3 ms·

...and there we go, the proverbial, libertarian "choice".

• bayesianhorse 13y ago
  It's not about "libertarian choice". It's about not being able to change all the world in an instant. Workplace safety in China looks to be increasing. Wages too. For that matter, the Chinese workforce is shrinking while Mexico has lower labor costs. Also this constant global coverage due to youtube or other media is improving things in China. Without the unprecedented awareness the internet affords us, I don't think China would have done more to address these issues
  • yuvadam 13y ago
    Yes, work conditions in China are slowly and steadily improving. But somehow, whenever the concept of choice comes up, it's always about the privileged giving the oppressed a pep talk, claiming that whatever position society has put them in "it's really totally fine". "Safety is increasing" - would /you/ work at such a factory?
    • starky 13y ago
      If I were in the same position as those workers in China were, I certainly would work in the factories. When you options are working a dangerous manufacturing job getting paid relatively well, or a slightly more dangerous farming job where you can barely afford to live, the choice is easy. The US investing in Chinese manufacturing has and is increasing the quality of life (and safety) for the workers in China. This takes time, and there is nothing we can do to avoid that. If we were to go in and demand North American manufacturing salary and safety standards for the entire supply chain, you can bet their goods would cost more to produce than if we just did it here and we would therefore just make them here. That would destroy the Chinese economy and send everyone back into worse conditions than we currently have. Therefore I would argue that the result would be a net harm if we force conditions to rise too rapidly, rather a balance must be maintained.
• flyinglizard 13y ago
  And what other, non-libertarian choices do these workers have?
  • gbog 13y ago
    Good point. The other choice is planned economy, state regulation all over the place, including in haircut style. They just have a border to cross to see the result in DPRK, or open a book on recent history, or ask the elder. The result is well known: it's starvation.
• mindcrime 13y ago
  No Libertarian claims that a world based on Libertarian principles would be perfect, or that nothing bad would ever happen. Pointing out a single instance of a pathology that could happen under Libertarianism is a faint criticism when every other system has it's pathologies as well. In fact, I have never heard anybody refer to China or Bangladesh or the like as bastions of Libertarianism, so it looks like it's the current system whose pathologies we're talking about. Maybe what China and their ilk need is exactly a dash of good old fashion Libertarian thought.