#and in my country period products are still taxed as luxury items which is a load of fucking horsecrap

[qitwrites]

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Momo is 13 when she gets her first period.

Her parents had talked to her about it of course, told her it was completely natural and normal and healthy, and to come to them when it happens.

What nobody was prepared for was the pain.

She’s in the family garden creating some Lego blocks for herself when a bout of cramps, sharp and intense, roils through her abdomen and up her left leg. It’s so sudden she can barely call for help, and by the time the guards reach her, she’s on the ground sobbing, clutching her stomach and shakily taking in gasps of air.

They tell her it’s a combination of her diet and her genes. The high-fat diet has consequences, no matter how much she uses her quirk to balance it out and her father’s side of the family has a history of debilitating period pains. It’s just really bad luck, or so they tell her.

Of course, this doesn’t deter Momo from her plans of becoming a pro-hero. It’s all she wants. So, it’s what she chases and works for and earns.

The period pains get worse.

Class 1A doesn’t notice for the longest time. Momo is good at hiding it, at hiding how often she uses the loo for the first two days, how much pain she’s biting back in class, how badly she’s performing in training. She practices her smile in the mirror, sits through hours of class and training and socializing with a smile plastered on her face, and screams into her pillow at night. She spends those nights on her bathroom floor, alternating between throwing up and enjoying the cool feeling of the tiles underneath her.

Nobody realizes until Momo doesn’t show up for class one day.

Of course, everyone is immediately concerned- Momo isn’t one to skip. She takes the best notes, has perfect attendance, submits her assignments on time, the works. First period passes like that, and Aizawa even brings it up but nobody knows where she is. She hasn’t messaged a soul or called anyone about anything.

They’re on break after second period when Todoroki finds her on the staircase landing between the first and second floor.

Momo is on the ground, laying on her side. Her hand is in her mouth, blood dripping down her skin as she clenches it tightly between her teeth. Her other hand is wrapped around her abdomen, squeezing tightly. Tears stream down her face continuously, like an endless river. She’s muffling her screams, and it’s almost like she can’t even see Todoroki, her gaze piercing straight through him.

Todoroki is immediately alarmed, getting to his knees in front of her. He looks over her and can’t see any physical injuries, any signs of trauma.

‘Yaoyorozu,’ he says urgently, ‘what’s going on?’

Momo blinks at him, some of the tears dispelling. She finally sees him, recognizes him, and gasps. She pulls her hand away and the tears spill again.

‘I can’t-‘ she starts and sucks in a sharp breath ‘-I can’t breathe. I can’t- there’s too much pain fuck.’ Todoroki raises his brows- Momo never curses. Never. Not even when she stubbed her toe against the dining table and broke it.

‘We have to get you to recovery girl,’ Todoroki says, moving to help her up.

‘Wait,’ she groans. ‘I need- dammit, Todoroki let me borrow your left hand for a moment please.’

Todoroki complies without question, and watches as she takes it and places it on her abdomen above her uniform.

‘As hot as you can go,’ she says, ‘without burning my uniform. Please.’

Todoroki has no idea what’s going on, but he does as she asks. The effect is almost immediate- her breathing evens out, her eyes focus again, her body stops jerking in pain. It’s almost like she’s been sedated.

After nearly 2 minutes of sitting in silence, she gently takes Todoroki’s hand and places it on his own knee. She sits up gingerly and wipes away her tears, smearing some of the blood on her cheeks instead. Todoroki watches her carefully, ready to step in if she asks for help.

‘What happened?’

Momo looks at him with sad eyes. ‘It’s just my period cramps Todoroki. I’m ok, I’ll be alright.’

Todoroki quirks a brow. ‘You’re not ok Yaoyorozu, even I can tell just by looking at you.’

Momo is about to voice another protest when the door to the stairwell bursts open. Bakugou and Kirishima walk through with vending machine drinks in their hands and stop when they spot the pair on the floor.

‘Yaomomo?’ Kirishima shouts, running towards them. Bakugou trails just behind, eyebrows furrowed.

Momo plasters a smile on her face, trying to hide her bloodied hand.

‘What happened?’ Kirishima yells, crouching down with a concerned look in his eyes.

‘I-‘

‘She said it’s period cramps,’ Todoroki interrupts. In all honesty, he never grew up around his mother or his sister, so he has limited knowledge of periods in general. But with that limited knowledge also came the lack of a stigma towards periods in general. He doesn’t think anything of talking about it.

Kirishima’s concerned look melts into one of sad understanding.

‘Oh man,’ he says, ‘that sucks Yaomomo. They’re that bad, huh?’

Momo keeps her smile in place. ‘Really, I’m fine, it’s nothing I cannot handle, I’m ok-‘

A hand, absurdly gentle, pulls her bloodied one away from where she’s hiding it. Momo startles when she sees Bakugou holding her hand, giving her a tight look. He drops it gently and sighs. With a grunt, Bakugou sits down next to her, back leaning into the wall. Kirishima sits cross legged in front of her while Todoroki sits on her other side.

‘My old hag,’ Bakugou grumbles, ‘has period pains. More like period torture, I guess. She threw up every month on the first day. She’d have dark circles from the lack of sleep, and she’d slap hot water bags to her stomach 24/7. She even burned the skin there a few times. Painkillers didn’t do shit, there were no surgical options, not even birth control made much of a dent. She’d just grit her teeth and bare it every month.’

