[Tokhtamish]

All the positive mental attitude, bootstrap rugged individualism stuff is no substitute for just plain being on the wrong side of history. It is no match for monied power. And for as long as powerful transnational economic elites are committed to reducing the American standard of living to make rich people richer we are all on the wrong side of history, playing a fixed game.

The only answer to monied power is for people to fight back instead of deluding themselves that they can somehow avoid the consequences of living in a country with net downwards social mobility.

And this is not in the least about "government regulation". It is about labor costs, pure and simple. A third world who makes a tenth of what the American worker does doesn't have to be as good as the American worker. Just good enough.

Looking at the volume and intensity of these posts, this is obviously an issue that could blow the Republican coalition to smithereens. If the Right doesn't seize it, one of these days the Left will use it to rebuild the New Deal coalition. Characters like Pukindog and Lurker certainly are well cast for the part of 1935 Liberty Leaguers railing from their mansions and penthouses about "that man in Washington".

[Roscoe]

It is about labor costs, pure and simple. A third world who makes a tenth of what the American worker does doesn't have to be as good as the American worker. Just good enough.

It's going to work tremendous hardships on American workers, but like death and taxes, it would seem to be inevitable. Even smaller firms will find outsourcing within their reach as technology advances.

[Texaggie79]

And for as long as powerful transnational economic elites are committed to reducing the American standard of living to make rich people richer

Straight out of the Marxist handbook..... Where is it that you think the "Rich" companies make their money from? It ain't from hiring cheaper labor, it's from the American consumer. You think the big wigs at GMC want to lower our standard of living so we will all buy Cavaliers?

When you understand how the economy works, you no longer fall for the Union line that there is only so much money out there, and therefor, for the rich to have more, someone has to make less.....