The Search for Cheap Labor is The New Bubonic Plague

[Omaha Steve]

http://thesop.org/opinion/2010/01/24/the-search-for-cheap-labor-is-the-new-bubonic-plague

Published: January 24th, 2010 18:53 EST

The Search for Cheap Labor is The New Bubonic Plague

By Djelloul (Del) Marbrook (Editor/Mentor)

Made in the USA "remember that reassuring label? It`s as dead as the Edsel, and yet there is an eerie silence across the land, from Washington to Anchorage, about how Americans are going to prosper without a manufacturing sector.

Even Taiwan seeks cheaper labor in China. The quest for cheap labor is the Black Death of the 21st Century. But who is searching for a vaccine? How are we going to diversify our economy to create jobs when nobody wants to pay decent wages or benefits? We used to take false comfort in the notion that manufacturing would be supplanted by a booming service industry, but it`s booming in India. Is Congress too busy to have this debate?

About that housing market. No wonder the big heads on television keep saying that there won`t be a recovery until the housing market recovers. It`s as good an excuse as any for not talking about the real problem, which is that there is no way in hell a housing market recovery is going to get us out of this fix.

Do the big heads really think we can hire enough electricians, carpenters, excavators, landscapers, surveyors, painters, installers, predatory lenders, and the rest of the housing crew to claw our way back to a decent standard of living for the middle class? Are they kidding?

Who is going to afford these houses? All the people out of work because their jobs have been exported? All the people paid minimum wages by WalMart and Dunkin` Donuts? Where is our common sense that we listen to these patsies of the corporados day after day?

The only person I know of who is making any sense these days is Ron Paul, the Texas Congressman. Listen to him.

FULL story at link.

[OhioChick]

1. K&R n/t

[elehhhhna]

2. you'll be bashed for the rp reference but

you're right, and on this topic, so is he.

[eridani]

8. Indeed. Stopped clock and all that n/t

[TxRider]

3. Meanwhile

China practices blatant manipulation of their currency to keep the trade balance in their favor, and even practices protectionism blocking foreign products in sectors they want to protect and build up in their economy.

I don't mind global trade, bringing jobs and bringing the third world higher standards of living. But there's a limit to how much our economy can stand.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. Actually, Kucinich talks about it, too

Part of his platform in 2004 was withdrawing from blanket trade agreements and renegotiating them bilaterally with an emphasis on labor rights.

[AdHocSolver]

5. Until Americans understand that there is no such thing as "free trade" or a "global economy" ...

...nothing will change. In order to fix a problem, you first have to understand the cause of the problem, and it is not the Chinese.

Stop blaming the Chinese. The U.S. economy is in free fall solely due to the machinations of the multinational corporations. They invented the term "free trade" which is NOT an economic term. The word "free" implies "no cost". Last time I checked, you had to pay to take Chinese goods out of the store. Another meaning of "free" is no restrictions. That doesn't seem to apply here as well.

What does "global economy" imply, other than the fact that goods are transported across international borders. The global economy has been in existence for centuries (think Marco Polo).

These are not economic terms, but corporate buzz words to get the economically clueless Americans to shift the blame for their loss of jobs away from the root cause, namely the American corporations, to the Chinese, or the Indians, or the Mexicans.

The reason the Chinese buy less from us than we buy from them is because it is more profitable for the corporations. Why would GM build Buicks in America and send them to China, when GM can build Buicks in China for far less money, and make bigger profits?

Corporate cartel agreements such as NAFTA, the WTO, MFN trading status, and their ilk must be changed or eliminated or there is no incentive to have anything manufactured in the U.S. Until a majority of the goods that Americans buy are made in America by other Americans, the economy will NEVER improve. Retraining for "green" jobs is equally futile, since those jobs can be shipped offshore just as easily so long as NAFTA and its ilk are in force.

[JVS]

6. I actually had a conversation with someone who outsourced work that was being done in China to...

Vietnam to save money.

[moondust]

9. Where does Vietnam outsource to?

There must be someplace even cheaper than that! US --> China --> Vietnam --> ? --> ? -->

It's the slow road to Slavery with corporate toll booths set up along the way. Try sticking together and demanding better wages and they'll put in a detour.

[JVS]

10. I don't think they get undercut often, but maybe in 30 years all the jobs will be going to Africa.

[Omaha Steve]

7. Walgreens signed a 10 year IT deal with an India firm

Jobs keep leaving. No end in sight.