Momo listens silently, her hands slowly unclenching.

‘My moms,’ Kirishima pitches in, ‘are pretty chill with it. Well, Mama’s get really bad sometimes, but mom is usually ok. I’ve seen them bring each other ice-cream or squeeze each other’s shoulders. They sync up a lot too! Mama would always tell me to be nicer to mom, and mom would always tell me to give mama a kiss. They’re both so manly when they battle their periods every month.’ He offers Momo a gentle smile.

Todoroki hums. ‘I admit, I don’t know much beyond the biological part of it. But from what I can see, Yaoyorozu, this isn’t very normal, is it? This level of pain?’

Momo sighs, brushing away the fresh tears welling up in her eyes.

‘I, between my quirk and my genes, I have received the shorter end of the stick. Of course, I have looked into treatments. There’s nothing I can fix with surgery, and painkillers are usually ineffective. I have tried birth control measures, but they interfere with my quirk.’

Momo looks up at the ceiling. ‘I don’t think we talk about this enough, about heroes that menstruate. I can’t stop being a hero on the days I have my period, but sometimes, I’m in so much pain I can’t see straight. I-‘ she sucks in a stuttering breath ‘-I don’t know what to do sometimes. I want to stand on equal footing with my peers.’

Bakugou scoffs. ‘You shitting me? You’re top of the class, your quirk can make fucking canons, you tutored our fuckwit classmates into not failing miserably, and you did it all through this shit? What part of that is not equal with your peers?’

Kirishima nods in agreement. ‘I mean, Mina has some cramps too, so I usually bring her hot water bags when she asks. I read somewhere that spinach is great for period health, so I make us both protein shakes with spinach and banana! She says it helps.’

‘The iron in spinach must be beneficial,’ Momo muses, her face breaking into the first genuine smile of the day. ‘I usually up my iron intake as well. It does help.’

‘You’re right though,’ Todoroki adds, eyebrows furrowed, ‘we don’t talk enough about heroes that menstruate. Plus, the fact that you can’t seem to find a way to manage your pain without it affecting your life is proof that they haven’t put much thought into it, isn’t it?’

Bakugou grunts in agreement. ‘My hag volunteers at women’s shelters and tries to raise funds for pain meds and hygiene supplies and shit. It’s ridiculous. All of that shit should be free. No one asks to have a period every month.’

‘We can change that though,’ Kirishima pipes in, always the voice of positivity. ‘Look at the four of us, talking about it! Yaomomo, I’m sorry.’

Momo blinks, ‘What for Kirishima?’

‘For not noticing! You must’ve been in so much pain all this time, huh? I’m sorry for not noticing and doing more.’

Momo feels something cold press against her arm. She looks down to see Bakugou pushing his unopened drink into her elbow.

‘Take it, staying hydrated helps with the cramps.’ He stands up and brushes his pants. ‘Think you can stand?’

Momo takes a sip of the drink, relishing the cold fizzy burn as it slides down her throat. She takes a deep breath and stands, stumbling a little before catching herself. Todoroki steadies her around the elbow.

‘Can we take you to recovery girl?’

Momo smiles warmly. ‘I’ve been already. We’ve been working together on some remedies. It’ll take time, but I hope we can come up with something.’ Momo hums. ‘I should put more work into this. I can’t be the only hero that faces such bad period pains.’

‘That’s so manly Yaomomo!’ Kirishima beams. ‘I’m kinda dumb so I don’t think I can help with the research but let me know if there’s anything else I can do.’

Momo giggles into the back of her hand and they start moving towards class together. As they reach the top of the stairs another bout of cramps settles into her gut, and she clenches the railing with a white knuckled grip.

The boys stand around, guarding her, supporting her, giving her small smiles and reassuring nods. Todoroki offers her his hand again, and she quickly makes a heating pad and hands it to him, so she can continue to use it during class. Bakugou urges her to drink more water, and Kirishima keeps telling her how manly she is.

When they get to class, everyone crowds around her and she laughs softly, promising to explain everything later. The rest of the day passes by with little incident, and throughout it all, Todoroki takes the heating pad from her, heats it up and hands it back, hour after hour.

They talk about it in the dorms after class, and recounting her episode opens the floodgates for all the girls.

‘I get really bad migraines,’ Uraraka sighs, rubbing at her temples as if in anticipation. ‘It makes the nausea from my quirk even more unbearable.’

Jirou nods. ‘I get you. I have leg cramps, makes it impossible to use my legs during heartbeat surround. The speakers are too painful to use, and I’m never as stable as I’d like to be.’ She gives Kirishima a pointed look. ‘I’ll join you at the gym next time, teach me some leg moves. I want to get stronger.’ Kirishima gives her a huge thumbs up and a blinding grin.

‘My back gives out sometimes,’ Mina says. ‘I have this pain that burns in my lower back on a few occasions, it’s the worst.’

‘I don’t have a lot of physical symptoms,’ Hagakure pipes in, ‘but I do have PMS and depressive episodes. I’ve been trying to figure out a good med balance to fix it.’ All the girls nod at that, squeezing her arms and shoulders in silent support.

