As a counter point - do you think that Apple, a company with an immense amount of cash in their warchest, could afford to simply pay people in the area more thu

As a counter point - do you think that Apple, a company with an immense amount of cash in their warchest, could afford to simply pay people in the area more thus removing the necessity for the child labour to occur to support the family? Economics isn't simple, but Apple is benefiting immensely from the low cost of employment through these subcontractors and we, as apple consumers, are absolutely allowed to judge companies that exploit overseas labour and refuses to pay for local labour - and that extends to employing people we'd consider children. Companies don't get a "get out of bad PR free" card just because the child exploitation is occurring in a part of the world where it may be considered ethical.