Posted on 12/25/2006 4:14:43 PM PST by hedgetrimmer
Globalization will lower the real wages of unskilled workers in advanced economies with or without the free flow of labor between countries, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said Thursday.
.....
"The downward pressure on the real wages of the unskilled in advanced economies doesn't require migration to bring it down - trade will do the same."
(Excerpt) Read more at nasdaq.com ...
Things must be getting out of hand in Britain if the central planners are admitting that their policies are affecting the British people in such a negative way.
You may want to ping your pinglist.
Will Willie Green post the obligatory Karl Marx quote about being in favor of free trade? ROFL
Willie is long gone from this board. Unfortunately, there are still plenty of pitchfork-for-brains types around.
And yet protectionism isn't the answer, either.
Maintaining an advantage in production--whether rate, quality, innovation, etc.--is the only way to maintain an advantage in wealth, when all is said and done.
But why is it so hard for protectionists to realize that no matter how high we inflate our prices and tariffs, there's no way to force other countries to buy from us when they can get things from other countries at lower rates?
Though some have advocated increased tariffs others of us have not.
For example, I see appeals for fair trade; to wit, has Red China lived up to its WTO obligations? I don't think so.
Even some in the Bush Administration complain about taxpayer-backed government supported entities like OPIC, Ex-Im Bank and World Bank. Is it proper to encourage our corporations to go off shore? To cover their losses with below market insurance?
Personally I object to moving production offshore, transferring technology and importing the goods and services for sale here -- especially when it builds Red China's war machine.
I have no solutions -- given that Red China's CPC will never submit to the WTO, it'd bring 'em down -- so I merely hope for making it clear to free tradin' corporations and investors that the tax payers are not going to reimburse them should (when) the CPC decides to seize their assets.
Willie Green is at Liberty Post
Unfortunately, there are still plenty of pitchfork-for-brains types around.
Whom do you have in mind?
Here's an idea - no globalism or illegal immigration!
Another good poster gone!
The world can plagiarize labor nowadays like a pyramid scheme, with an almost endless supply of the many willing to undercut the few, at an almost endless rate of cheaper and cheaper wages converging on slavery. The world may sit by ideally and accept nearly free goods made by child labor or slavery but that doesn't make it right.
We may not have all the answerers, but one can be assured the Lord God Almighty does, as it is a law of nature that pyramid schemes do eventually collapse. Either the west wakes ups and spreads its values of human dignity to the rest of the world, whether it is popular or not or become part of the collapsing third world itself. If we have righteousness on our side, no matter the insurmountably this problem can be solved.
"The world may sit by ideally and accept nearly free goods made by child labor or slavery but that doesn't make it right. "
I always wonder that if China would be any cheaper if they had the EPA, Dept of Labor, Unions, Unemployment etc.
Let's throw in enviro groups, NIMBY groups and zoning commisions that are anti big buisness.
If you want a glimpse at the utter wretchedness of the new world order globalist society read the front page story in the Saturday/Sunday December 23rd Wall Street Journal. It is titled "So much work so little time". Utterly disgusting.
"40 US cos to send staff to India for healthcare," October 23, 2006
"At least 40 American corporations have signed a health plan, which allows sending employees abroad, including to India, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, where they could save more than 80 per cent on the cost of medical procedures."
Whew! I was afraid they were going to stop with just exporting jobs. Glad to see it's people too.
http://us.rediff.com/money/2006/oct/23us.htm?q=bp&file=.htm
Prosperity is not an American birthright.
At one time, the USA exceeded others in the world in innovation, productivity, workforce education, quality, etc. These factors, in some combination, allowed American businesses to charge more than competition from other producers.
But what does America have NOW that we can use to convince others to pay far more for our products? Without that, then it's hard to justify complaining that we have to go elsewhere for health care, products, etc. In fact, if we DID have an advantage that made it worthwhile to pay inflated prices to cover inflated American wages, then the wages wouldn't be excessive and we'd have no problem with offshoring!
About the only thing to do now is to play the guilt card with the Euros, etc., and tell them that we have the EPA, etc., and are much greener, etc. But before we go off and do that, remember that without China, so much of America's faux prosperity would be in danger from the lack of financing.
But also, our prosperity is built on a pyramid scheme of "growth"...so we have our own sustainability issues.
Maybe, instead of using equipment like a road-grader (for example), we should have work crews grade our roads by hand. Think of all the jobs it would create.
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