Exporting Jobs

Capitalism Magazine ^ | August 19, 2003 | Walter Williams

[luckydevi]

Exporting Jobs by Walter Williams (August 19, 2003)

Summary: It'd make far more sense for Americans to start attacking the real sources that have contributed to making foreign operations more attractive to those at home. It's more effective than caving to the rhetoric of leftist and rightist interventionists who mislead us with slogans like, "How can any American worker compete with workers paid one and two dollars an hour?" when in reality our real competition is mostly with European workers earning a lot more.

[www.CapitalismMagazine.com]

Among George Orwell's insightful observations, there's one very worthy of attention: "But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought." Let's look at a few examples of corrupted language, thought and information.

Pretend you're a customs inspection agent. There's a cargo container awaiting a ship bound for foreign shores. You ask the shipper, who works for a big corporation, what's in the container. He answers, "It's a couple of thousand jobs that we're exporting overseas to a low-wage country."

What questions might you ask? How about, "What kind of jobs are in the container?" or, "Are they America's high-paying jobs?" Most people would probably say: "You're an idiot! You can't bundle up jobs and ship them overseas!"

A job is not a good or service; it can't be imported or exported. A job is an action, an act of doing a task. The next time a right- or left-wing politician or union leader talks about exporting jobs overseas, maybe we should ask him whether he thinks Congress should enact a law mandating U.S. Customs Service seizure of shipping containers filled with American jobs.

Let's turn to the next part of the exporting jobs nonsense, namely that corporations are driven solely by the prospect of low wages. Let's begin with a question: Is the bulk of U.S. corporation overseas investment, and hence employment of foreigners, in high-wage countries, or is it in low-wage countries?

The statistics for 1996 are: Out of total direct U.S. overseas investment of $796 billion, nearly $400 billion was made in Europe (England received 18 percent of it), next was Canada ($91 billion), then Asia ($140 billion), Middle East ($9 billion) and Africa ($7.6 billion). Foreign employment by U.S. corporations exhibited a similar pattern, with most workers hired in high-wage countries such as England, Germany and the Netherlands. Far fewer workers were hired in low-wage countries such as Thailand, Colombia and Philippines, the exception being Mexico.

The facts give a different story from the one we hear from the left-wing and right-wing anti-free trade movement. These demagogues would have us believe that U.S. corporations are rushing to exploit the cheap labor in places like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Ethiopia. Surely with average wages in these countries as low as $10 per month, it would be a darn sight cheaper than locating in England, Germany and Canada, where average wages respectively are: $12, $17 and $16 an hour.

Let's look at a few of the reasons why some U.S. corporations choose to carry their operations overseas. Much of it can be summed up in a phrase: less predatory government and the absence of tort-lawyer extortion. While foreign governments can't be held guiltless of predation, their forms of predation might be cheaper to deal with than those of our EEOC, OSHA, EPA and IRS. Plus, tort lawyer extortion and harassment in foreign countries is a tiny fraction of ours. With each tort lawyer extortion and expansion of predatory regulations at federal, state or local levels of government, foreign operations become more attractive to U.S. corporations. Free trade helps make those costs explicit. American workers are just about the most productive in the world -- however, our government and legal establishment have reduced that productive advantage.

It'd make far more sense for Americans to start attacking the real sources that have contributed to making foreign operations more attractive to those at home. It's more effective than caving to the rhetoric of leftist and rightist interventionists who mislead us with slogans like, "How can any American worker compete with workers paid one and two dollars an hour?" when in reality our real competition is mostly with European workers earning a lot more.

[JNB]

Ayn Rand style Libertarianism, and this amounts to little more than a refined social darwinism was based on "The age of Enlightenment". Communism also came from the same sources as well during this age, and many can trace most of this deformed "philosophy" from the "reformation" itself, that unwittingly(this was not the intention of the protestant founders to be fair) put man before God

Not to say everything that came from this era was bad, because the moderate starin of English style secularism, compared to the radical form that found root in France, gave birth to modern concept of human rights, and evcen though the US constituion was largely shaped by FreeMasons, Americans themselves still recognised God was before man.

As for the Victorian era, while it was known for vice related activities in the UK, still violent crime, despite Jack the Ripper, was far lower than any major city is today. The modern police in London was formed in this era, and they made a point for them not to be armed. Petty theft and vice were the issues, but for the most part, it was safe to walk the streets at night in London at the time, as it was safe in NYC to walk the streets at night in the 30s.

