Do some of the poorly-paid workers in other countries not also work to support the bloated lifestyles of their own government officials and other like figures?

The latest National Geographic had an interesting article about the diamond trade. Not only do the diamond brokers get rich, so do the local warlords. Also it talks about the expert diamond-cutters in India, who can facet a diamond as tiny as the seed on a strawberry - highly skilled work, for which they make very little money.

I used to get a catalog of pricey South American imports, mostly knitted goods. A sidebar in the catalog said that some of the sweaters took about four months for an expert knitter to complete. They were selling these things for $400, and I know very well the people who made them were probably not even getting half of that for their trouble.

I forget who it was that mentioned the Deva catalog - their goods are fabulous, at a fair price. I am still wearing a dress I bought from them a good 5 years ago.

Something else I've noticed, is that goods are just not as good as they once were. When I was in junior high, in 1980, I had a pair of Adidas. That was the big thing then. I wore those shoes for a good 8-10 years before they finally gave out. I bought a new pair of Adidas, and within a year they were toast, and it wasn't because they were subjected to any hard wear or adverse conditions.

I bought an expensive Denman (Made in England) hair brush several years back. I loved it. The rubber on it started to deteriorate, so I went to the salon and bought a new one. The new brushes have a skimpier handle - one of the things I really like about the old brush was the weight and shape of the handle. Same price, less brush. Hmpf.

I been saying for years that Wal-Mart was the anti-christ, and everyone laughed at me...