iPhone Mules Get Caught in China
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I personally don't understand the i-Everything craze, but then idol worship has never been my bailiwick. The religion is as alive and well in China as it is everywhere else. Maybe it's partly due to national pride since most- if not all - of Apple's products are made there. The problem is that workers who make the products usually cannot afford to buy them. It's like the old story about the Chinese workers who cannot afford the Barbie dolls and Nike sneakers that they spend long hours manufacturing. Our government hands out free cellphones, complete with service plans, to welfare recipients who do no work at all for their bounty, while many of the honest workers of China have none. As with any other product or service in high demand but largely unaffordable, there is a thriving black market for iPhones in China. Trafficking "mules" gamble on their livelihood (and maybe their lives) while smuggling iPhones into mainland China from Hong Kong. According to this report, iPhones cost $150 more in China than in Hong Kong, so for a profit of a few dollars each (they would have to sell for far below market value on the black market), the smugglers risk a run-in with a Communist, totalitarian government police force. I'm guessing many who are caught are never seen again. In America, the perp would be lifted up by the lamestream media as one of the downtrodden 99% who was just taking what was owed him by the evil 1% (which, evidently, does not include Jobs himself).