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Better for who - better for Americans? Or better for the world? This is the free market in action. It has dictated people want chinese goods more at their pric

Better for who - better for Americans? Or better for the world? This is the free market in action. It has dictated people want chinese goods more at their price point than american goods at theirs. The overall quality of life worldwide has gone up. 96% of the world's population - 7.2 billion people are not American. If you are a human being you should be happy humanity is better rather than selfishly worrying about the 4% of the world whose lives improved less than the rest.

bobabooey02 9y ago
This is all well and good if you live in a wealthy family in the US. However, the global economy means nothing to me if my entire family is seeing a declining quality of life, I have to wait for years and go tens of thousands of dollars in debt to find a good job, and I live in fear of getting sick because I don't know how I'll afford it. That's why my priorities are for my family first, country second, and global "community" last. If globalization is needed so badly to lift the world, we need to find a way to change it in a way that doesn't destabilize us in the process.
- geon 9y ago
  > and I live in fear of getting sick because I don't know how I'll afford it Thats an unrelated issue that much of the rest of the world has solved a long time ago.
  - bobabooey02 9y ago
    It is related to the declining quality of life Americans are experiencing. If the economy was still incredibly unequal but quality of life was still going up, there wouldn't be nearly as much disdain for the rich as there is right now.
  - ams6110 9y ago
    From the article, it didn't sound like the Chinese are exactly generous with sick time. Admittedly it wasn't directly addressed other than by the general "Chinese workers work more hours" observation.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- resf 9y ago
  > country second, and global "community" last If healthcare in America has shown anything it's that Americans will proudly throw other Americans under the bus if it suits themselves. I'd question whether the people you are prioritising care about you at all.
  - bobabooey02 9y ago
    I meant my country as a group of people, not our government. I don't care about my government, it has failed me, but my country is full of everyday people just trying to get by. Because we are of a same or similar culture, and because we live in closer proximity, it's only natural that I care about them more than people of other countries.
    - geezerjay 9y ago
      > I meant my country as a group of people, not our government. Yet, you somehow focus on people living within artificial boundaries created by your government.
  - chongli 9y ago
    Americans are solidly opposed to the Republican party's agenda to gut health care. [0] Blaming Americans for their health care problems is like blaming Russians for Putin's largesse. It's just generally much harder for the masses to hold the few accountable than for the few to keep the masses in check. [0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/06/30/fresh-polls-find-republicans-health-care-proposal-is-still-a-clunker/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/0...
    - uoaei 9y ago
      This problem has existed long before the most recent iteration of healthcare "reform". People (real Americans!) have consistently voted in the representatives who are trying to undo a medical system that covers everyone because they are so enamored with the free market ideal and hate the idea of contributing to their country in the form of taxes.
- nugget 9y ago
  This is quite the catch-22. Domestic wealth inequality within the US has widened. Global wealth inequality has narrowed (dramatically). These two trends are very connected.
- deepsun 9y ago
  > my family first, country second, and global "community" last. Well, in many cases (but not all of course), people who put "country" first, get much better outcomes in the end. In fact, if you look at the poor half of the world -- it's where everybody mostly put themselves first. So I argue that for the best life quality, there should be some balance between the two. Although figuring out the best balance is a very hard problem.
nyolfen 9y ago
>If you are a human being you should be happy humanity is better rather than selfishly worrying about the 4% of the world whose lives improved less than the rest. this is easy to say until it's your family's livelihood.
chongli 9y ago
If you are a human being you should be happy humanity is better rather than selfishly worrying about the 4% of the world whose lives improved less than the rest. Have you seen the elephant graph? [0] The reason people are upset is not because they are selfish, it's because the people above them are. The wealthiest of the wealthy 0.1% have profited immensely, the lower half of the world's population has been lifted out of poverty, and this has all come at the expense of the American blue collar worker. Factories have closed, the opioid epidemic has claimed tens of thousands of lives, and everybody is calling these suffering people selfish and lazy. It's no wonder they want to give everyone the middle finger and vote for Trump. [0] http://voxeu.org/article/greatest-reshuffle-individual-incomes-industrial-revolution http://voxeu.org/article/greatest-reshuffle-individual-incom...
- kartan 9y ago
  > The wealthiest of the wealthy 0.1% have profited immensely, the lower half of the world's population has been lifted out of poverty, and this has all come at the expense of the American blue collar worker. Correlation doesn't mean causation. The blue collar workers of America have lost purchasing power. That is a fact. Chinese factory workers are better off, that's another one. But blue collar workers from other countries are better off than their American counterparts. How's that possible? Health care, education, name it and you will see that don't work anymore. War again drugs, a complete disaster. But that's because the 0.1% stopped paying their fair amount of taxes and have converted the public services into their own private business in name of a "small government" while these same rules don't apply to them because they are "too big to fail". And has nothing, or little, to do with Chinese factory workers. Americans have voted for their own government to not help them anymore. It is not just poor people that suffer that lack of services but all the general population, except for the 0.1% that has money to pay for it all. America have grown a lot in this past years, redistribution of wealth has failed. The 0.1% talks about not wanting a "class warfare" while fighting one.
  - chongli 9y ago
    Correlation doesn't mean causation. Everything is linked in the economy. When I say that it's come at the expense of these workers, I don't mean somebody made the call to take money from them and give it to Chinese workers. I mean that in the grand game of musical chairs, they are the ones who have been left standing.