[OnionPatch]

11. Too bad Ron Paul was the only politician who noticed.

(He makes so much sense sometimes but is freaking scary other times.)

Obama mentioned something about keeping jobs in America and taxing companies that offshore, but has that been done yet? I haven't seen it. He thinks all those jobs can be replaced with jobs mounting solar panels? :crazy:

I seriously don't see how the recession can end when every job possible is being shipped off to cheap labor countries. First it was manufacturing, then IT jobs, next is yours!

[AdHocSolver]

14. The economy will recover only after tariffs and quotas are imposed on cheap imports...

...of goods such as clothes, shoes, electronics, toys, tools, hardware, and other everyday items to take the excess profits out of sending jobs from America to increasingly low-wage countries.

The health and wealth of an economy is based on the jobs that it creates. When Americans buy goods made by other Americans, money circulates within the economy and it will thrive. When practically every dollar America spends is derived by going into debt to foreigners, the "fuel" of any economy, its "money", leaves the U.S. This debt is the reason the U.S. economy is collapsing.

The offshoring of jobs is the ONLY reason that the economy is in trouble. It has nothing to do with the state of the stock market. In fact, the corporations look to boost stock prices by getting rid of workers. Fifteen years ago, I worked for a large corporation that "lost" a large amount of money because of bad management decisions. To cover up the losses from the shareholders, they eliminated several dozen jobs, which reduced the following quarter's costs and gave an apparent big boost to profits. Bailing out Wall Street only increases job loss as corporations vie for what money remains in the markets.

Government financial problems will be alleviated as Americans become employed and start paying taxes. The U.S. government can't collect income taxes from Chinese or Indian workers.

As for national security, the situation is fast approaching when the countries, like China, which lend us money to continue buying imported goods are going to stop lending it to us, and this economy is going to collapse.

And don't blame the Chinese. The fault lies with the corporations who promote cartel agreements like NAFTA and the WTO. GM has no incentive to build Buicks here to sell in China. GM can make Buicks in China far more cheaply, and still make a huge profit from Chinese sales. This example alone puts the lie to the corporate buzz words "free trade" and "global economy".

[Blue Owl]

12. ah yes, the "CHEAP LABOR" Republicans

Looking back, the brave, the noble, the beloved "CHEAP LABOR" Republicans have really helped our economy these last 10-20 years, haven't they?


:sarcasm:

[gulfcoastliberal]

13. There's a reason the Chamber of Commerce lobbies so hard for "immigration reform".

In fact, it's their lobbyists in DC that write the actual text of the legislation.

[Tom Rinaldo]

15. Obama was correct to call for a U.S. Green Technology Revolution

but instead of a revolution we are getting the equivelent of a small protest vigil instead. The race to develop the energy technologies of the future should have been ten times more urgently pursued than JFK's call to land a man on the moon within a decade was back in his era. We no longer seem to have either the collective will or a political system capable of respnding to a crisis in crisis mode. And actually producing something of lasting value is an outdated American value in the minds of those who control capital capable of doing so. Collecting handling fees and penelty charges while bundling fiscal instruments and shipping actual jobs overseas simply is more profitable.

[lib2DaBone]

16. We could have a high-tech, high wage economy...instead of a race to the bottom..

all it takes is leadership and vision... sadly absent these days.

I would give anything to find a pair of quality shoes made in America... a T-shirt that doesn't shrink to a postage stamp the first time you wash it, cookware that doesn't explode in the oven.

I would love to have pet food that doesn't poison my pet, and dry wall that doesn't stink like rotten eggs.

Made in America meant QUALITY THAT LASTED.. tools that were passed down from father to son, craftsmanship ... value.

Now we get cheap Chinese plastic crap from Wal-Fart.. and TV's that last 6 months.

The current economic system is a slap in the face to all Americans... courtesy of the Republican AND the Democratic Party.

Get rid of Rham, fire Geithner and Bernake.. bring our troops home and cancel NAFTA. SIMPLE.

[OnionPatch]

17. I haven't bought a coffee pot that lasted more than six months for decades.

I remember my grandmother had the same, old metal percolator on her kitchen counter the entire time I was growing up and on into my adulthood. I wouldn't be surprised if that thing still worked when she died. She may have paid relatively more for it than we pay for a coffee pot now, but she only had to buy one once.

They try to BS everyone with the myth that outsourcing and cheap imports are helping the working class in the form of lower prices for household goods. What a hoax.