Overpaid CEO and over charged taxpayers

San Francisco's own Wells Fargo Bank was one of the first and largest financial institutions to receive a TARP bailout, one to the tune of $25 billion. Wells Fargo is the largest U.S. home lending institution. At the beginning of 2008 before the bailout the stock prices for Wells Fargo were at $35.18 today the stock price is at $28.54.
In the fall of 2008 Wells Fargo purchased Wachovia for $15.1 billion further consolidating power and monopolizing the banking industry. After the bailout the company has swayed back and forth between profits and losses in its various industries.
In 2009, John Stumph was rewarded a $5 million bonus while still owing the government the $25 billion for the TARP payment. This is very disappointing and somewhat alarming that such a large industry can be so cavalier with money that belongs to the American people.

You get what you pay for...

Free trade effects the American worker in very drastic ways, in the last thirty years the American worker has changed. Where there was once unionized well paying manufacturing jobs, now we have minimum wage, benefit free, service industry jobs. Thirty years ago the largest employer in America was GM, that was once a well respected job with benefits. Now the largest employer is Wal-Mart, which pays minimum wage and offers no benefits. The American landscape has changed as well, just look at Detroit and how many neighborhoods have become desolate and abandoned. Once the car manufacturing jobs moved overseas, hundreds of thousands of people were jobless and were forced to migrate to more opportunistic areas of the country with much less paying jobs. I would highly recommend those interested to take a look at this website, it is some pretty haunting images of Detroit's ghost districts. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/23/detroit-decline_n_813696.html#218521.
Unfortunately this is the cost of cheap goods, in order to get them their production cost must be kept low. As consumers we must be willing to make certain sacrifices if we want American industry to survive. I know of alot of people who are frusterated by outsourcing or even our illegal immigrant "problem" and yet they shop at Wal-Mart and pay $2 a pound for their oranges not realizing that free trade and illegal immigration are the means through which there products are produced. It's pretty ironic. In order to keep American industry strong we must support it, that also means we must be willing to pay extra. After all you get what you pay for.

No Sweat-not really...

Sweat shops are a difficult topic to wrap one's moral compass around. On one hand you have what essentially amounts to human labor camps with transnational corporations exploiting their workforce in substandard conditions for pennies on the dollar and on the other you have economic opportunity that is "lifting" millions out of poverty and allowing them to have access to rights and opportunities not otherwise avaliable to them. I have always tried to be congnicent of sweat shop conditons and have attempted shop with regards to that knowledge but it is very hard. After reading the articles from this week, I still do not have an answer but I did find one article particularly helpful. In his article, "Sweat, Fire and Ethic", Bob Jeffcot offers the perhaps the first step to a greater solution "...by admitting the limitations of ethical shopping. Isn't it a little presumtuous of us to think that we can end sweatshop abuses by just changing our individual buying habits". Instead he hopes that we will recognize our power as citizens and that we should do something with the rights we have, also he encourages us to support the areas in which these factories are located, what sort of assistance programs are offered to local communities, etc. I now recognize it was pretty short sighted of me to assume that by not buying those pair of Nike shoes or Gap pants I was doing someone across the ocean a favor. While I don't know the answer to the Sweat shop question, I know that it's not a black and white issue. If I want to do something to help those people that work in those factories it won't be by having them make one less pair jeans that I didn't buy, it will be by forced social changes started at the grass roots level.

Consumer Worksheet

While investigating the manufacters of my apparrel I found out that the majority of my clothing came from China. That was not a big surprise but what was a surprise was that the average garment worker in China makes between $1.50-$2.00/day. I thought this was very low, even for China. It seems like all we hear these days is how much China is evolving into a more first world country with millions moving into the middle class and the standard of living increasing exponetially. I guess this is not the case for everyone. I am wondering how can these people even survive on these wages. Being an American, I take everything I have for granted. My job, "our mandatory minimum wages", labor laws, everything....and that is really the saddest part of it all.

Introductions

Hello Everyone,

I am Esuroi. I love to travel, read, climb and explore. I am originally from Lincoln, Nebraska but I have lived all over the United States, most recently in Alaska and Colorado. Once I transfer to San Francisco State I will pursue my degree in Environmental Studies with an emphasis in Social Justice. Many, many years down the road I hope to run my own non-profit development center internationally. For now I hope to graduate, join the Peace Corp, get my Master's in International Development and possibly own a small farm with a few animals and a garden or two.
In this class I am hoping to refine my writing skills to create a more centralized focus in my writings. I am especially looking forward to the interesting social issues we will be dealing with throughout the quarter. I am looking forward to a hopefully fun and inspiring class...