bobabooey02 9y ago

This is all well and good if you live in a wealthy family in the US. However, the global economy means nothing to me if my entire family is seeing a declining quality of life, I have to wait for years and go tens of thousands of dollars in debt to find a good job, and I live in fear of getting sick because I don't know how I'll afford it. That's why my priorities are for my family first, country second, and global "community" last. If globalization is needed so badly to lift the world, we need to find a way to change it in a way that doesn't destabilize us in the process.

geon 9y ago
> and I live in fear of getting sick because I don't know how I'll afford it Thats an unrelated issue that much of the rest of the world has solved a long time ago.
- bobabooey02 9y ago
  It is related to the declining quality of life Americans are experiencing. If the economy was still incredibly unequal but quality of life was still going up, there wouldn't be nearly as much disdain for the rich as there is right now.
- ams6110 9y ago
  From the article, it didn't sound like the Chinese are exactly generous with sick time. Admittedly it wasn't directly addressed other than by the general "Chinese workers work more hours" observation.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
resf 9y ago
> country second, and global "community" last If healthcare in America has shown anything it's that Americans will proudly throw other Americans under the bus if it suits themselves. I'd question whether the people you are prioritising care about you at all.
- bobabooey02 9y ago
  I meant my country as a group of people, not our government. I don't care about my government, it has failed me, but my country is full of everyday people just trying to get by. Because we are of a same or similar culture, and because we live in closer proximity, it's only natural that I care about them more than people of other countries.
  - geezerjay 9y ago
    > I meant my country as a group of people, not our government. Yet, you somehow focus on people living within artificial boundaries created by your government.
- chongli 9y ago
  Americans are solidly opposed to the Republican party's agenda to gut health care. [0] Blaming Americans for their health care problems is like blaming Russians for Putin's largesse. It's just generally much harder for the masses to hold the few accountable than for the few to keep the masses in check. [0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/06/30/fresh-polls-find-republicans-health-care-proposal-is-still-a-clunker/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/0...
  - uoaei 9y ago
    This problem has existed long before the most recent iteration of healthcare "reform". People (real Americans!) have consistently voted in the representatives who are trying to undo a medical system that covers everyone because they are so enamored with the free market ideal and hate the idea of contributing to their country in the form of taxes.
nugget 9y ago
This is quite the catch-22. Domestic wealth inequality within the US has widened. Global wealth inequality has narrowed (dramatically). These two trends are very connected.
deepsun 9y ago
> my family first, country second, and global "community" last. Well, in many cases (but not all of course), people who put "country" first, get much better outcomes in the end. In fact, if you look at the poor half of the world -- it's where everybody mostly put themselves first. So I argue that for the best life quality, there should be some balance between the two. Although figuring out the best balance is a very hard problem.

nyolfen 9y ago

>If you are a human being you should be happy humanity is better rather than selfishly worrying about the 4% of the world whose lives improved less than the rest. this is easy to say until it's your family's livelihood.

chongli 9y ago

If you are a human being you should be happy humanity is better rather than selfishly worrying about the 4% of the world whose lives improved less than the rest. Have you seen the elephant graph? [0] The reason people are upset is not because they are selfish, it's because the people above them are. The wealthiest of the wealthy 0.1% have profited immensely, the lower half of the world's population has been lifted out of poverty, and this has all come at the expense of the American blue collar worker. Factories have closed, the opioid epidemic has claimed tens of thousands of lives, and everybody is calling these suffering people selfish and lazy. It's no wonder they want to give everyone the middle finger and vote for Trump. [0] http://voxeu.org/article/greatest-reshuffle-individual-incomes-industrial-revolution http://voxeu.org/article/greatest-reshuffle-individual-incom...

kartan 9y ago
> The wealthiest of the wealthy 0.1% have profited immensely, the lower half of the world's population has been lifted out of poverty, and this has all come at the expense of the American blue collar worker. Correlation doesn't mean causation. The blue collar workers of America have lost purchasing power. That is a fact. Chinese factory workers are better off, that's another one. But blue collar workers from other countries are better off than their American counterparts. How's that possible? Health care, education, name it and you will see that don't work anymore. War again drugs, a complete disaster. But that's because the 0.1% stopped paying their fair amount of taxes and have converted the public services into their own private business in name of a "small government" while these same rules don't apply to them because they are "too big to fail". And has nothing, or little, to do with Chinese factory workers. Americans have voted for their own government to not help them anymore. It is not just poor people that suffer that lack of services but all the general population, except for the 0.1% that has money to pay for it all. America have grown a lot in this past years, redistribution of wealth has failed. The 0.1% talks about not wanting a "class warfare" while fighting one.
- chongli 9y ago
  Correlation doesn't mean causation. Everything is linked in the economy. When I say that it's come at the expense of these workers, I don't mean somebody made the call to take money from them and give it to Chinese workers. I mean that in the grand game of musical chairs, they are the ones who have been left standing.