[JohnnyB]

While low wages manufacturing in developing countries is good for a lot of people in those countries globalization means there is a lot more competition in all sorts of job markets to take away the privileged position of Western workers who have benefited from the strong economic and political positions of their governments internationally. When it comes to the middle and lower classes, globalization has meant that one group is fed at the expense of the other internationally. That seems to me a better ethical reason to buy locally, because sweat shops are economically advantageous for lots of poorer people who are nonetheless competition (not partners) in the manufacturing and exportable service job market.