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Comment by intricatedetail | Hacker News Reader

We need country of origin information on products along with some colour coding, e.g. if given country has minimum wage, slave Labour etc. If product contains parts and labour from many countries then all should be listed ordered by level of participation.

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I'd support that. Regarding country of origin, doesn't every product have a "Made in ..." on it and it's packaging? I'm only familiar with Europe and Canada though.

This is inconsistent. In Canada, at least, “Made in Canada” or “Produced in Canada” does not necessarily mean “made mostly in Canada from Canadian parts”. All that’s necessary is a certain percentage of assembly or preparation (for foods).

I’m not sure of the _exact_ proportions required, but I first noticed this on food products (“Prepared in Canada from domestic and foreign ingredients” is frequently found on foods I buy).

I've seen products "made in USA" where they get preassembled product from China and only load firmware and put a sticker with serial number. Insane.

Screwdriver shops. Italy restricted "Made in Italy" to products with 2/3 of critical steps done domestically.

Perhaps we could store that information on the blockchain and put it on a QR code in the clothing label... /s

Not nearly enough to change behaviour. I knew fully well the impact of buying A vs B in a recent purchase decision - A is unethical but B was a full $1000 more. It was hard to suck it up and do the right thing. If we want to effect change, just add a tax that equalizes unfair advantages - paying unliveable wage? That tax should then be used to pay a basic income here. If manufacturers still want to keep their facilities elsewhere - for non-destructive reasons - so be it.

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