I don’t see capitalism as a “loving parent” so if that is what the article implies, you’ll get no argument from me. As to whether economic systems have borders, well, yes and no. It transcends borders but only where the governments within those borders allow it to do so. If you are looking for some form of pure capitalism, or even pure socialism, you won’t find it anywhere. Governments are the antipathy and corrupter of both, even though they are also the enablers of the economic systems. My point is that one a local scale, real capitalism means people looking out for their neighbor (because that’s the only way to make money for yourself), as opposed to real socialism where the people look out for themselves and demand the government look out for everyone else.
On an international level, clearly abuses happen but I still argue that “slave labor” in these days in more a matter of perception, or comparison, than truth. As another post pointed out, 82% of America’s wealth is attributed to its non-material wealth, i.e., education, attitude, rule of law and so forth. That kind of wealth cannot be handed out like loans from the IMF. It has to be developed from within, and sometimes that takes struggles like our forebears went through, including what we might consider now slave labor. Tough times builds tough people, and tough people build tough societies that can sustain and control capitalism. The question on international capitalism abuses is not whether the capitalist is getting a good deal in labor wages but whether the workers are getting a good deal, given their options. It might make anti-globalists feel good to drive Nike out of third-world countries but should it do so if it causes Nike’s former employees to starve to death, or sell their bodies to avoid it?
Actually I am getting into a little bit of my rant about exporting a lot of what we have here in the United States. We look at what is nice here and figure it would be nice for everyone in the world. Ideally, it might be but pragmatically, it might literally kill. Too many Americans, especially the radical types, think that what America has is a simple, reproducible phenomenom. Instead it is a system and society built upon a very substantial foundation of constitutional freedoms, education, culture, language, history, work ethic and rule of law, not to mention our common Judeo-Christian philosophy. You cannot take this mansion of America and set it up without the same sturdy foundation unless you are willing to watch it collapse at the first instance of adversity. All you can do is show the world how to set up the foundation and let them build their own mansions.
I think you took his analogy in the beginning one or two steps too far.