General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The jobs are going whether we sign agreements or not. [View all]MADem
(135,425 posts)pitchforks...like that will solve the problem (hint--it won't). EDIT--thank you for removing that unkind comment.
I support nothing--I am simply pointing out that this is a complex issue. Those people in newly emerging economies aren't going to say "Oh, well, the Americans want to make this geegaw that we've been making at 1/20th their salaries....we'll go back to our huts and scratch a living out of the dirt and shit in the rice paddy." They aren't going backwards, so it's stupid to insist that we can get back that which is gone. Newly industrialized countries are making the microwaves and fridges and small appliances and so forth. They want their kids to have running water and lights and an education and a toilet that flushes.
You WANTING the Maytag Repairman to sit on his duff while American workers make Maytag washers ain't gonna happen--not when foreign workers can make them cheaper and deliver them for less. That's just simple economics, it's not an "endorsement."
Citing wikipedia isn't going to change that fact. Businesses are in business to make money, for the most part. For every socially conscious person who is going to share the wealth, for every collective/cooperative effort that plays the "We're all in this together" game, there are a dozen, hell, a hundred Mitt Romneys who are going to put their factory overseas and sell the hell out of their products. There aren't enough rich liberals to support the socially conscious competiton, usually, and the wingnuts will just say "SUCKERS!!" and buy the cheaper stuff. People who can't afford to spend too much for a thing that they can get for less will follow after the wingnuts, even if they feel guilty about it. People will go for the best price. They'll talk a good game, but if they're pinching pennies they will do what needs must to get by.
And this is NOT MY FAULT. All I am doing is pointing out the obvious. So yeah--there it IS.
If I had an idea of how to change the situation, I'd surely mention it. But there are people who have been living in shitholes for generations, and they have seen the mountaintop, and they want more.
Trade barriers? Forget about it. The impetus is to more trade, not less.
We're just going to have to Get Smart, and make something the rest of the world really, REALLY wants, and only we have the skill, talent, grit and creativity to make.