It is not slave labor. It becomes that only because people see the wages of workers over seas and compare it to cost of living in the US, cost of living are not comparable.
Sorry, I do not want to $5,000 for my iPhone.
Yes it is when workers are essentially made to live at the plant to be available to work 24 hours a day. Read the story again and see.
A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the companys dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day.
That's not slave labor. they got a biscuit and a cup of tea for gosh sakes.
The only thing that was cheap in China was food and counterfeit products.
Fuel and medicine are at market prices.
The average Chinaman makes about 3000 Yuan a month. About $80.00 US. There are many who make more, and they are the progeny of the intelligentsia, and government officials.
I got into an argument with my Chinese counterparts about good engineering practices when I blew a gasket on them and told them not to talk to me about good engineering practices. While we were putting men on the moon they were making pig iron using cow $h!t for fuel in the end neither one were good for anything.
Obama would probably expect Apple to suck up the difference just to make him look good.