The campaign to transform America into an Asian-style sweatshop economy is now out in the open. So far, I have seen three Republicans advocating the revocation of the minimum wage: Michelle Bachmann, Ann Coulter, and Ron Paul.
But instead of debating the alleged merits, why don’t we just look at the time that it was tried on US soil. After all, the experiment ended only two years ago.
What’s that you say? You don’t recall any such experiment? Well, don’t feel bad. I’m sure that Bachmann, Coulter, and Paul are equally uninformed because there is a very thorough media blackout on the experiment. I consume a lot of news, and can’t recall a single instance of it even being mentioned in the media during the last three years.
The multinationals want it keep quiet, and consequently, all we hear are crickets.
Nevertheless, it did indeed happen, and it was an appalling failure.
Saipan is a Pacific Ocean island near Guam. When it became an American commonwealth in 1975, it was made exempt from the federal minimum-wage law, as well as immigration laws.
Saipan was quickly blanketed with sweatshops producing apparel for major brands like The Gap, Ralph Lauren, Liz Claiborne, Ann Taylor, Levi Strauss, Walmart, etc.
Asian women were brought in, housed in rat-and-roach infested barracks and forced to work under appalling conditions. Chinese women have reported that it was worse than conditions in China.
The lucky girls just had to sew designer clothes, sometimes for 40 hours straight. The unlucky ones were forced into prostitution – even underage girls.
The multinationals loved Saipan because it was officially part of the USA and they could put “Made in USA” labels on their products to fool conscientious consumers.
If you Google Saipan, you can find video of the barracks, and plenty of harrowing stories. And as you do so, keep in mind that it was no accident. If you want to know the multinational’s true vision for America, look no further.
What if the Republicans succeed in eliminating the minimum-wage? What would be next on their agenda? The child-labor laws, safety laws, pollution laws, and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution – you know, the one that outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude.
The multinationals violate all those laws whenever they can get away with it in the Third World. They are only restrained by the need to balance public relations.
Maybe you think that I am exaggerating by suggesting that slavery could be brought back to the USA. But that’s thinking inside the box. I guarantee you that the multinationals have no such limitations to their dreams. We have seen what they did on Saipan, and while they may not have violated the letter of the 13th Amendment, they have certainly violated its spirit.
But we don’t need any more experiments. Saipan shows us exactly what a libertarian utopia looks like. And we already have very successful experiments from our history.
In 1914, Henry Ford did the exact opposite of what the Three Stooges (Bachmann, Coulter, and Paul) are suggesting: he doubled the wages of his workers. Ford’s vision helped to create the once-mighty American middle class.
Whose vision should we be following?
Also, in 1914, we had a 17.6% tariff on imported goods.
But American history is a moot point. In fact, America itself is moot. We live under a globalist empire, and the marching orders have been handed down. Expect many more stooges to come forth advocating a Saipan-like future for the USA. And they will probably win. Corporate profits will soar far beyond what they are now as vast sums are made from squeezing the life out of the middle class. Trillions have already been made from global labor arbitrage as millions of jobs and thousands of factories have been outsourced and offshored.
But that has only put a modest dent into the middle class; just a small taste of what is possible, and the multinationals hunger for more. They own the Congress and White House, and libertarians like Ron Paul provided ideological cover.
There is a sweatshop in your future.
You heard it here first.
You paint a very uninformed picture of Saipan. I live here and have for nearly nine years. Unless you’ve been here and seen the inside of one of the garment factories firsthand, you have no business writing about them from atop your high horse.
I’ve seen them and had the opportunity to get to know the women who have worked inside of the garment factories. The reality of their situation is far different from your tale.
You know nothing of the prostitution stories on Saipan. The stories spun by Wendy Doromal and her band of Green Card seekers were motivated by the desire to bring U.S. Immigration to the shores of the Commonwealth.
The “multinationals” were duped into believing that they would receive improved residency status when the U.S. “federalized” the NMI’s immigration policies.
Now that the local community has been stripped of its border control, the “multinationals” who have lost their jobs over the years are scrambling to stay in Saipan.
Spinning glamorized horror stories was one was one ticket to residency for a handful of people who sold their lies to U.S.Congress, and Wendy Doromal helped to pave the road all the way to Washington.
Federal law enforcement officials on the ground in Saipan will tell you about the girls who are “forced” into prostitution. There are three roads that lead them down that path, and neither include the use of force.
Some women who lost their jobs when the garment factories closed preferred life in Saipan to what awaited them in China. Rather than take their free return ticket home, the women opted to overstay their worker visa and work the streets.
The other story of prostitution in Saipan comes from the women in the garment factories who engaged in illegal gaming activities and leveraged their passports for additional credit.
Having racked up a significant amount of debt to these illegal card sharks, the women turned to the streets to repay all of the dollars they lost in order to reclaim their passports.
Those stories apply to the garment workers. The third road to prostitution in Saipan involves the women who came to Saipan to work in the “drinky-drinky” bars or strip clubs.
