$80 football jerseys are produced by women making only 10 cents an hour at a rate of one jersey every 6.6 minutes. (cross post!)

I would guess that 75% of the import products on the market offer similar wage and working conditions for their workers.

I have often read about illnesses that seem to show up out-of-the-blue and I wonder if germs on imported goods could be contributing to that--some poor worker is sick with typhoid and coughs or wipes the disease onto the products--next person to handle the item gets sick?

While the notion is ok, and those jerseys are overpriced, I hate that argument. You completely disregard the work and ressources that was put into that one other than your example. Someone has to grow and pick the cotton. It needs to be dyed. Someone has to ship that to the women who makes the jersey. Shipping to western countries isn't exactly free, either. Ships have to be manned. Advertisement has to be paid. Your local store-owner doesn't live on air and love, either.

Most of these costs would be no different if the jersey would cost 40 bucks.