Buying from people in not so nice countries

[DonQuichote1235]

Hi all,

countries like Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and other countries tend to violate human rights.

A catholics should we stop buying things from people from those countries as they pay taxes to their respective states? With these taxes those states are getting financially stronger and they can pursue their “bad” policies. These people may not have anything to do with their governments but they pay taxes to them (even though they may vote for them). Should we stop buying things from people from those countries so that their governments don’t get our money from taxes anymore? Thanks!

Greetings Don.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

1. All countries including USA arguably “violate human rights” from time to time. We still need to buy a certain amount of stuff to live, unless we can somehow go off the grid, which is not feasible for most of us.
2. We often have no idea where a product we buy is sourced or made. Many US companies rely on sources or manufacturers outside the US and don’t share all that info with the consumer.
3. Even if we do know a product is made in a particular country, like China, there may not be any viable cost-effective alternative source for the product. I’ve tried to “buy American” where I can, but I can’t do that if the American company is telling me that they don’t have capacity to fill my order or they are going to charge me 3 times as much to do it than the Chinese company which is also more reliable and provides a better product.
4. Questions of human rights are better considered by the manufacturers planning to open an operation in a particular country.

Bottom line is while I try not to buy from companies that use sweatshop labor and try to “buy American”, there’s only so much we can do, and characterizing entire countries as bad and penalizing their citizens economically does nothing to help.

 

[on_the_hill]

Just saw an article today about how the Chinese are even undercutting the bare-bones manufacturers in India.

 

[1ke]

A catholics should we stop buying things from people from those countries as they pay taxes to their respective states?

The Church doesn’t require us to do that. Those people have to feed their families too.

Should we stop buying things from people from those countries so that their governments don’t get our money from taxes anymore?

You better stop buying anything at all, if that is your philosophy.