The teachers are brought into the loop too, and Aizawa gently berates Momo for not coming to him sooner.

‘We’re here to help,’ he says, eyes the gentlest she’s ever seen. ‘Learn to rely on your teachers more, will you? Such troublemakers , the lot of you.’

Momo makes hot packs for the girls after that, and the teachers don’t blink when one of them passes it to Todoroki in the middle of class as the boy just heats it the appropriate amount before passing it back without so much as a hiccup in his work.

Bakugou sends Momo articles and tips from his mom about pain management and dealing with cramps. He says it’s because he wants her to be in top condition when he beats her for #1, otherwise it won’t, in his eloquent words, mean jack shit. Momo tries some stuff out, happily surprised when her symptoms are even the slightest bit reduced. Kirishima offers to make them all spinach shakes, and they take him up on that every so often, complimenting his limited cooking abilities.

And on the days Momo is back on the bathroom floor heaving into the toilet, Jirou holds her hair back. Mina cuddles her on the couch when her hands are clenched as she bites back tears, and Ojiro sits by her feet, a reassuring presence to depend on if she ever needs something.

They’ve still got a long way to go as a society, but it’s a start. And a damn good one at that.

[callimachean]

i understand fighting cissexism and being dissatisfied with period imagery being the face of feminism b u t please be cautious and maybe think twice before calling someone's period focused artistic/photographic project boring or ugly or disgusting, especially if the artist/writer/editor/photographer in question is not from a liberal english speaking country? maybe have some empathy and understand that they're not trying to define the entirety of feminism, but fighting very specific brands of discrimination that concerns them personally? like that one photoset by an italian student that was all about period blood and body hair being compared to glitter and flowers and everybody in the note was calling it boring and overdone and 'white feminist' and man....it might be overdone for the super woke tumblr crowd but it sure isn't in italy where misogyny-fueled period stigma is HUGE, there is an extreme culture of shame about it and sanitary products are still taxed like a luxury item? like people were absolutely crucifying this woman, who happened to be white and cis, for photographing her own body in a way that romanticized natural functions which are highly stigmatized in our society and made them into something pretty and poetic. you know what else is overdone as fuck? skeletons and ribcages with flowers coming out of them in art and apollo/icarus references in poetry. literally see them at least twice every single day on my dash

[love-in-mind-palace]

about the sanitary pads: This is super cool and important! F.e. here in germany we still have the highest possible tax on sanitary products because, citation "They are luxury products" Oh, excuse me, i didn't know my periods are a luxury. Fuck my goverment! I am so happy that your country chnaged that. Hope it will help many many girls and women!

God I know! This is an item which shouled not be taxed at all. Our natural and involuntary bodily fucntion is not a luxury. The sooner people get it, the better our lives will be. I am so hppy that they decided against any tax. It was very much needed.

[mishaxdleggfn96insurance-blog]

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[rolandfontana]

China’s Economic Downturn AND the US-China Trade War AND their Impact on YOUR Company

Our China lawyers are constantly getting asked how China’s slowing economy and all that is going on between China and the United States will impact foreign business with China. We get asked this by clients, by reporters, and even by friends and those who ask us usually expect a simple answer, like “not well.” It is though more complicated than that. We have been seeing the following (some of which we predicted, some of which we did not):

The Chinese government — for the most part — seems to be bending over backwards to get foreign companies to set up WFOEs and Joint Ventures in China or to stay in China, at least for now. See The China-US Trade War. It’s All Good Inside China! China seems to recognize that its declining economy very much needs foreign capital.

The Chinese government has done nothing to stop foreign companies from registering their IP (trademarks, copyrights, patents, and licensing agreements) in China.

The Chinese government seems to be doing whatever it can to stop money from leaving China for investments in the United States, but this started even before the trade war. See Getting Money Out of China: NOT This Way.

Foreign companies with Chinese employees are facing increasing pressure not to lay off or terminate employees and doing so has gotten considerably more difficult. See Terminating Your China Employees Just Got Tougher.

Foreign companies that do any sort of deal with Chinese companies are facing more IP theft than ever. See below.

Foreign companies that are operating in China illegally are getting in trouble. Big trouble. See below.

Foreign companies that sell their products in China are getting worried, many of them just assuming they will face a steep downturn, but will they? See below.

Increased IP Theft. The big thing our China lawyers are seeing these days is an increase in Chinese companies sacrificing their relationships with foreign companies by stealing foreign company IP. We wrote about this previously in Your China Factory as your Toughest Competitor, but it is not just factories. Our China IP lawyers are seeing this in all industry sectors, especially technology. Why are China companies so willing to risk losing out on future business? When times are bad, greater risk becomes necessary to pay employee wages and to stay alive.  We’ve become fond of pointing out that “since you will essentially be educating your Chinese counter-party in how to compete with you, you need contracts that will at least limit what they can do when they do so.”

Many China businesses have been hard hit by China’s slowing economy and by international businesses mover to lower wage and tariff-free countries in Southeast Asia. Many Chinese companies rightly believe they need to start competing with their foreign customers and partners just to survive.

