I read a shocking fact on Wikipedia the other day when I clicked on the word "slavery". Within the Wikipedia entry on slavery it contained the fact that experts on the subject agree that THERE ARE MORE SLAVES ON EARTH NOW THAN AT ANY TIME IN HUMAN HISTORY.. Of course, the number percentage wise is low, but the NUMBER keeps growing..

not wage slaves.. the old fashioned kind.. human property.. meat, flesh. Disposable people.. People in chains, people who cannot exert any choices whatsoever.

a chilling thought.

Living in a single room with five other people will make a Chinese man or woman as stressed as it makes an American. Its the same thing. They have the same dreams, the same kinds of problems. They have much less in the way of a safety net there than here. But we are moving in that direction pretty quickly. A "Race to the bottom" won't make the US more competitive, it will just hasten the process of concentration of wealth and social stratification.

Lots of American cities have their "dormitories". The last urban apartment building I lived in (an apartment building where the units were one by one being converted into "long term hotel" style high rent rentals) had at least six people living in the $1400/month studio above me, and two people living in the *garage* space below. Thats when I said, this is just too much, I need to get out of here.

If gas prices go up, that kind of thing will become the rule rather than the exception.

Nice treatise on the world economy, christOph. So, not that this is P&R, but what is your recommendations for the 2012 elections?

I'm afraid the formula that applies to the purchase of bicycles (n+1) also applies to bicycle lights. I no sooner have something that I like installed when I notice something brighter and cheaper.... although usually less durable...

Or I discover something that is so well engineered that it charms the money right out of my wallet.

I'm thinking about buying a B&M dyno light for my winter bike.

The Niterider MiNewt light I just bought says "Designed and Made in the USA". Sure there's some foreign parts in there, but it's pretty rare to find US made stuff anymore, especially cycling/electronic related.

i think that there is certainly a lot of misconceptions about china and the conditions people face. its ture that factory workers are made to work long punishing hours for little money but this is not the life that the majority of people face. 99%of the people i know get paid new years vacations and are well looked after and they are not considered to be at the higher end of society. people retire early as mentioned and even plenty of the 'poor people' have relatively relxed lives. its really not as bad as you are made to believe.

funny how a talk about bike lights can stray into global politics.

Since everything is made in China, the issue is moot.

Well, the lights are nice enough that the 2 I bought off ebay for my kids got stolen off their bikes at the school bike rack the last couple of days (daughter's got taken with its bracket on Friday, my son's got taken yesterday, just the light, they left the bracket).

The 2 came with taillights ($8.50 per pair, shipped), and I tried using one of the tail lights on a bike I had w/ no lights, and it just fell apart unprovoked.

I use NiteRider lights and I'm happy to read that they're made in the U.S.A. . . . didn't know that. I have been very happy with their quality and impressed by their customer service the one time I needed it (problems with a switch on a BlowTorch).

I use the Minewt for commuting (but not on its brightest setting which is too bright for on-coming cars, pedestrians, etc.) and it's provided excellent service for almost 2 years now.

Also (global economy wise), not sure if this applies to mainland China, but in Taiwan many of the actual workers (i.e. not management) are from other asian countries because Taiwanese citizens will no longer work for the extremely low wages.

Rick / OCRR

not the case in china, not yet anyway.