As presented in this chapter, poor working conditions and low wages at the start of the Industrial Revolution are typically seen as a result of greedy factory owners trying to make as much money as they can, but in this chapter an alternative scenario was presented. Select that alternative reason for poor working conditions and low wages.

A. Government retail price controls to manage inflation forced factory owners to reduce wages and cut corners in the work environment.

B. The overwhelming consumer desire for low prices led factory owners to pay low wages and cut corners in the work environment to stay in business.

C. The overwhelming number of people seeking work allowed factory owners to hire people for less and less money and the working conditions didn't matter to the workers at all.

D. The cost of living was so low at the time low wages really wasn't an issue.

E. A and D