Our law firm is getting roughly triple the usual number of emails/calls from foreign companies seeking help in trying to remedy/stop their Chinese suppliers and customers and partners from using their IP. We have have gotten more inquiries in the last three months from companies whose China factories are now directly competing with them than in probably the three years before that combined.  Without a good contract and/or good international IP registrations, there is little we can do. See China Contracts: Make Them Enforceable Or Don’t Bother and 8 Reasons to Register Your Trademarks in China. The best way (essentially the only way) to protect against this is to do so early, when you still have leverage and before your Chinese counter-party has run off with your product, your software, your design, and/or your customers. For what you can do to protect yourself from this sort of competition see China NNN Agreements and China: Do Just ONE Thing: Register Your Trademarks AND Your Design Patents, Part 1.

Increased Legal Enforcement in China. In every China downturn for the last twenty years, the Chinese government has gone after foreign companies operating illegally there and this one has been no different. Why should the Chinese government allow illegal businesses to compete with their businesses without paying taxes, especially in a downturn? It shouldn’t and it doesn’t and going after illegally operating foreign businesses is a popular thing to do and it is exactly what the Chinese government has ultra-aggressively been doing for months now. In particular, China goes after foreign companies that are paying individuals in China without paying the required employer and employee taxes. This time around, however, this downturn’s round-up of illegally operating foreign businesses has stepped up a notch and the Chinese government has become quicker to arrest and imprison people on criminal charges. See Doing Business in China Without a WFOE: Will the Defendant Please Rise. If you have “independent contractors” in China, please, please, please do not go there until you change how you are doing business in China. See Doing Business in China with Deportation or Worse Hanging Over Your Head and Hiring A Chinese Employee Without A Chinese Entity. Good Luck With That. 

What is always saddest about these crackdowns is that some businesses that thought they were operating legally are not, either because they misunderstood the laws or because someone lied to them about having done the required registrations and paid the required taxes. Now is the time for to make sure you are doing everything legally in China. Do you really have a WFOE or Joint Venture? See How’s Your China WFOE? Please Check. Does the scope of your China entity (your WFOE or Joint Venture) really include exactly what you are doing? See Forming a China WFOE: Scope is Key. Are you really paying all your taxes? China has gotten quite good at finding and punishing foreign companies that do not pay what they owe in taxes.

You would likely be shocked at how often foreign companies are deceived by their own people into believing that what they are doing in China is legal when it is not or that they have paid for something required when they have not. And then there are still those who operate illegally “because everyone does it.” See China Compliance: A Basic Checklist for the basics you should be checking in an effort to avoid China legal problems.

Selling Products to China. I have always found fascinating how macro economic issues (something like a country’s economic downturn) can have such widely varying micro economic impacts. By this I mean that when an economy starts tanking, the impact of this on individual businesses can be all over the map.

I first became starkly aware of this during the 1997 Asian Crisis, as I spent a large amount of time in Korea that year. A Korean newspaper did a story on the drop in imported goods coming into Korea. Now I do not remember the numbers very well, but I think imports had declined about 20%. But the really interesting part was how unevenly this fall in imports was among various products. The one that stands out for me is that some fruit (I am 99% sure it was either kumquats or quinces) had gone from $20 million in imports the year before to absolutely zero. Zero. The reason given for this was that it was a luxury item and luxuries were no longer in demand. Some staple food products (including some fruits) had seen virtually no decline.

I have a lawyer friend who represents a huge number of medical practices. He told me of a surgeon client of his whose practice had been decimated when insurance companies reduced their payments and stiffened their reviews. Again giving my best guess to the numbers, he said surgery rates had declined about 5% across the board in the country, but one surgeon client of his had seen his income go from something like $450,000 a year to around $50,000. There were various reasons this had happened, but obviously this particular surgeon contributed a lot more than most of the others to the overall 5% decline in surgeon payments.

I am also reminded of how pizza sales tend to increase or at least hold firm in recessions, while most restaurants see a decline in business.

I mention all this because I have seen very little written about how China’s decline has impacted businesses differently. Some of my firm’s clients are reporting either no downturn in their China sales or actual increases, while others have been hit hard. With the exception of companies that sell physical products, the hardest hit have been those that rely on Chinese companies sending large sums of money outside China. Go to Cramer: This earnings period revealed ‘brutal truths’ about US-China trade to see what investment guru Jim Cramer has to say about the varying impacts China’s downturn is having on publicly traded companies.

What are you seeing out there?

China’s Economic Downturn AND the US-China Trade War AND their Impact on YOUR Company syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

[myfinanceblog]

New Post has been published on My Finance Blog

New Post has been published on http://princefinance.princefamily33.com/2018/07/23/useful-tips-and-ideas-on-personal-finance-2/

Useful Tips And Ideas On Personal Finance

TIP! When trading on forex, make it a goal to learn about market trends. You must stay up with the current trends.

Well-organized personal finances are crucial for achieving milestones, like buying a house or a new car, and they also influence our access to luxuries like vacations. This article has many useful ideas that can help you better manage your finances.

TIP! Acquiring bulk packages of lean protein can save both money and time. As long as you can use up what you buy, purchasing in bulk will be cheaper.

