recruiting kids for suicide bombing in Afghanistan and Pakistan. I don't know if these slave-owners who guarantee horrible, short life a slow, miserable death are that much better, as far as the fate of the kids is concerned, than the jihadists who recruit kids for a violent death instead. A lot of ugly, ugly people out there.

To all of you whining about Trade agreements, and Politicians and CEO's you're all playing the BLAME GAME when the true blame is ourselves.

We are the consumers. We want the best there is, for the cheapest price available. So we go to Walmart rather than L.L. Bean and buy "Made in China or India" rather than "Made in USA"

Back in the 60's during the Civil rights movement blacks would boycott certain shop for their business practices. We can do the same thing today. Boycott the "Made Overseas" brands in favor of "Proudly made in the USA"

Are you willing to pay the higher price for American made products? Or will you continue to shop at the other stores and whine about the lack of American jobs?

My guess is the latter.

@ Sharon,

IMO

Until everyone in this country refuses to buy products made in foreign countries

Leaving most Americans and others, walking naked, without tech's, and in most cases food.

this will never end, nor will we see our jobs return within our own economy

It could return to our economy tomorrow but, nobody wants to pay $300.00 for "union made" boxer shorts, $1000.00 cell phones and "government subsidised farms" that would actually have to grow something.

Refusing to buy things not made in America? Are you insane? NOTHING is made in America anymore. At least, not enough for you to enjoy an American TV, while sitting on an American couch, wearing American slippers. If you bought all American, you wouldn't have much. Most electronic components are either Chinese, or the high quality components are from Japan.

US-made boxer shorts wouldn't cost much more than Vietnam-made boxer shorts do, MRZ-1191248. But the CEOs and share-holders wouldn't be able to rake in 90% of the price. Maybe just 40%. Imagine the suicide rate among fat cats suddenly making just a million or two a year, instead of 130 million. AND they'd have to forgo those Christmas bonuses!

As for our farmers growing or not growing food -- do you realize that 58 percent of all exported food comes from the US?

It could return to our economy tomorrow but, nobody wants to pay $300.00 for "union made" boxer shorts, $1000.00 cell phones and "government subsidised farms" that would actually have to grow something.

Setting aside the fact that the figures you quote are utter bull@!$%#, manufacturing jobs won't return here until Americans are willing to work for third world level wages. Because the cost of living here is much higher than it is in those countries, that's impossible. We've pretty much kissed those jobs and those that will be outsourced in the future goodbye forever. This has nothing to do with unions. It is simple greed.

This is one of the reasons I won't step into a Walmart or Sam's Club. I recall shopping for a shower curtain at KMart and a woman in the same aisle was lamenting about the prices. She established eye contact with me and said "Walmart is cheaper". I asked her if she knew why. Her eyes had a puzzled look and when she couldn't come up with an answer, she just walked away. Walmart's latest is bring in your receipt from Cub's grocery, select each item at Walmart and you will save $$$. Wonder why . . . child labor in the fields somewhere?