MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

Yesterday, BuzzFlash at Truthout wrote about how the 400 richest Americans have seen their collective monetary value rise to two trillion dollars, up 300 billion dollars from last year.

Most of that imbalance in wealth has come at the expense of workers who now are getting paid less if they are lucky enough to have a job.

The ability to produce consumer products overseas at slavish wages has increased the profitability of corporations because their profit margins rise as their cost of production decreases. Think of Apple Computers as a prime example of this contemporary model: big ticket price, bargain basement production costs.

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Of course, profits rise even further if products are made to be disposable. This is particularly applicable to technological consumer items. Companies that manufacture computers, mobile phones and televisions, for instance, are constantly introducing products with new and more advanced features, luring consumers to dispose of their old devices in order to be up to date.

But the disposable consumer society gone global in its production of items to buy and throw away has created a global class of disposable people. These are the workers who are sometimes driven to suicide by low pay and harsh working conditions. These are the poor who have no option for survival but to produce expensive goods while barely being able to live on their pay.

These exploited human beings could be working in underground caves as far as the current economic order is concerned. They are as replaceable as a smart phone.

They are the other side of an economy built on disposable products; they are people who can just be thrown away.

(Photo: Amir Fashad Ebrahimi)