Does your IPhone Made in China count?
WP also mentions that Sony, for instance, stopped sourcing tantalum from the Congo. On the other hand, WP says Sony's claim is "inconceivable", citing a web page that no longer exists.
Libya are the bad guys this week. We were dealing with Libya in the Billions based on that article. Suddenly $75.00 for a domain name has become a moral hazard.
You seem to imply there should be consideration in who we deal with based on the political conditions which is actually not even feasible at this point. Libya just happens to be the topic of the day so it's easy to look at the .ly and say "Well that's what you get."
I type this on a keyboard made in Thailand, My monitors are made in China, as is my Cisco desk phone and Droid X. So is my coffee mug.
Surprisingly, my coffee cup by International Paper is Made in the USA. That's the only thing on my desk
Domains ending in .ly are not fungible. You can only buy a .ly domain an organization managing them for Libya. Furthermore, this isn't $10/year like many domains, but rather $75/year.
I don't believe it's a weak point at all. I think you're creating a demarcation to eliminate the cognitive dissonance in asking someone else to expend effort while expending none yourself.
Yes, cell phones are fungible, but my Droid X is not. Yes, keyboard are fungible but I can't get Dell to ship a differently branded keyboard.
I know that might blow away your preconceptions, but think twice before harping on people that you don't know anything about. You are not a special piece of sunshine. The difference is I'm not going around like you trying to pretend like I am better than someone else, rather explaining the objective facts of the situation.
Ok, lets address the holier than thou argument which is exactly what I'm talking about. You live in a city, have a featureless phone (still made in China no doubt! Maybe a Nokia?), played camper in the desert for a year (Sustainable as long as everyone else stays away!), buy up the affordable clothing that poor people could use, and work for a place that causes suicide thanks to usurious interest rates. That about sum it up? You going to brag about not owning a TV as well?
Seriously though, I'm pretty sure my comment got the point across that I don't think I'm better than anyone else specifically because I don't give a crap about buying a shiny device from China, or paying Dell for a keyboard from Thailand. And that's why I find effort-free comments taking a moral high ground to be pointless.
edit: I want to say I think Kiva is a great company implementing a great idea. I am only knocking it to say that the moral high ground is not defensible. It's always easy to spit downhill, but someone else can always spit on you. I certainly take no issue with nowarninglabel personally. Living in the desert sounds fun and educational. I just don't think there is a point where suddenly you reach a point that you can say someone else's dealings with a bad country is over the line while still claiming you're only dealing with a necessary evil. It takes the collective action of a government to actually effect change, such as NK or Cuba, and even then not so much.
Free markets has done more for a free China than politics ever could.
Wow, I had never heard about this. I found an article about it in case anyone else is interested: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11997571
All the partnerships with these MFIs has a clause in the contract where Kiva can pull out at any time if it finds the MFI is engaging in questionable practices.
They also do a surprising amount of research on which MFIs they work with. If the MFI doesn't pass a social impact assessment, then they don't make it past there.
I actually think Kiva does a better job of investigating MFIs than most VCs/angels do when investing in startups. It would make for a great blog post if I was able to divulge all the details :-/
I worked in the desert through Student Conservation Corps in their Desert Restoration Corps, working on saving the desert tortoise among other things. I didn't go there to commune with nature. http://www.thesca.org/
You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about in terms of Goodwill either. Goodwill provides jobs for those who otherwise could not get them specifically by selling clothes that would otherwise end up in landfills. http://eartheasy.com/blog/2010/05/lets-keep-clothing-out-of-...
Finally, saying Kiva causes suicide is plain false. This would be akin to saying that Apple causes suicide because someone's World of Warcraft account got cut off so they killed themselves. It's so much apples and oranges that it begs the question if you researched anything at all before making that statement. Just to reiterate, no one involved in Kiva loans has committed suicide, I'm guessing you grabbed some random article about microfinance and then associated the two with absolutely no diligence at all. Don't take my word for it, go inform yourself: http://ask.metafilter.com/125386/Help-me-avoid-being-a-loan-... or from a Fellow http://fellowsblog.kiva.org/2010/01/07/bad-roads-interest-ra... or straight from Kiva http://www.kiva.org/updates/kiva/2010/04/15/new-york-times-a...
And no, your comment does not get any point across other than to say that you like to make flippant comments without any objective facts, the very thing you supposedly argue against. If you had done even 10 minutes of research on anything you just spouted off about you would have realized you made absolutely no sense.
I don't really care; I avoid China for quality reasons, not for political reasons. I find that companies that manufacture their goods themselves in their own country tend to produce better products than companies that outsource the manufacturing to the lowest bidder in China. It is about cost and control; if you're willing to spend more and manage your own factories, your products are going to be better.
This is not an absolute; obviously some companies do OK with China, like Apple and Dell and Lenovo.
Even if I view another country in a negative light I don't see a way I can rationalize telling bit.ly they've made a bad decision, or Boeing they made a mistake with the Dreamliner, or my neighbor he's wrong for buying fuel from a Citgo station.
Throwaway comments about taking a moral high ground are just that. And as bit.ly has not gone down, I don't see how there is a practical issue either.
It is not about whether majority of people approve government or think their government is a "brutal dictatorship". It is about what that government does with people who doesn't approve the government.