Posted on 05/03/2013 12:00:05 PM PDT by Sheapdog
When economic patriotism died Pat Buchanan agrees with the pope about ' the dark side of globalism'
“This is called slave labor,” said Pope Francis.
The Holy Father was referring to the $40 a month paid to apparel workers at that eight-story garment factory in Bangladesh that collapsed on top of them, killing more than 400.
“Not paying a just wage … focusing exclusively on the balance books, on financial statements, only looking at personal profit. That goes against God!”
The pope is describing the dark side of globalism.
Why is Bangladesh, after China, the second-largest producer of apparel in the world? Why are there 4,000 garment factories in that impoverished country which, a few decades ago, had almost none?
Because the Asian subcontinent is where Western brands – from Disney to Gap to Benetton – can produce cheapest. They can do so because women and children will work for $1.50 a day crammed into factories that are rickety firetraps, where health and safety regulations are nonexistent.
This is what capitalism, devoid of a conscience, will produce.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
“I’ll take ‘Higher Taxes’ for $200, Alex!”
When Pat Buchanan says “economic patriotism,” he really means “national socialism.”
And if not for those factories, what would Bangladesh do?
“Tariffs favored U.S. companies by letting them compete for free in the U.S. market, while a cover charge was placed on foreign goods entering the USA.”
Surprise! Pat doesn’t want me to have the freedom to transact as I see fit without (more) taxes to dissuade certain choices HE prefers.
Thanks, Pat! You’re so friggin’ predictable.
The following paragraph represents what Thomas Sowell and Milton Friedman think Pat Buchanan is right about:
.....(the end)
It’s my moral obligation to help those in need. In Bangladesh, they make clothes, and are happy to do so. I like paying them so they can have a decent standard of living.
I pay Americans to fix my plumbing.
And so on.
Freedom includes the right to transact with whomever you wish without receiving Paddy’s approval.
There is no such thing as economic patriotism as defined by Pat. His views were outmoded when the 30’s brand of Republican isolationism was in vogue. I suppose it was injected through his cradle slats.
The end result is Chavez style nationalization. I can’t understand why so many conservatives demand a path away from capitalism
Buchanan’s heart is in the proper place, he simply fails to consider the consequences of the stuff he proposes (sometimes).
The idea is that housing those factories ultimately will provide Bangladesh with the opportunity to lift their overall standard of living up, whether they manage to take advantage of it, remains to be seen....but it has been done before.....in South Korea, for example...which before the division, was considered to be the poorer part of the country.
Pat forgets The Other Part - that US government taxes and regulation have made it impossible to produce low-cost goods here, regardless of what tariffs may be imposed.
I would agree however, there are certain things that should not be outsourced, due to security concerns...imagine if in the 1930s we outsourced our steel production to Japan.
And I should care about the people in Bangladesh because... ?
There is an ironic factoid I’ll share.
About two years ago I went to witness the machines being exported to Bangladesh. They were a 9 year old fully automatic Japanese system for converting bales of cotton to T shirt yarn. Raw cotton in one door, spools of yarn out the other.
There were very few employees required to operate the fully automatic, pretty much state of the art machinery.
Hard times are coming to Bangladesh........ the equipment from th North Carolina plant will put some Bangladeshi’s out of work.
I agree. I generally like Pat. He’s a patriot. He loves this country. He’s never been in business for a single minute and his ignorance shows. And yes, the consequences, the connection of dots, the domino effect, never dawns on him.
Ultimately, we as consumers determine the market. Businesses don’t. Workers don’t, but of course, Pat forgets, as do many, that the Americn worker and the American consumer ARE the same. The American worker/consumer benefits from cheap goods - just like the American worker/consumer faces consequences of cheap goods.
This is why no centrally planned economy EVER EVER EVER works. No planning can equal the net effect of millions and millions of hiring, firing, buying, selling, pricing, shipping, etc, decisions made by the populace.
The Pope is the same. Heart in right place. Economic ignorant.
Without a job, the become Jihadis.
Indeed you are describing the real problem coming....the fact that there aren’t going to be enough unskilled jobs to go around, due to technology.
Idle hands are the Devil’s workshop.
Or let’s say we outsource our military satellite traffic to the Chinese:
NUCOR
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