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Buying good produced immorally.

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m0zart

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I have a question, which I think I know the answer to, but would like to hear what others on this forum would say about it.

In a situation where certain goods are produced in a manner that involves the initiation of force, would the purchase of said goods be a form of participation in that aggression?

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Whether it counts as participation in the aggression depends on how closely your purchase is related to a specific act of aggression.

But this is not what matters; there is a more general principle involved: It is immoral to help perpetuate evil.

For this reason, one should not buy goods from countries like Cuba or North Korea. The price you pay for these goods goes directly to the Communist regimes; the people who actually make the goods benefit nothing from your purchase, given that they are completely enslaved. Trading with a despotic regime as if it were a respectable productive organization helps it survive by providing it with money and respectability, and is therefore immoral.

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In a situation where certain goods are produced in a manner that involves the initiation of force, would the purchase of said goods be a form of participation in that aggression?

That depends at least in part on whether or not you know that they were produced in such a manner. Since we are not omniscient, and since in many circumstances we have to make decisions without having access to all the relevant information, we can't be held morally responsible for judgments made without knowing something like that.

You might already be assuming in your question that one knows that the production of the goods involved the violation of someone's rights, but I thought I'd clarify that point just in case.

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What about things made in China? is it immoral to buy say a pair of Nikes when it is suspected they are working in harsh conditions?

Or is it only immoral when they are forced to work in said condidtions? Not because they chose to considering the options.

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Or is it only immoral when they are forced to work in said condidtions? Not because they chose to considering the options.

Yes.

This is from a letter to the editor I wrote a while back:

"The workers of the sweatshops choose to work there because they consider it better than the alternatives: the endless toil of subsistence farming, prostitution, or crime. They are free to quit or look for another job anytime, but they remain at the factories because they consider it their best alternative. Their pay and working conditions may seem low to us, but they are heavenly when compared to their life prior to the multinationals’ arrival.

All the efforts to ban, boycott, or otherwise shut down third world factories will do nothing but lead to the starvation and death of the very people the activists claim to protect. The best thing we can do to help citizens of third world countries is to support free trade and free markets to bring the wonderful benefits of capitalism to every poverty-ridden country in the world."

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There is no problem with buying goods from China as long as they are made by a privately owned business. Private businesses in China can keep at least a part of their earnings, so trading with them actually helps capitalism spread in China and thus contributes to the demise of the Communist government.

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There is no problem with buying goods from China as long as they are made by a privately owned business. Private businesses in China can keep at least a part of their earnings, so trading with them actually helps capitalism spread in China and thus contributes to the demise of the Communist government.

I work in the software industry with quite a few Chinese who migrated here to work. According to them, income tax is virtually non-existent in China. Though its definitely mandated by law (a flat rate of 80-90%), its rarely enforced. The Chinese Government tends to use it as an excuse for arresting political dissidents, or for whatever other situation they don't particularly like. Its their catch-all law.

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  • 2 weeks later...
According to them, income tax is virtually non-existent in China.  Though its definitely mandated by law (a flat rate of 80-90%), its rarely enforced.  The Chinese Government tends to use it as an excuse for arresting political dissidents, or for whatever other situation they don't particularly like.  Its their catch-all law.

Which is not to say that taxation is non-existed in China.

China’s top income tax rate is 45%, and the top corporate tax rate is 33%. China has a GDP of $1.2 trillion, of which the government spends 20% (officially) and much higher unofficially.

The US has a GDP of $9.2 trillion, of which 15.5% (officially) or 35.6% (actually) is spent by the government. Suprisingly, the actual taxation rates in China and the US appear to be similar, so China may actually have lower taxes than the U.S. does.

(Data from the CIA & the Heritage Inst.)

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