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I've heard this foolish argument countless times, and it is still as irksome today as it ever was. Yes, wages have stagnated in the west, but our standard of l
by notdrunkatall 13y ago
I've heard this foolish argument countless times, and it is still as irksome today as it ever was.
Yes, wages have stagnated in the west, but our standard of living is still very high. The cost of lifting a billion people out of poverty for the first time in the history of the world was for our own standard of living to increase at a slower rate than it otherwise would have for a few decades.
That is only a "heavy cost" if you are an incredibly short-sighted, self-centered westerner, a rabid anti-capitalist moron, or some combination of the both. Go tell the Chinese factory worker who is sending money back home to her poor family that the temporary halt in our standard of living was not worth her family being able to stop scraping a living out of the mud.
Yes, the capitalist system is employing cheap labor, and in the process, it is allowing those people to create something of value in return for the opportunity that our culture had a few centuries ago. And when their standard of living rises to the point at which their labor is no longer cheap enough, our capitalist system will look for another pool of cheap labor, and if allowed to continue, the process will continue ad infinitum until all of the world's pools of cheap labor have been "exploited" right out of poverty for the first time in human history.
In the meantime, our own standard of living might not increase as fast as it otherwise would have, and gasp it might even stagnate! The horror! The sky is falling! Capitalism is failing!
What bullshit.
- flyinRyan 13y agoIf what you said were actually true it might not be so bad. But in reality, the US is more than willing to use military force to ensure certain factors remain constant. I doubt that it would be below their standards to use similar mechanisms to prevent cheap labor countries from coming completely out of poverty.
- notdrunkatall 13y agoOh good god. /r/politics is invading HN, I see.
- flyinRyan 13y agoTo my eyes, it's you and your Rush Limbaugh-esque bullshit that is "invading".
- notdrunkatall 13y agoThat's because you're dumb.
- unclebucknasty 13y agoAre you 12?
- notdrunkatall 13y agoWhat if I am? I'm smarter than you. How does it feel to be dumber than a 12 year old?
- flyinRyan 13y agoThanks for proving my point so concisely.
- unclebucknasty 13y agoSlight reduction in our standard of living, eh? Didn't happen to notice the record high structural unemployment in the U.S. and other western nations did you? Also, the escalating poverty rates in those same nations, including record high child poverty in the U.S. In 2013. Those are some of the heavy costs to which I referred. It's not just one less dinner out, as you'd like to make it sound. So ignoring these very real tradeoffs makes you come off like a ranting idiot. And in your brilliant explanation of continuous labor exploitation, I didn't happen to notice your explanation of what happens when the previous pool is no longer the cheapest (aside from one less dinner out, that is). Do they magically evaporate? And when all cheap pools have been exploited, then what? Does all the world just work for the same slave wages? Because, you also didn't mention that through it all, corporations are realizing record high profits and the world's wealth is accruing to a smaller and smaller percentage of the population. We are seeing global economic inequality on a massive scale and it is only accelerating. If you think that story has a happy ending, then I (and history) will have to disagree. Let me guess: you're probably the kind of person who argues the above and also argues that the U.S. needs to cut its debt and kick the entitlement loving free loaders off the government dole. And, like the other "free market at any cost" drones, you probably fail to see any contradiction in holding both positions.
- notdrunkatall 13y agoActually, I'm a former liberal who learned how to think critically. Now I'm middle-of-the road, someone who's learned that the jackasses who scream about the sky falling on any side are almost always just jackasses. Your argument is bad, and if you had some critical thinking skills of your own, you would see that. But you don't, which tells me that no matter how well I refute it, you will not change your mind.
- unclebucknasty 13y ago>"Your argument bad. My argument good." Well done.
- notdrunkatall 13y ago