T-Shirt Blog 6

 I think that the title of this book is actually a great name for what it is telling. The first half of this book made me think about such a common thing, t-shirts in a way I never have. I think this is mostly because I figured that where they are made is where all of the process going into a shirt is done. I never knew that Texas played such an important role in the cotton industry. Texas is connected to the global trade markets for the cotton they produce. I also never realized how many steps go into making that connection happen.

There are political aspects also, the United States offers a lot of funding to these cotton farms so they can perform in the global markets. This raised the question to me, why does the United States focus so much on subsidizing these farms when the ideology behind globalization is based around free trade with limited government involvement? Now, I am not saying whether it is right or wrong for the government to support them but it is something that leaves me a little confused. Also since the government has a whole lot of money to spend on subsidizing these farmers it can play a role on the global market of cotton. Poorer regions around the globe may not have this same amount of funding which can make them struggle more to produce cotton at a lower price and fairly compete with more wealthy countries like the United States.