What Will Obama's Economic Stimulus Package Result In?

Prior to reading Rivoli’s, The Travels of a T-shirt in the Global Economy, I never really put much thought into the history and background of my clothes. I, like many others simply go the mall or store, and pick out what I like, never really giving much consideration into the long journey that the article of clothing I’m holding had already been on prior to my purchasing of it. Nor do I put any thought into where/how my money would be divided up across many thousands of miles. Today I decided to take a look at the tag of the sweatshirt I put on, made in China, and it made me wonder about who helped to make my sweatshirt, what type of salary do they make, what are the working conditions like, where in China was it sewn, where did the materials come from, and how long did it take for all of this happen.
Pietra Rivoli examined all of these questions about the T-shirt she purchased over a 5-year period. During this period she traveled from a Texas cotton field to a Chinese factory, from trade negotiations in Washington DC to a used clothing market in Tanzania, Africa. Her travels exemplified many lessons about the globalization of countries around the world and demonstrated the impact that it has on many of those countries, both rich and poor. The travels of her T-shirt are a perfect illustration of exactly how globalized the world economy is. With the economic turmoil in the US, it is greatly affecting other countries, specifically the Chinese Textile Industry. I found an article about the stimulus package that China is instituting to try and revive their Textile Industry. According to the article, “[c]hina has been the largest textile manufacturer and exporter in the world and enjoyed an overwhelming advantage over other countries amid fierce international competition,” this was until recently when the global economy has severely weakened. “In the context of the global economic crisis, nearly 70 percent of the country's textile enterprises, however, suffered a 0.19 percent decline in profits in the second half of last year, with two-thirds suffering business hardships to varying degrees.” This is a clear example of how globalized the economy is, especially between the US and China and how turmoil in one country directly affects the other country. The stimulus plan has a lot of emphasis on technological innovations. Because the Textile Industry is the oldest labor-intensive industry that closely relates to ordinary people's livelihoods, a switch to more machine driven is going to dramatically affect China. Will my future clothes now be made by machine, if so, who is going to operate the machines? Although “hands-on” work may no longer be required, are workers still going to have to work long-hours for little pay, or will they be gotten rid of entirely? Will the workers who helped to make my sweat shirt be out of jobs and forced back to the rural countryside of China? These are questions that I cannot answer, however I feel that with the movement from manual labor to machine driven labor the workforce of china is going to be dramatically changed.
The textile industry in China is not the only industry that has been affected by the weakening global economy. China also instituted a number of stimulus plans for other industries, including auto, steel and shipbuilding. US Congress just passed an 800 billion dollar stimulus package to help out our countries economy; this will affect the economies of other countries as well. It’s going to be interesting to see what the effects Obama’s stimulus package has, not only in the US but in countries overseas like China. If things improve in the US, things will surely improve elsewhere, specifically in China.

Sources: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2009-02/18/content_7486153.htmhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-progress-report/obamas-stimulus-package_b_155279.html