Global Inequality

The question is why should we care about global inequalities? Does this really affect us and every day life? I don’t know anyone from a third world country so it really should not affect me here in the United States. Is this what everyone thinks? If so it is the wrong type of thinking.
Have you looked on a toy or product recently to see where it has been made? In the book it stated that the Barbie doll is not entirely made in china but is made in various steps in different countries. This is done so that the cost of the product can stay at a relatively low price. This trend of shipping production overseas has been a trend for businesses for a long time. This saves costs for employment, building and maintenance costs. This in turn gives us a cheap product to buy.
If we made everything here in the United States, the costs of those items would be astronomical. The first thing to look at is wages for American employees would be 100 times more than of those over seas. Then the costs of building the factories and the taxes on top of that would make those 20 dollar Barbies now 100.
We not only benefit from the global inequalities but also reap the negative aspects as well. In the United States, we have laws concerning factory pollution and environmental resources. Now I would be a fool to say all companies abide by them 100 percent of the time, but due to these laws and regulations we have a relatively clean environment to live in. Looking back at the third world countries that we outsource manufacturing to they don’t have the same laws and regulations to ensure that we are protecting the environment. As we all know, there is not a wall that is protecting the U.S. against the hazardous material dumped or produced by other countries. This pollution will reach us one way or another. In essence, we are supporting the pollution of these countries by continuing to outsource labor to them.
Now to the important question of who benefits from global inequalities? Ultimately I would have to say the rich countries will get richer as the poorer countries stay the same. But if you ask who is hurt by global inequalities, I would have to say everyone. From the treatment of the sweatshop workers, to the quality of the environment, global warming (which knows no boundary), we all will be effected eventually in a negative way by the global inequalities.