It seems that the home of falling prices causes other prices to fall. In a UK study reported by the Guardian, large retailers are requiring their suppliers to cut prices. And to do that, suppliers are cutting wages, and increasing overtime, and causing. It seems that for every dollar spent in a Wal-Mart or Tesco, two of Britain's largest retailers, $42 is kept by the chain. Farmers are paid four cents and farm workers get five cents.

Here are some examples from the article:

-At one US-owned factory in Kenya where jeans are made for Wal-Mart, price pressure has led to hourly production targets that are almost impossible to reach. The factory rules allow unions, but in April 2003, when workers went on strike to demand decent pay, most union members were fired.

-In Chile 75% of women fruit-pickers worked 60 hours a week during the season but one in three was paid the minimum wage or less.

-In China, several factory managers admitted to researchers to using an array of tools to pass inspections even though they were violating the codes set by retailers. Factories supplying Wal-Mart, Toys R Us and Tommy Hilfiger were found to have false documents on hours and wages and to coach workers on how to answer inspectors' questions.

Wal-Mart has gone on record saying they have a fair trade policy in place at every step of the trade chain. They also added that prices will continue to fall at their stores! (They didn't. I made that part up. But I saw it on an ad on TV.)

The American public hounded Cathy Lee Gifford to tears because her line was using sweatshop labor. When are they going to do it to Wal-Mart?