Favre’s Fans Are Everywhere

We saw this boy in Samana. 

1. It may spread, as the hundreds of ‘NFC Champion Packer’ tee-shirts will be donated to several third world nations.

   http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1960375/pos ts?page=3

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 30, 2008 at 1231 hrs




2. You sure it is not for Edwards Vinicio Espinal?  He wears number 4.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 30, 2008 at 1317 hrs




3. Someone in the States probably gave that shirt to a charity, felt good and got a tax deduction. The charity shipped it off to Honduras, where it was wound up in the hands of this kid, who now has a free shirt. Everyone wins, right?

   Not really. That’s one less shirt that might be produced and sold by workers in the country. Our donations have decimated clothing manufacturing and retailing in developing countries, especially in Africa. It feels good to give, but the net effect is negative.

   I know it’s a little off-topic, but things like this often have deeper meaning.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 31, 2008 at 0957 hrs




4. Your scenario makes us need to weigh the options:  what do we do with our extra clothing?  We (well, I, at least) can’t throw it away, and it makes sense to me to give it to people who need it.  That saves the landfill space and the environmental costs of manufacturing.  I guess we need to decide what is more important to us?  What do you suggest we do instead?  Just wondering, it’s an interesting point that you brought up.

   Samana’s in the Dominican Republic. Their main industries are growing chocolate, coconuts and coconut products, sugar, and rum.  They also sell their pineapples to Dole.  The area where we were did not have electricity, and the homes were the size of a small bedroom, with tin rooftops and no windows.  Their school was about the size of our living room.  They sure seemed to be a happy bunch, however.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 31, 2008 at 1157 hrs




5. That’s one less shirt that might be produced and sold by workers in the country. Our donations have decimated clothing manufacturing and retailing in developing countries, especially in Africa.

   The shirt has to be made somewhere.  As a global economy the person with the best ability to make the shirt should make it.  Likely some factory in Indonesia.  The people in Africa should be spending their time not making their own shirts, but developing their own contribution to the global economy.  Their strong suit should be agriculture.  They should be able to grow their own food and grow the cotton to make the shirt in Indonesia.  Instead rich folks are undercutting the poor folks agricultural abilities with subsidies to keep themselves powerful.

   Globalization is an inevitable, but harsh thing.  It will create losers, but if implemented correctly it can create more winners than any other system.  We need governments to try and make the global economic system more fair to benefit everyone involved.  Making that change will create losers.  We need leaders that are not afraid to tell corporations that they are going to have to lose a few percentage points on their profit margins to benefit those with the least.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 31, 2008 at 1217 hrs