To save money on food in foreign countries, try to eat like a local. The restaurants in your hotel and in the area surrounding it are going to be overpriced, so find out where local people eat. This is a great way to find authentic food at a budget-friendly price.

TIP! If you are struggling with very old debts, educate yourself on when they expire. To find out what the statue of limitations for old debt in your state is before paying any money on old debt.

This is a time of considerable economic uncertainty, so it makes sense to save your money in several different places. Put some of your money into traditional checking and savings accounts, but also invest some in stocks, accounts yielding higher interest, and even gold. Use a combination of several of these approaches to limit your financial vulnerability.

TIP! Avoid eating out to save money. Buying the ingredients and putting meals together at home will save one money, as well as giving one an appreciation for the effort it takes to make good tasting meals.

The majority of new products include a warranty of between 90 and 360 days. If you are going to have a problem with your item, most likely it will occur during that time frame. You lose out when purchasing an extended warranty; however, the business benefits greatly.

TIP! Save on Christmas gifts by making presents instead of spending money. This will lessen the amount you spend shopping and can help you save a lot of money during the holidays.

Talk to your bank to see if you can set up a plan that automatically transfers money into your savings account every month. This is a great technique which forces you to put aside a little bit of money each month. It can also help for big purchases later, like a vacation.

TIP! If you do not like balancing your checkbook manually, then you can do it online. These programs can track your income and expenses, as well as creating a budget plan for you with minimal effort.

You can save a ton of money just by being patient with your finances. It’s common for people with a little extra money in their pocket to go out and purchase the latest tech toy. If you wait some time the price will go down and you will save a lot of money. This will leave extra cash in your wallet to spend on other purchases.

TIP! Put all of your payments and bills on your calendar. Put each fixed payment on its due date so that you won’t lose track of what you are supposed to pay when.

Most debt collectors will negotiate the amount owed on an account. They probably bought your debt off for a very low price. Even by accepting a percentage of your balance, they are still able to profit. Get rid of your debt for much less using this in your facor.

TIP! The easiest way to grow your own wealth is to live below your means. People who spend 100% of their income each pay period, or worse, 110% of their income, never increase their net worth since they are spending everything that comes in.

Even if you buy grocery items at deep discounts, it’s pointless if they just spoil in your fridge. The secret to stocking up is to buy things that you use regularly and use it before it expires. Purchase realistic quantities to make the most of the bargain prices.

TIP! You should always keep a spending account that is somewhat flexible. This money is not taxed, so it’s actually a savings.

One of the most important aspects of your FICO score is the balance of your credit cards. The larger you let your balance get, the more your score will go down. As soon as you pay down the balance, your score will start to improve. Try to make sure the balance stays around less than 20 percent of your available credit.

TIP! Buy a store brand rather than a name brand. Major brands spend a lot of money marketing their products, which raises their costs.

Financial issues may pop up during the years, even when everything is planned out. It helps to know how much the late fee is and how many days you can be late. Understand your options before committing to a lease that is a year long.

TIP! Make it a habit to review your credit report often. You can also check your report for free.

Set aside a cash allowance that you can use for small personal purchases. The cash can be used for treats like coffee with friends, new music, books or a new pair of shoes, but once it’s spent, you’re done until the next allowance. This will allow you to enjoy some fun stuff and not blow your entire budget.

TIP! You are not saving yourself money by not doing maintenance your home or automobile. By taking proper care of your property, you will avoid bigger problems in the future.

As you should now see, managing your finances well will provide you the chance to make larger purchases later. This article can help you be ready to make smart decisions with your money.

[thebelovedthoughtsofbria]

The True Cost of Fashion: Would You Die For Your Clothes?

Piggybacking off of my last blog post about Fashion Revolution Day and more importantly becoming a fashion revolutionary yourself, Today I would like to go more in depth about why this cause is so important. As I’ve mentioned before, the event that truly brought the horrors of this industry to light was the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh. This event was the catalyst of all we know about fashion revolution today, but there is still much we ignore. After realizing how naive I was about this industry and how our clothes are REALLY made, I wanted to be more active with my research and actual make an honest attempt to change my mindset and my own actions. Instead of doing piles and piles of reading, I found two movies that give you the real rundown of what exactly is going on within the global fashion industry, and more specifically what is going on in these third world developing countries. They are called: The True Cost, and Clothes To Die For.

Fast fashion has become a type of disease in the global fashion industry. According to an environmentalist focused on social issues within the industries from one of the films, “the fashion industry has been completely remodeled into a way of producing that only takes into account the interests of big business.” Fast fashion, our way of producing and also how quickly certain fashions go out of style seems good on paper, and seems like a way to give us consumers a new way of expressing ourselves each day. However, what started as a small way to target and benefit budget conscious consumers, but has now grown into a cancer of over consumption; and just like all cancers are bad and toxic for the host (aka your body), fast fashion as it continues to spread is only becoming more toxic for our environment and its people.

I think, and the movies also mention this, that this issue will never be fixed until the customers realize their role in everything. We are the ones fueling this industry, without us designers, models, and even the sweatshop employees in third world countries would not have jobs. The sad part is that we blindly buy into this big companies without knowing their policies and what harm they are signing off on. 

