This entry was posted in culture, Economics, Financial Crisis, History, Labor, propaganda, Recession, Science, Social Control, society, Work and tagged A Lie That Serves the Rich, Dave Kranzler, Economic Recovery, John Titus, Offshoring, Paul Craig Roberts, PaulCraigRoberts.org, recession, U.S. Economy, unemployment. Bookmark the permalink.
Of course Obama has to lie, because the truth is something no one wants to hear. The truth is we(liberals) chased good paying manufacturing out of this country by enacting laws that have had a very chilling effect on hiring. Employers can be sued for rightfully terminating employees. They have to pay unemployment for a year for employees that no longer work and produce for them. Add the high taxes, industry regulations, etc., what businessman in their right mind would take on the risky liability of hiring someone in this country? Who here reading this blog even owns a business? and of those, who has hired a single person for a "living wage"? I haven't, so I cannot fault those who don't either, that would be hypocritical. Easy to point fingers, but we really should look in the mirror first.
Self described "liberals" and "conservatives" in government have both played a part in the destruction of the economy. One can argue whether corporations outsource because of labor policies, taxes, regulations (and the lack thereof), etc, but the bottom line is that they do it for their bottom line, and corrupt politicians will continue to protect such profitable policies of corporate cronies at the expense of the solvency of average citizens.
What "profitable policies" are you referring to specifically?
I 100% agree with you that corporations outsource jobs for their bottom line, that the only reason corporations exist, to create a profit. I think what we really should consider is how corporations can make products overseas, pay for transportation of their goods to docks in said foreign countries, pay those dock workers, pay for the cranes on those docks, ship it thousands of miles overseas, all the while paying for fuel, ships crew and the ship itself, dock workers and cranes on our side, and still get it to store shelves cheaper than making it at home. Continuing the narrative that corporations are just greedy does not solve this. Continuing the narrative that corporations are exploiting foreign workers does not solve this. To me, Americans need to take an honest look at themselves. We expect 14 holidays a year, 2 more weeks of vacation time, sick days, maternity leave, paternity leave, all paid. In addition to unemployment benefits, workmans comp, etc. On top of that, companies need liability insurance for their workers, risk getting sued by their employees, etc. In addition to of all that, let's be totally honest, when you finally get an American worker to actually work, we just move slower than their Asian counterparts. That's where this whole"foreign factories are sweatshops" mentality comes from. Indeed, they are expected to and do move quicker than Americans. Its no wonder any logical manufacturing businessman opts for foreign labor. I don't believe its a conspiracy between politicians and business. I would argue that Americans workers simply have demanded too much, and actually got what they wanted from their politicians, making us uncompetitive. Business doesn't care at all whether products are made here or offshore, they just want it cheap as possible. Business("conservatives"?) did not put these additional costs on themselves(why would they?), workers("liberals"?) did, that's a fact.
I would argue that (some) corporations are greedy is not a "narrative" but reality. If governments can be greedy and power hungry, so can the corporations which pay them off. And some foreign factories are indeed sweatshops which should not be allowed in America or anywhere else. Does anyone but greedy politicians and corporate CEOs really want working conditions in the US to be more like Bangladesh?.
Ah, now that I thought about it, yes, "conservatives"/republicans have extracted massive resources from our economy to fight useless wars, built unnecessary prisons for drug offenders.They have indeed contributed to the destruction of our economy.
I honestly don't know the conditions inside Bangladeshi factories. Are their workers there voluntarily, or forced to work at gunpoint? If the former, I have little problem with the conditions there, if its the latter, then I agree, ban their products. I have a question though, are those Bangladeshi workers better off with their crappy pay and lousy working conditions or with no job at all? I would argue the former. Btw, even US made luxury brand clothes is made by exploited workers in Saipan(definitely an under reported story).
Anyways, back to the point of the article, unemployment due to off shoring. Maybe we don't need to reclaim the low paying textile industry, but perhaps we could give up a few of our benefits(a few days of the over 1 month of paid days off every year, for example?), to make us competitive again in heavy industry like mining, steel and auto. Just like the Bangladeshi's, US workers are better off with less pay and benefits than no job at all. The politicians and CEO's will get even richer regardless of what country gets the work, so I say let it be ours.