Posted on 05/05/2007 5:40:08 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
>Now, an actual bill called the “Food and Drug Administration Revitalization Act” (S1082), sponsored by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), is on the Senate floor.<
Hi mom! From what I understand, it should be called the “FDA Demolition Act”.
LOL!! As in "I've been a Rush-listener/voting Republican for years, but now it's time to vote for Dems because..."
He’s a Lib, but he seems honest. Certainly more honest than his Princeton colleague, Krugman.
Here’s the money-quote [chuckle] of the piece: “It’s going to be painful because our country offers such a poor social safety net to cushion the blow for displaced workers. Our unemployment insurance program is stingy by first-world standards.”
Offshoring discredits Free Trade as a whole. It reinforces the very worst stereotypes about the greedy, self-indulgent plutocrats willing to destroy lives just so he can have a larger bonus. In fact, it undermines support for free enterprise itself.
Of course...but those who aren't workers will do fine (before flying off the handle at that, read on). The American worker is overpaid (i.e., paid far above market value) unless he can demonstrate value through sufficiently superior output, quality, innovation, etc. Since we are regressing in worker quality* (look at what our schools are putting out!), it's inevitable that our wages go down (before the protectionists out there deny this, they must explain why they think a German would spend 10x as much for an inferior product, rather than buy elsewhere than America--protectionism just affects American consumers, and we aren't the only market).
The only way for Americans to maintain our outrageously disproportionate lifestyle is to be in the seat of those who make money in the free market--that is, the owners, the capitalists!
Jobs are no longer the way to American wealth...they go to the lowest bidder, likely someone in a cheaper area than you or I. Unfortunately, nobody seemed to take note when W spoke of an "Ownership Society," but that's pretty much the only road to take for future wealth.
Buy, buy, buy into companies that offshore...that's what I would say. But then, none of this is official advice...just my opinion. :-)
*A major US company that is a client of mine had to move its manufacturing overseas because of too many quality problems! Good ol' American union labor can't seem to do as well as Chinese slave labor, since complaints have gone way down. :-(
Good summary in your post.
Exactly! Every business owner who moved his operations from New York, Michigan or California to a lower cost southern state should be shot!
In fact, it undermines support for free enterprise itself.
Free enterprise means letting the government tax your business out of existence. For the children!
The only problem with this article is that its written by a professor of Economics. If this is his understanding of Economics then I wonder what his American students will learn. Socialism?
In any case (more so than in other fields), the likelihood that an econ student is conservative is greater . . . meaning that this professor's students will learn socialism, but they've likely made-up their minds whether to embrace it long before.
You have a choice of not buying them or buying something else or form somewhere else (other then China). That’s as free as it can get.
His idea of free trade is America producing everything and is free to be able to sell them anywhere in the world. The idea of reciprocal acceptance of foreign good and services into US markets, or the movement of labour or capital between countries is non existent. Thats when he shifts from “free trade” to a cleverly disguised brand of socialism cloaked in the mantle of “fair trade” takes over and then his target group for economic benefits is no longer “the consumers” but job seekers. The US then becomes the disadvanted nation that need protection from the “third world” against unfair practices like “slave wage”. In fact he disguises his real concern with words like “Slave wage is unfair on the Chinese labourers” and my point would be “Why not let the Chinese decide that? If its really unfair wont accept such a deal in the first place”. I bet his idea of free trade is "the world should be free to BUY US good but not free to MAKE them".
Read this.
Scroll down to the part on Labor Camps.
Nice try, though.
I know about Falun Gong tourtures. And I dont approve of buying anything from the chinese labour camps or concentration camps as much I dont approve of buying anything from India that’s made using child labour. Read my post again, I was referring the term “slave wages”, a term commonly used by American protectionists to refer to the standard wage rates prevalent in Asia in general (India and China in particular) against which American labourers are finding hard to compete. Its called “slave wage” because even a slave in US would probably get more wage then what an average wage earner would get in China and India. It has nothing to do with actual slavery. Millions of people are employed in the work force (manufacturing in China and service sector in India) who are earning “slave wages” and they work entirely voluntary.
Those are not freely negotiated low wages of the sort to which you refer.
Secondly, even the low wages of the sort to which you refer, are *still* taking unfair advantage of the predicament of the otherwise subsistence-level or below workers in order to fatten their own pockets. Given the vast fortunes being amassed by many manufacturers, they could still keep their prices low enough to compete, and pay their workers more than they do now: enough to make more of a difference in the workers' lives. All they would have to do is to diminish somewhat their own fortunes--while still retaining enough to live like kings in the Third World.
Cheers!
I agree. Instead of taking advantage of these poor workers, these factories should be closed. Even starvation is preferable to working at wages an American thinks are too low.
Given the vast fortunes being amassed by many manufacturers
Which manufacturers are amassing fortunes?
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