It doesnt surprise me that many dogmatic free traders claim to be Evangelicals, though again to be fair, many evangelical Christians such as Gary Bauer are opposed to globalism.

[1rudeboy]

I thought it's 6.4%? Where are you getting your 10% figure?

[1rudeboy]

It doesn't surprise me that many [protectionists] claim to be [Socialists], though again to be fair, many [protectionists] such as [Pat Buchanan] are opposed to globalism.

[harpseal]

You appear to be reduced to petty carping.

I guess that qualifies the Texas _Dawg as just another yipping little Chihuahua. :^)

We should not let these things get in the way of a good joke.

[JNB]

Your point? If you havent noticed, most people who oppose globalism are not socialists, they just realise that not everything and anything comes down to dollars and cents. What use is money if society becomes unstable and unlivable? Agaian, all topo many so called conservatives are for unrestricted free trade because that is what the WSJ editorial page and Limbaugh is for, little else. And yes, sadly many Evangelicals seem to be closer to being social darwinists than Christians.

By the way, here is the BLS web site link, look at the U-6 unemployment rate, the way unemployment used to be tabulated in the US.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t12.htm

[1rudeboy]

My point is that your comment that most free-traders are evangelicals is meaningless, and I used you comment to illustrate the same point about protectionists.

As for labor statistics, why not include pre-schoolers? You might get your figure to approach 20 or 30 percent.

[1rudeboy]

"most" s/b "many"

[JNB]

The U6 is the the way the unemployment rate used to be tabulated. This is from the BLS itself. The pre schooler comment just further indicates to me that dogmatic free traders have no real leg to stand on, other than the WSJ editorial pages saying "Free Trade is good".

[Tokhtamish]

It falls along class lines. Evangelicals born with silver spoons in their mouths like Pat Robertson and Ralph Reed take the corporate side. Most like Phyllis Schalfly and Gary Bauer no more trust corporate elites to make all societal decisions than they trust Viacom to teach their children morals.

The failure of Ralph Reed to get the Christian Coalition to endorse NAFTA was telling. I see the major force here as blue collar economic self interest which was always rightly suspicious of people who assume their jobs are jobs that America can afford to lose.

Bear in mind, as the Gordon Riots around 1750-ish showed, that the Victorian city saw the privileged and well to do balanced precariously atop a huge, volatile lumpen population.

[1rudeboy]

So the figure was changed because the free-trader cabal determined that it should be. Riiiiiight.

[1rudeboy]

People act in their economic self-interest? How long do you think it'll be before free-traders figure that out?

[Cronos]

Well, France and Germany have 10% unemployment and Poland has 20% Such comparizons are very tricky. I know something about this 20% in Poland, but I will make no comment.

What I'm saying is that if 4.1% is considered full employment and our unemployment level is 6%, that makes us far far better off than eurozone countries like France, Germany, Poland.

[Jim Cane]

Are you schizophrenic?

Be assured that the flapping of your toupee just now was the result of a species of expression winging effortlessly over your head.

Good luck.

[GraniteStateConservative]

It's what happened when the Soviet Union collapsed-- along with its economy. It makes sense that it would happen here. The Soviets had PhD exotic dancers and hookers because there weren't other jobs for them. People need to work-- for themselves and for the income it brings.

[GraniteStateConservative]

Bush administration could send its strongest signal yet about how it plans to handle conflicts between the struggling American textile industry and China, which it is trying to appease as a new favored trading partner.

Well, there's the problem right there.

[GraniteStateConservative]

It's barely trade.

[GraniteStateConservative]

The democrats want to force other countries to adopt our rules and regulations on workers in other countries. Do you?

First, he said minimal. I must be such a commie to say that the US's prohibition on locking fire exits at workplaces is not excessive.

For the privilege of trading with us tariff-free? Yes, we can make all sorts of demands.

[GraniteStateConservative]

This chat room is conservative in some areas and totalitarian national socialist in others. There are many Buchananites here that agree far more with Ralph NaderThe Founding Fathers and other great Americans who followed than the GOP.

[GraniteStateConservative]

Give a young adult no hope, and crime increases.

Dick Riordan did wonders in LA by lowering crime in areas because he brought in jobs.

[GraniteStateConservative]

Yeah, Marx said that free trade was the enemy of the nation-state. I'm glad to be on the right side of that debate. Free traitors here at FR are welcome to tote their copies of The Communist Manifesto as they lead us to a UN world government future.