Post Submitted By Chuck Rylant:

Today I noticed an anonymous comment on my blog that appeared to be a spam advertisement for a book entitled The World is Flat? (Spam advertising on a blog is creative advertising I must admit.) The book written by Aronica and Ramdoo criticizes Friedman’s bestseller The World is Flat. Friedman’s book title does not include the question mark.

The spam advertisement directs the reader to a thirteen minute video that criticizes Friedman’s book. Part of that criticism is that Friedman speaks positively about globalization while ignoring companies that “exploit cheap labor in China, India and beyond.” Those who have read, or will read, The World is Flat by Friedman will find the video clip particularly interesting.

This topic raises many questions, some of which have been debated already, but are worthy of discussion. Do you think that corporations are “exploiting” labor in China or do they provide improved working conditions and jobs for otherwise unemployed people? Another question I have considered is whether it is the responsibility of U.S. companies to monitor the working conditions of employees working in China? Many U.S. companies have received criticism because of the working conditions in companies that are Chinese owned, but sell products to the U.S. companies.