Paul Craig Roberts - Resurrecting Karl Marx (Critiquing free traders)

[Starfury]

PCR covers the intertwined problems of outsourcing, misguided free traders and libertarians, globalization, and the destruction of the middle class. He's covered these topics before, but this long article really ties things together.

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Free traders are resurrecting class war, not because they are Marxists but because they confuse free trade with global labor arbitrage. Free traders turn cold shoulders to US job losses from offshore outsourcing, because they mistake the losses for the beneficial workings of comparative advantage. Committed to a 200 year old theory that they no longer understand, free traders are cheering on the destruction of middle class jobs and the dismantling of the ladders of upward mobility that make large income disparities politically acceptable.

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Opportunity for native born Americans is collapsing. The loss of opportunity is showing up in declining median household income and rising poverty rate. On September 1, Edwin Rubenstein reported (vdare.com) that according to the Census Bureau's August 30 report, "median household income declined for an unprecedented fifth straight year in 2004." The main reason for declining household income, says the Economic Policy Institute, is "ongoing weakness in the job market."

HIgher paying jobs are being lost to outsourcing and to work visas. Lower paying jobs are being lost to Mexicans. With real income falling for five years (despite an economic recovery), the US poverty rate has climbed from 11.3% in 2000 to 12.7% in 2004, adding 5.4 million more persons to the poverty roll.

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Brand name companies that once were symbols of US manufacturing are today assemblers of foreign made parts. An industry of assemblers has no need for engineers or scientists. The dismantling of the US economy cannot be corrected by education and job retraining. The US is on its way to becoming a third world country.

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http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts09052005.html