“The global fashion industry is the most labor dependent industry on earth” meaning it requires a whole bunch of man power most Americans do not want to sit and do. In total there are about 40 million garment workers. 85 percent are women and they are scattered around in factories in places like india and Bangladesh. The working conditions are very similar to that of the factories during the beginning stages of industrialization, Very hot, chemicals and fumes spreading throughout the building, long hours, and very very very low wages. Bangladesh is one of the biggest places for manufacturing behind china, yet the workers make less than $3 a day. Anyone with a shred of humanity knows that that is not enough to live off of and that these people deserve to work a quality job and in a safe environment. Rather than being concerned with the workers basic human rights we just find ways to ignore the tragedies. I think its highly unfair that the people who don't get to wear the clothes they make or even get a taste of the slightest bit of luxury are facing the most risk, and by risk I literally mean their life is on the line. As Americans we tend to justify our ways by saying things like “we’re giving these countries more than they ever had.” but if the quality of life is still bad and even worsening... I wonder when we will take responsibility for our actions and realize we are not helping and even worse we aren't listening. we aren't doing these countries any favors by taking over their industries and making them compete with each other for the lowest prices, however what would make a difference is fair trade. allow these people to do what they're best at, but allow them to actually make a decent livable life out of it rather than struggle everyday for our happiness.

By continuing to promote super low prices, and the guarantee of getting a new line or collection weekly, we not only are hurting the garment workers ( I feel like those effects are more commonly known) but we are also hurting ourselves when you really think about it. Fast fashion advertises the idea of happiness. Life is hard for everyone, we all have our own set of problems one way or the other, some being worse than others. So at the end of the day when we are depressed about life not going right, we are surrounded by products that are made to seem like if we buy them our quality of life will instantly improve. As genius as this strategy is, its a big loop for the consumers. We buy and buy and buy because the items are cheap and we can, we don't feel bad about only wearing the garment once, or throwing it out after a short period of time just to go buy something newer. Ultimately the happiness that is said to be achieved only lasts for a split second or not at all if the item doesn't make you look/feel as good as the model advertising it. Either way, no matter what path we choose, we end up buying MORE. That’s the sole issue of the problem in my opinion, its not that fast fashion isn't useful we just take it for granted by living in excess and trying to use fashion as a way to drown out other things being so expensive. This is also taking a toll on our own economy. Yes we’re bringing jobs, skills, and technology to third world countries but now their economy is solely dependent on ours, and with that being said there’s an expectation for consumers to keep up with fashion trends and purchase frivolous things we don't need thus fueling the industry back on the home front. All of this leads to the widening gap between the upper and lower class, with there being no true middle class.

Lastly one of the most obvious issues of fast fashion, and probably the least cared about portion that I want to discuss is our actual environment and how we won't have much on one left if we keep ruining it at such a fast pace. The earth only has a limited amount of resources that it comes with, and it can only heal itself in small pockets after major damage or depletion. Back before the era of fast fashion and when 95% of our clothes were still made in the states we didn't have to worry about not having enough resources, or using them too fast. However now we have escalated past those problems and instead of taking a break or slowing down, we are forcing the environment to keep up with our pace. Most of this is done by using harmful chemicals, and lots of genetically modified plants. There is now technology in place to spray entire fields with chemicals to prevent pesticides and ensure faster harvest by our drop. The biggest problems with this system are as follows: firstly the chemicals being used rio treat the plants is not as effective as advertised, most of the time farmers have to spend additional money (no, these air drops aren't free, even though it's not really a choice most farmers get to make for themselves) to get other supplies to treat the crops from bacterias and pest missed. secondly the chemicals are not only harmful to the crops making them less organic but they are harmful in the air. In most third world countries where the majority of crops like cotton are grown, the crops modify themselves into new plants because of chemicals and the citizens are experiencing rapid increasing rates of cancers, birth defects, and other physical disabilities. The major chemical that is causing all of this damage is chromium 6. It’s most common use is fro treating cheap leather and other materials. Since factories are using so. much of it and can't properly dispose of it due to the poor working conditions, it just runs off into there water sources and pollutes everything it touches. Another key issue still involving chemicals and pollution is the amount of textile waste we produce and ship to third world countries to “help” them and provide clothing that they “need and don't have.” Even if the whole process of donating clothes to charity for them to be given to people in need used to work back in the day, it is really redundant and counterproductive now. Basically the garment workers in these third world countries make our clothes and ship them back over to us, just for them to get them all back when we throw them away or “donate them.” Only 10 percent of the clothes we donate are sold at thrift stores, the majority are taking up space in landfills or sitting in third world countries, and since the materials used are very cheap the clothes aren't biodegradable. so they just sit and sit and sit taking up space and releasing those same harmful chemicals used to curate the crops into the atmosphere (this is why we have snow in April, global warming is real people and we are the problem).Again, these effects aren't really seen as much here in the states mainly because we don't grow most of the crops used to make our clothes, and even if we did it is cheaper to outsource the labor to cheap farmers whom we can over tax and control. we also know the harm of these chemicals which is why we don't use them so passively over in the states.

