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Saturday morning thought

Why have so much of our factory work been outsourced? Hint: It has nothing to do with trade deals.

But it has everything to do with cost. The American buying public doesn’t want to pay a whole lot for what it buys. Second, plant owners are more interested in the bottom line than they are the workers (there are exceptions).

Steel plants in the mid-west closed because it was cheaper to produce the steel overseas. Our plants were inefficient and dirty. If we were to reopen the closed steel mills in this country and use the same old processes as before, our air and water would get dirty (all one must do is look at the skies over Delhi to know what happens when you don’t have regulations to keep the air clean).

Ending trade deals by itself will not necessarily restore greatness to America. But demanding quality goods made by workers paid a fair and living wage in conditions that are fair and equitable and by processes that do not damage the environment will.

And for the record, the evidence shows that this can be done. There are sufficient examples that paying workers fair wages and having decent working environments does work and does not decimate the business climate.

The only ones who don’t want regulations that keep our air and water clean, who don’t want to pay workers fair and living wages, and prefer massive profits are the owners and the wealthy elite. They will do whatever they can to keep their money and they, frankly, do not care what happens to the workers (as long as the workers keep them in power and wealth).