Travels of a Tshirt & Economic Freedom

After watching Rivoli in the YouTube video about her book "Travels of a Tshirt" it was clear that she discusses a rights and freedoms that relate to economic freedoms citizens and countries alike across the world. One very important economic freedom that can affect the supercountries of the world like the U.S and China is trade policies. Trade policies are rules and regulations the countries set up in relation to what products from different countries can come in and out of theirs. For example, in the United States, we have had a trade embargo on Cuba for over 40 years now. This means that the United States will not accept any products from Cuba or have business dealings with them. Yet somehow the United States is the 7th largest imported country in Cuba. Back to the idea of trade policy, it is thought that because of trade in general, globalization has occured. Due to new products/services being brought from country to country, cultural diffusion and new ideas have been brought about as well as the spread of information. The Travels of a Tshirt book is a perfect example of how one, what may seem insignificant, product is important to so many countries than just the one in which it is bought. In her speech, Rivoli shows a map of where the Tshirt was " born" and all the different countries that brought it to life and even where it ends up being bought and " dies". All in all the tshirt travels to 5 different places, over 3 different continents. Rivoli explains that it may sound easy for a tshirt to be brought from one country where the raw material is to the other where it is sewn together, but it must pass through a " maze" of laws surrounding trade in each country it goes to. Thinking about how one simple little tshirt must travel all over the world before ending up in some gift shop makes me realize how this one shirt affects many lives. Without this tshirt, this product, workers in many places would be out of a job. From the farmer that cultivates the cotton to the underpaid laborers in China who sew it the piece of clothing together, this shirt becomes a part of their livelihood. In an article from CNN, ( http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/02/15/g7.summit.world.economy/index.html?iref=newssearch) it is made clear that trade and the policies surrounding it are vital to the global economy. If major countries start shutting their doors to certain imports/exports they will be affecting not only the people of their own country, but really the whole world. The 7 most powerful economies in the world met and their financial ministers stated, " An open system of global trade and investment is indispensable for global prosperity." The world has become one big game of dominoes. If one country starts to fall, especially if it's a super power, the others will begin to tumble as well. The affects are felt in the ways of jobs lost, houses foreclosed, a rise in crime and mouths unfed. It is necessary to keep the doors of each powerful country open to products and ideas of others in order to keep the finances in each country sustained and growing back to being strong. Because of globalization, we must now depend on each other, each country, in order to make the world a stronger and better place.

Another big issue was a major concern in Rivoli's "Travels of a Tshirt" was the exploitation of labor, sweatshop conditions. Rivoli traveled around the world and saw how people, especially women were being exploited for cheap labor because there is a constant demand for cheaper and cheaper goods and it ends up costing workers their quality of life. As Rivoli put it, " the demand for cheaper and cheaper goods puts a downward pressure on the quality of the works lives." She uncovered that some workes make as little as $100 a month and have jobs that she descrives as " deathly boring." There are good factories as well as bad ones but the majority of the places that Rivoli visited, she only witnessed horrific and unfair conditions that people endure only because in their country, they have no other option. In reading an article from CNN.com, (http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/23/garment.workers/index.html?iref=newssearch), it is clear that even in the United States sweatshop conditions are still possible, yet shut down a lot faster due to zero tolerance and media buzz surrounding companies that are caught using sweatshop laborers. This one particular sweatshop underpaid it's workers a total of 2.5 million dollars. That's ridiculous! People were earning as little as 22 cents per garment and working 70 hour weeks! I can not believe that this particular factory owner had it's employees[ if you can even call them that and not practically slaves] memorize lies to tell to investigators at a moment's notice! The lengths to which people will go to to earn more money and cheat people out of their proper pay is astounding. Is is unfortunate, yet happens everyday and is harder to beat and conquer when it occurs in countries in the far east where the government is different than the United States and the whole way of life and culture does not look to save citizens in that type of situation. It is clear to me that in order for economies to grow and the quality of life to be ranked better in a great deal of countries, the globalization error of the development of sweatshops needs to be abolished and abandoned completely. This is something that may not ever be completely gone, but efforts need to rise up globally in order for a stop to be put to this.