World Bubbles. (Sorry for the extras posts: I was trying a new way of posting images to blogger). I just had to share the wrapper of thes bubble maker a friend of mine bought. It contained a bubble "soap" solution and 6 different plastic bubble makers. The remarkable thing was the "Made in ..." on the back. If you can't read from the photo, the bubble solution was made in Mexico, but the bottle and cap in which it is in, as well as the label, were made in the USA. The bubble makers were made in China, although the bubble shooter was made in Taiwan. Finally the packaging was made and printed in Hong Kong. It doensn't mention were it was all assembled, but somehow it was transported over most of the globe and reached a department store on Long Island, New York, USA for the retail price of $1.49. Talk about Globalization. It reminded me of a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr's Strength to Love

We are everlasting debtors to known and unknown men and women.... When we arise in the morning, we go into the bathroom where we reach for a sponge provided for us by a Pacific Islander. We reach for soap that is created for us by a Frenchman. The towel is provided by a Turk. Then at the table we drink coffee which is provided for us by a South American, or tea by a Chinese, or cocoa by a West African. Before we leave for our jobs, we are beholden to more than half the world.

In the case of the plastic bubble makers, one single product was made from components from all over. This isn't anything new either. I guess it struck me as remarkable because its a dinky little plastic thing, that costs less than a dollar and a half. Its not a car or a computer, where some components can be made by untrained workers and other components require robotics and qualified labor. Its a bubble maker. How much profit margin is made by having the bubble solution made in Mexico rather than the US were the bottle it goes into is made? How cheap is the shipping back and forth, compared to the extra cost of labor?