Balderdash...

Sweatshops in foriegn countries are in the news because the good shops don't make for compelling news. Very few news services report on the 'good' done by corporations. Most stories do not report on the fact the sweatshops for the most part are not being run by american corporations... They are being run local and YES our corporations BUY their products... this does not mean WE run the shops or are even aware (untill they are reported on) of the conditions that exist in them.

Quick lets put the subject on Walmart...

They don't pay in to the Union system.

What I noticed... Local merchants that had a monopoly locally were charging way to much for their products.

Walmart came in and suddenly I could afford stuff I could not before...

Friends that had not been able to find steady work were working...

Some of those friends have now become managers. (something they never would have even dreamed of in the local 'closed' economy - where local 'big frogs' controlled every corner of the economy).

WalMart took over as the largest retailer in the US because they were able to provide more goods at a cheaper price.

You have to understand that the average American is always going to buy a product that is cheaper from one retailer over a higher price at another.

If WalMart has a TV for $299.00 and Joe Smith has it for $369.00 its obvious who is going to sell more sets.

When you look at the reasons for the loss of manufacturing jobs and the rise of WalMart you can start at the stagnation of wages that began around 1973. (yes Artlo, well before Reagan) As wages began to tread water more expensive products and the Mom and Pop stores that sold them began to suffer.

When the consumer has less money to spend and prices for products rise something has to give.

American manufacturers were losing out because of the high cost of raw materials. In the late 70s you saw the coal and steel industry beginning to flounder due to cheaper materials being poured into the market from Japan and South Korea. Manufacturing jobs began to be shed in favor of cheaper materials and products from overseas. If you could buy coal from Korea at $5 per ton and it cost $35 a ton from an American mine it was again obvious who would win out. With the loss of manufacturing jobs the market began to contract for American companies trying to compete in a marketplace in which their products were more expensive. Americans had even less to spend so they were buying foreign made stuff because it was cheaper.

When we started going down the road of free trade agreements like NAFTA American companies realized they could move their operations across the border and make their products cheaper.

I probably differ in opinion than most, but I feel that they moved operations out of the country because the average American consumer still preferred cheaper over more expensive products even if they were stamped "American Made".

Regardless of the common misconceptions, the price of a product almost always outweighs where it is made or who sells it.

then why dont we see more people shopping at Goodwill...????

because they are shopping at dollar stores.

The Mighty Rise of the Dollar Store

­Deep­-discount retailers suffer during sound economic times, when consumers have more money in their pockets -- or have more credit available to them. As a result, dollar stores end up losing customers to larger, more expensive stores that offer nationally recognized brands. During an economic downturn, however, thriftiness becomes more appealing and sensible. Dollar stores' coffers are replenished as consumers start searching for cheaper items.

In fall 2008, as the economies of many nations worldwide were tanking, shareholders and executives of dollar stores had cause to rejoice. The highest-performing stock of 2008 among the Standard and Poor's 500 stock index was Family Dollar (FDO), which rose in value 42 percent while the index as a whole declined 37 percent [source: USA Today]. That means that a dollar store chain bested S&P 500 companies with names like Apple, JPMorgan Chase and FedEx.

Soap and other products that inspire brand loyalty can be hard sells for customers when they're flush with cash. But when prices increase in conjunction with an economic downturn, as they did in fall 2008, brand loyalty loses to sensibility [source: WSJ]. As a result, the stigma attached to shopping at dollar stores decreases. Since we're all poor at the same time and for the same reasons, frugality comes into vogue. In November 2008, a New York Times food critic wrote an article on spending a week creating gourmet meals with groceries he found only at the dollar store.

Economic downturns also add to the success of dollar stores across the industry through massive liquidation. When shoppers become more frugal in an unstable economy, discount retailers pick up merchandise as well as new customers. Big retailers that go under or close stores during hard times sell their inventory -- often at a discount -- to recoup costs. Dollar store chains snatch up the liquidated inventory and sell it at an even deeper discount to their customers -- the same customers that abandoned the big retailers.

In general, dollar stores keep prices low through cost-cutting measures. Dollar Tree, the only national chain that sells items for a dollar, cuts costs by selling items in smaller sizes and spreading out deliveries through the week [source: JExpo]. Other chains and independent stores have taken to selling some merchandise for one dollar and others, like national brands, for near-traditional retail prices. And some items, like big-ticket electronics, simply aren't found in dollar stores unless they've been liquidated as part of another company's stock. Once items like these are gone, they're gone, which can make shopping for these particular items at dollar stores a hit-or-miss proposition.


http://money.howstuffworks.com/personal-finance/budgeting/dollar-store1.htm

Buck the trend and inherit the earth.