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1980s/1990s economists: "Here is what we will do, we will pass laws and make it easy to outsource all of the jobs, and then we will import tons of foreign labo
by codingslave 7y ago
1980s/1990s economists:
"Here is what we will do, we will pass laws and make it easy to outsource all of the jobs, and then we will import tons of foreign labor. Then, our gracious corporations will happily retrain all of our workers for new jobs with completely new skills. Mid/Late career workers can change on a dime right? Next, when the economy crashes in 2008, we will print unprecedented levels of money to save the economy by pushing up financial assets. That money will mostly end up in the hands of the upper class. Then we will scream wealth inequality! Telling those disenfranchised middle class citizens that it was not us who created such a disparity... we are not the enemy. As China continues to destroy and hollow our economy, we will paint all dissenting politicians as crazies, surely China's unprecedented wealth did not came at our own cost. We need more free trade, more immigration, and more outsourcing."
- mirimir 7y ago> ... we will pass laws and make it easy to outsource all of the jobs ... Not just laws. During the Reagan era, there were US government programs to promote outsourcing jobs. And to coach firms on how to do it.
- barney54 7y agoThat’s an interesting claim. I’d like to read more about it. Do you have a citation?
- mirimir 7y agoI can't find it now, but I recall an article about it from the mid 80s. A reporter, posing as an executive, attended a government-run training/conference. I think that it was Michael Moore, but I'm not sure.
- sgregnt 7y agoThe economists just say that higher productivity jobs like research and development are more productive than low productivity jobs in manufacturing, almost by definition. The wealth is just the outcome of productivity: the higher the productivity the richer we are. But apparently even this truism is hard to grasp for a newspaper journalist or hacker news commenters not well trained in economy.