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The Chinese worker loses because instead of participating in a functioning labor market (like the ones in US, most of Latin America, East/West Europe, etc) his

The Chinese worker loses because instead of participating in a functioning labor market (like the ones in US, most of Latin America, East/West Europe, etc) his only choice is slave-like factories. The US worker loses because he loses his job. "The consumer" is the same as the US worker, so under this scheme everyone loses, except a small cartel of US corporations and local elites in some developing countries. The point is not to restrict the international labor market, but to free it from this artificial pipeline that is only possible because US corporations work together with local elites in countries like China to suppress their local labor markets.

Asbostos 11y ago
The Chinese worker can't participate in the US market because as you said, it's too small even if he was allowed in. So that's not an alternative that might have happened. He couldn't do it in China because either because the value of the RMB was too low for him to buy a nice imported car and phone. Factory workers now can afford iphones of course, but only because of the exports they're producing. With the US worker and consumer being the same person - I'm not so sure, we're mainly talking about manufacturing, where most people don't work - The rest of the consumers would otherwise be subsidizing the overpaid US worker. Is it right that all consumers (people) in America pay a bit extra in charity to a minority of people who somehow aren't being as productive as they could? What kind of solution do you propose? More freedom of the labor markets, or less, or something else?
- deleted 11y ago
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- Asbostos 11y ago
  severus_bro. I'm still not sure what you're suggesting. Is it that the Chinese government is allowing its people to be treated badly by employers? That may be true, but could they actually do much better? Improved working conditions mean reduced competitiveness and more unemployment. Anyway, "I don't want to repeat myself" tends to be a sign that somebody has come to the end of their chain of reasoning. So there's probably nothing further for us to discuss. I hoped you might be someone who could explain a valid reason behind this popular idea. More than "Be like the better ones."

Asbostos 11y ago

The Chinese worker can't participate in the US market because as you said, it's too small even if he was allowed in. So that's not an alternative that might have happened. He couldn't do it in China because either because the value of the RMB was too low for him to buy a nice imported car and phone. Factory workers now can afford iphones of course, but only because of the exports they're producing. With the US worker and consumer being the same person - I'm not so sure, we're mainly talking about manufacturing, where most people don't work - The rest of the consumers would otherwise be subsidizing the overpaid US worker. Is it right that all consumers (people) in America pay a bit extra in charity to a minority of people who somehow aren't being as productive as they could? What kind of solution do you propose? More freedom of the labor markets, or less, or something else?

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
Asbostos 11y ago
severus_bro. I'm still not sure what you're suggesting. Is it that the Chinese government is allowing its people to be treated badly by employers? That may be true, but could they actually do much better? Improved working conditions mean reduced competitiveness and more unemployment. Anyway, "I don't want to repeat myself" tends to be a sign that somebody has come to the end of their chain of reasoning. So there's probably nothing further for us to discuss. I hoped you might be someone who could explain a valid reason behind this popular idea. More than "Be like the better ones."