Nor am I suggesting a boycott of Chinese products. A boycott of Foxconn, on the other hand, would directly target the unfair competition enabled by abusive labor practices.

Foxconn's size is a mixed blessing in this regard: Huge momentum and market share makes it hard to deflect their course; but the size makes them high-profile, and more importantly, their customers are high-profile. To boycott Foxconn you only need to boycott a handful of global brands, and the boycott itself will be high-profile as a result.

Oh, yeah, and by looking to get rich on discretionary if not out-and-out luxury goods, they've given up the protection of indispensibility. The world can do without Foxconn quite easily.

The example of Systemax is interesting in that regard. I'm pretty sure Foxconn doesn't fabricate the basic components; it's an assembly company, just like Systemax. And lo and behold, we find that Systemax's computers, assembled in America with the same parts manufactured overseas, are competitively priced.

Not sure why you thought that the example of Systemax would be discouraging ("It ain't easy"). Looks to me like they've pulled it off.

This morning I imagined the scenario of going into an Apple store and asking one of the "Geniuses" where the products are manufactured. I wonder if Apple has prepped them with the company line on the subject? Either way, it would be one hell of an interesting conversation.