'Fair-Trade' Coffee - The Scam Exposed?

Who is really making money when you over-spend for fair-trade coffee or anything else? Can you be sure?

(Thanks to the Mises blog for the link.)

FT.com - ‘Fair’ coffee workers paid below minimum wage: "“Ethical” coffee is being produced in Peru, the world’s top exporter of Fairtrade coffee, by labourers paid less than the legal minimum wage. Industry insiders have also told the FT of non-certified coffee being marked and exported as Fairtrade, and of certified coffee being illegally planted in protected rainforest. This casts doubt on the certification process used by Fairtrade and similar marks that require producers to pay the minimum wage. It also raises questions about the assurances certifiers give consumers about how premium-priced fair trade coffee is produced. As the board member of one Peruvian Fairtrade-certified coffee producer told the FT: “No certifier can guarantee they will purchase 100 per cent of a co-operative’s production, so how can they guarantee that every bag will be produced according to their standards?”"

Previous Posts on 'Fair-Trade':
Fair-Trade Water?
Fair-Trade Coffee, and Now Wood!
That Taco Bell Brouhaha

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