"""It was cheaper because the supply outstripped the demand. And I doubt your Mexican national is less productive; it is likely he is extremely productive on the margin, which is why he has the job now."""
I am not sure where you are getting at.
Are you suggesting that American workers need to live at or near what the companies are paying people in China or Mexico.
I don't see how any body could provide for a family here in the US making those wages.
Now if companies want to start cutting their prices of things by an equal amount I would then agree.
If someone in China is getting paid .37 cents an hour how do expect someone in this country to live with that kind of pay.
And do you really want the average American to live like they were in a third world country.
If companies are going to go offshore for cheaper labor then they should be selling those products here cheaper.
But some reason I doubt they will.
Why were Union started in the first place?
Are you suggesting that American workers need to live at or near what the companies are paying people in China or Mexico...I don't see how any body could provide for a family here in the US making those wages...Now if companies want to start cutting their prices of things by an equal amount I would then agree...If someone in China is getting paid .37 cents an hour how do expect someone in this country to live with that kind of pay...And do you really want the average American to live like they were in a third world country. I do not for one minute believe Americans should work for such low wages to compete. I believe Americans should relinquish such mundane work to countries who are willing to compete at that level. Our economy and infrastructure is much more mature, and should be the innovating engine of the world economy (which exists whether one likes it or not).
If companies are going to go offshore for cheaper labor then they should be selling those products here cheaper.
They are! Imagine what your every day consumer products would cost if the manufacturer was paying average U.S. wages. I don't believe there are more than a handful, if any, American companies that produce televisions. Televisions!, that most American of appliances. Is that a problem? I don't think so. US capital that was poured into an increasingly commodified industry (consumer electronics) could then be used to discover new products and ideas.
I have no intention of minimizing the pain of losing a job or even the value of an entire skill set (earned over many years) to another country on an individual basis. But it is reality, and it is not bad for the country as a whole.