The “dancers” and “waitresses” had already honed their respective crafts in the Philippines and they were well aware of their job descriptions before they flew to Saipan.
Spend some time in Saipan before writing about our island. You ave just enough information to make some noise, but it’s just that.
Brad,
What about ABC’s 20/20 investigation of Saipan? All lies I suppose?
Matt
More like ABC picked the lowhangng fruit. As a one time resident, I’ll hang with Brad. The issues on Saipan aren’t all black and white and I’ll give a bargirl more credit for a larger world view than most of the criers against exploitation. At any rate, the thrust of your arguement towards a lower paying economy is more or less correct. The third world and a lot of the old countries are screwed, we’ve use up the cheap easily exploitable resources in the rush to glory and sorry.
By virtue of your response, I was obviously mistaken and you are indeed an expert of all things Saipan. Please accept my heartfelt apology.
Brad and Mark hit the nail on the head: most people that write tales such as you have have never been in the CNMI and the “research” they do is limited to googling; you obviously fall into this group. Experience keeps a dear school and your blog here is full of falsehoods and political views which are looking for stories which back up your already made up mind. As a long time resident of the CNMI during the time in question- I saw and experienced a much different view than yours. The real question is this: how much time did you spend in the CNMI during the time in question to come to the conclusions you have about the workers and their “plight”?
William,
And everything Google lists is lies? That’s your argument?
I suppose that everything on the Saipan Wikipedia page is lies too, right?
Your island was brought to the attention of the President of the United States. He signed PL 110-229 into law just for you! Are you telling me that occurred all based on hot air?
Matt
So Google and Wikipedia are regarded as credible research? How adventurous! You are truly the Indiana Jones of our time.
PL 110-29 was brought about to strip the CNMI of its border control because the United States wants to block the Chinese and Russian influence in the islands and therefor increase the Commonwealth’s financial dependence on the USA.
The CNMI was able to grant travelers access to the islands free of charge but now the United States charges them a fee (Visas) and determines who is a “threat” to national security.
As a result, we are unable to have people like Indonesians visit or work in the Marianas, among others. I guess that makes us safer. Whew! Nothing like taking on the security issues of the world one bold leap at a time. How is that border with Mexico working out?
If the United States was really concerned about the flaws in the local labor system there would have been a “federalization” of the Department of Labor rather than the Department of Immigration.
Like Mark, I agree with overall focus of the rest of your post. When it comes to Saipan, your depiction was based upon misinformation, biased information and was generally unfair.
If you ever make the trip to the Marianas I would be happy to show you around, grab a beer and let you learn about the way things were for yourself, one interview at a time.
Brad,
Do I need to travel to the moon before a I may make any statements about the moon? Or are the astronauts who have been there the only ones who may talk about the moon? And when they die, do you propose a total ban on moon discussion?
You are also taking the position that all other reporters are incompetent and/or biased. And that nobody should credit journalists like Rebecca Clarren and her Ms. Magazine article.
Matt
Sounds like excuses to me, Matt. I was a full-time reporter and currently serve as a stringer for another news agency so I can differentiate between a credible source and something like Wikipedia.
Rebecca Clarren didn’t phone in her report on Saipan but she came at the end of the industry’s heyday. Her report wasn’t completely inaccurate but it was written with a purpose and that is clear from the words she chose to use.
What she didn’t mention is that the garment workers received accommodations, meals and health insurance in addition to their wage. When compared to mainlanders receiving minimum wage of $5.15/hr, they were doing fairly well.
And her tale of the Filipina who was “forced” to have sex for her job? That was one of the manufactured stories to gain sympathy and improved residency status.
Any woman from the Philippines who was working as a “dancer” in the RP was doing far more than dancing before she arrived in the Marianas. These weren’t school girls we’re talking about. They got their training at home.
Record U.S. poverty in 2010.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/record-poverty-in-2010-census-2011-09-13?siteid=bnbh
Matt, couple of questions. You seem to be blaming Ron Paul for what the multi-nationals are doing. You make Henry Ford a hero and his counterparts today run slave labor for greed and its Ron Pauls fault. Secondly, after they destroy the middle class and we’re all in sweatshops, who is the buyer going to be?
Brad,
Perhaps you could explain why there are all these stories about Saipan, but not Guam, Samoa, or other US territories? I suppose there was some conspiracy against innocent little Saipan?
And I can’t help but notice that you have not referred me to any published defense of Saipan’s sweatshop era. Why is that? Because there isn’t one? And why haven’t you written one?
Matt
Don,
The multinationals have made trillions on global labor arbitrage. That was made possible by libertarian polices on trade and immigration. Ron Paul is a libertarian, so I criticize him. Henry Ford thought that workers should be well-paid. Libertarians think that wages should be set by market forces – even if it results in a sweatshop society. The American middle class was a political creation. It would have never emerged without immigration controls, tariffs, and other policies.
Re: “After they destroy the middle class and we’re all in sweatshops, who is the buyer going to be?”
Who was the buyer for the produce of American slave plantations? There were buyers, right? But if the whole planet were blanketed with sweatshops, it might look like the old Soviet system.