All in all, the main thing I'm trying to get at here is this: Fast fashion is bad fashion. Someone, somewhere is paying for your luxuries and the cost is their life. You wouldn't want to be in their shoes, so as a society we need to open ourselves and our minds to the fact that we are responsible for the tragedies and risks of this industry. It is no one’s fault except our own. The change literally starts with one person. Instead of buying so much at one time just because it'd there, its cheap, and you can..pick things you really need, save up for higher quality clothing with eco friendly materials, repurpose your old clothes instead of throwing them away, donate to the right charities, wash your clothes less, go plant an organic crop, or advertise these real life issues. The small things do matter even when you think they don't. We need to slow down and rethink the future of this industry and we need to help those who's lives we've taken from them. The way to success I feel is through fashion orgs and brands who promote and follow through with fair trade, natural materials, and a caring hand for their workers and their environment. 

ask more of who made my clothes, but truly ask what was the real cost. You see a shirt for $5 but I now see the garment worker who died in Bangladesh working on a day they shouldn't have been for less than your new shirt. 

#thinkaboutit

[northkoreacapitalist]

THE BANNED NORTH KOREA INTERVIEW

This interview was taken by The Penn Political Review, a publication by the University of Pennsylvania, the Alma Mater of Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump, in October 2016.

It was not published! The publishers say it is a magazine which includes “a wide spectrum of student, faculty, and guest opinions from the University of Pennsylvania and beyond.” And they also explain it is “created and motivated by freedom of speech”.

Perhaps they are not motivated by it, but Felix Abt is and that’s why the interview is now published here!

A SOBER LOOK AT BUSINESS AND INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES AND RISKS IN NORTH KOREA

Penn Political Review (PPR): What are some of the most profitable investments in North Korea?

Felix Abt: Since many consumers have risen from a destitute level of income over the last 15 years to a level that covers basic needs or that reaches a middle-income, or even became part of the emerging entrepreneurial middle class, consumer-oriented businesses, from fast-moving consumer goods to telecommunication, have seen a significant boost in sales and profits. The mobile phone subscription by more than 3 million inhabitants of this country of 25 million within a few years illustrates this development. This has been rather breath-taking by North Korean standards.

As a result, the processing of products such as cloth or leather to meet consumers’ rising demand for affordable yet more trendy clothes, shoes and bags has made sense for small and medium-sized Chinese and other investors. Other items currently made in North Korea by foreign investors, which can be partly sold domestically as well as exported to China and other Asian countries, range from artificial flowers to false teeth. Since the manufacturing of such products is rather low tech and requires only a 6- to 7-digit USD investment, they have attracted dozens of smaller Chinese manufacturers.

PPR: Can western companies expect these markets to be opened soon?

Abt: North Korea has been open for foreign investors and traders for about two decades. When I compared the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) laws and regulations of China and Vietnam with North Korea’s more than a decade ago, I couldn’t notice, at least not on paper, any significant differences. But let’s look at the bigger picture:

1. We have to keep in mind that emerging or frontier markets are high-risk markets with a very high rate of business failures that will decline only over many years as all stake holders learn from a lengthy trial and error period. Prudent investors in these markets clearly prefer to invest in smaller projects or disburse larger amounts of capital over a long period of time to minimize risks and even try to keep control over key components of their North Korean manufacturing venture.

Let me illustrate this protracted process with a concrete example: In the nineties the German chancellor and the Vietnamese prime minister set up a German-Vietnamese dialogue forum where complaints and issues between German (and other foreign) investors and their Vietnamese counterparts were addressed. I was an active participant as I was then representing a large pool of German companies in Vietnam. Over many years the thick book full of issues became thinner. Both sides went through an important and unavoidable learning process leading to a smoother investment and business environment which helped Vietnam’s economy achieve extraordinarily high growth rates.

2. Though the long-term market potential of an emerging market may be high, business volumes at the beginning are usually small, and so are profits. Investors in such markets think long-term and invest in a strong market position (that is high market shares) to harvest over-proportionally when the emerging market gets more mature and larger. (Followers who try to avoid the risks the ‘early birds’ take enter the market at this ‘late’ stage but will then have to pay a high market entry price as they’ll face an uphill struggle against the established competitors)

And

3. Let’s not forget that entrepreneurs always take risks and that most entrepreneurial start-ups fail, and not only in emerging markets.

PPR: How is the legal system changing to attract foreign investment?

Abt: The legal system is following the changes in society, and they have been quite dramatic under the surface, hardly noticed by the outside world. Let me illustrate that: When I settled in Pyongyang advertising was still illegal. That was truly upsetting for a foreign businessman. But I discussed the necessity to do advertising to allow my enterprise to survive with the authorities for quite a long time until I was allowed to start doing advertising. And you can imagine how pleased I was when a student of the Pyongyang Business School which I co-founded and run, officially set up North Korea’s first advertising company.

To give you another example: Staff was at first always allocated by the state. Thus I had not been allowed to choose from different candidates when I hired employees. I wanted to change that too: I once saw a very enthusiastic North Korean lady successfully selling stuff at an exhibition. I was impressed and decided to hire her. After lengthy negotiations we reached a deal with her employer who allowed her to quit and join us. With such “deals” we managed to get the best suited staff from various organizations thereafter.

PPR: In your opinion, has Western media misrepresented the development in the country?

