Module 4: “Where Sweatshops Are a Dream” by Nicholas Kristof

It’s a mountain of festering refuse, a half-hour hike across, emitting clouds of smoke from subterranean fires.

The miasma of toxic stink leaves you gasping, breezes batter you with filth, and even the rats look forlorn.

The miasma of toxic stink leaves you gasping, breezes batter you with filth, and even the rats look forlorn.

Then the smoke parts and you come across a child ambling barefoot, searching for old plastic cups that recyclers will buy for five cents a pound.

Mr. Obama and the Democrats who favor labor standards in trade agreements mean well, for they intend to fight back at oppressive sweatshops abroad.

But while it shocks Americans to hear it, the central challenge in the poorest countries is not that sweatshops exploit too many people, but that they don’t exploit enough.

But I would want even less to pull a rickshaw.

In the hierarchy of jobs in poor countries, sweltering at a sewing machine isn’t the bottom.

In the hierarchy of jobs in poor countries, sweltering at a sewing machine isn’t the bottom.

Manufacturing is one sector that can provide millions of jobs.

But labor standards and “living wages” have a larger impact on production costs that companies are always trying to pare.

“It’s dirty, hot and smelly here,” she said wistfully.