Abt: Western media reports contain lots of opinions, mostly biased, and speculations, often unfounded, but few facts and seldom an objective analysis. So as an investor in such a frontier market you learn much more by talking to five different Chinese entrepreneurs on their experiences in North Korea than reading all North Korea articles published by the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the Economist combined.

One example: North Korea is portrayed as the world’s most corrupt country by the mainstream media. When I was a regional director of a pharmaceutical multinational corporation in Africa we were often confronted with health officials and gatekeepers who tried to use coercive ways to press personal gains out of my company. So when, for example, we wanted to launch an effective anti-malarial (after other anti-malarials had become ineffective due to overuse causing high resistance), a health minister of an African country could come up and say that he would only allow the registration, that is admission, of this new pharmaceutical if we sponsored his son’s university studies in the United States.

However, when I ran a pharmaceutical enterprise in North Korea I was never confronted with demands to bribe anybody to get the pharmaceuticals registered and onto the pharmacy shelves. I was involved in other businesses in North Korea and there too I was never confronted with the nefarious demands that I had found quite frequent in the other developing countries where I had done business. Of course, there is corruption but at least foreign investors are clearly less confronted with it in North Korea than in so many other developing countries. That’s based on my private comparisons with investors in other developing countries.

PPR: How profitable were your own ventures?

Abt: There was a good measure of business failures for a number of reasons – and I couldn’t blame all of them on North Korea. But overall my ventures have been profitable, albeit profits were quite moderate. And the profit and other taxes we paid to the government would not have been large enough to help fund the political system for a minute, let alone help finance the country’s nuclear program…

PPR: Moving forward, what factors will determine the development of business in the country?

Abt: At present, there is not much that drives business forward; on the contrary, most if not all industries require at least some products (such as so-called dual use items) for their manufacturing processes, which are banned by sanctions. If these sanctions are enforced, manufacturers will have a stark choice to make: manufacture either faulty products or shut down production. Also, the country’s exports (coal, metals and minerals) have been banned by sanctions with only a few exceptions. If they’re enforced, the country’s hard currency income will vanish quickly and imports cannot be paid for any longer. Numerous other products, from American lipsticks to French cheese, to Italian salami to Swiss ski lifts and watches, considered as luxury, are prohibited as well. Moreover, North Korea’s banking system is cut off from the international banking system. This has become so absurd that foreign investors have to bring money in a suitcase and have to collect their dividends in bags in Pyongyang. And if the U.S. succeeds in persuading China to prohibit North Korea’s state carrier to fly to China, foreign business people with little time to waste will be forced to undertake long train journeys to and from North Korea.

Obviously, current U.S. and South Korean government policies are aimed at bringing the DPRK down. It means that any business considered legitimate in other countries, are now increasingly “illegitimate” in North Korea, as such policies tend to ostracize and criminalize all business activities with this so-called Pariah state. And in a jungle of sanction laws and regulations that differ from country to country, foreign business people sourcing across the globe without always knowing the exact origin of an item can easily be held responsible for any of the numerous sanctioned products in any country and incur a huge reputational damage, regardless of the fact that they’re used for civilian purposes. So doing business with North Korea makes you prone to becoming a serious casualty in an economic war.

For these reasons I have started divesting my financial participation in North Korean joint venture companies. Other investors are likely to do the same and potentially new ones will shy away from the country. Not only foreign investors, but North Korea’s middle class is also likely to be strongly hurt and massive poverty in the hinterland may re-emerge. Also, we should not forget that rising middle classes in formerly authoritarian Asian countries, from Indonesia to the Philippines to Taiwan, forced their regimes to change. It’s an illusion that sending balloons with propaganda material to North Korea could transform it and that the domestic and foreign entrepreneurs couldn’t. All hostile activities are doing is making the regime feel more insecure and having it allocate more of the very scarce resources to its self-preservation, while reforms are shelved and repression increases.

PPR: How does one get a job like yours?

Abt: The ABB Group, a global leader in power and automation technologies, asked me to become their resident country director in North Korea and build up their business there. I had worked for ABB before, so they knew me. But I don’t know the exact reason why they chose me. When they did I was reporting to a Swedish member of the Executive Committee who had successfully set up one of the very first foreign-invested factories in China when it opened up. That had then definitely not been a task for the faint-hearted, but for a pioneer and change agent that he was. He expected me to follow in his footsteps in North Korea.

UPDATE: Comments in reaction to this post from the Facebook page of A Capitalist in North Korea:

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Picture: Felix Abt together with Dr. Jon Sung Hun , CEO of North Korea’s Pugang Group. Pugang has been called “the North Korean equivalent of South Korea's Samsung Group”. This North Korean business leader was repeatedly featured by the Financial Times, the Washington Post and others. He is a great marketer of - in his own words - “cool motorbikes” and of natural products with allegedly extraordinary health benefits, something which is very much loved by journalists in desperate need of writing sensationalist North Korea pieces (and to attribute his personal marketing claims to the country's leader). This former Kim Il Sung university professor has a gregarious and humorous personality. He wasn't offended when Felix Abt dared to make fun of his "miraculous" drugs. To journalists it must be surprising (and perhaps disappointing) that Abt wasn't sent to a Gulag or at least instantly expelled as a consequence of challenging Dr. Jon’s claims.

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