RE: SLAVE labor? Just a darn minute... (a few replies)

[Tom Murrell <trmurrell -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

--- Thomas Eagles <tekwriter -at- sympatico -dot- ca> wrote:
> 
> Nobody is saying that people in India are suckers for taking low paying
> jobs when previously there were *no* jobs. Nobody blames anyone for
> accepting a job (I would think). However, we MIGHT be saying that we're
> peeved at the *companies* who are flushing the jobs out of North
> America, where the technology and products are seeded in the first place
> through tax breaks and the existence of markets for those products. The
> solution? Don't buy products produced by companies that export the work,
> and don't vote for politicians who do nothing about it. Reward companies
> that make a point of ONLY buying North American-made products. Period.

Question: Why is it that "*companies*...are flushing the jobs out of North
America?" Is it just the tax breaks? Or might there be another reason. I think
there is, and I would like to propose it here.

Where are the clothes you wear made? I'll bet that virtually no one on this
list (I'm tempted to say no one, but I almost never make absolute statements)
is wearing 100% American made clothes, especially the Americans. Why? They
would be too expensive. Why are many of the computer chips made outside the
U.S. with less expensive labor? Again, American consumers won't pay $3,000 for
a computer if they can get the same one, or better, for $1,000.

The tax breaks you speak of come from countries competing with each other to
host companies that have to move their operations out of America because they
can't compete on price in the marketplace. And it would do the American economy
no good to bar imports, because we still would not be able to pay the prices
that have to be charged to meet the labor costs.

I AM NOT IN FAVOR of paying subsistence wages, either in the U.S. or in other
countries. But I think it's unfair to expect a company to go out of business
because it can't compete with lower labor costs available elsewhere in the
world. You are right to suggest that American consumers buying the best
products they can find for the prices they're willing to pay are responsible
for moving many jobs out of the U.S. But I think you're wrong to suggest that
it is the fault of the companies who want to continue to exist (and existance,
as we are being reminded, still requires a profit for the owners...oh, and WHO
are the owners? Americans investing in their 401Ks and Mutual Funds and
insurance and other financial activities.), I think it's wrong to suggest that
it's the companies' fault.

=====
Tom Murrell
mailto:tmurrell -at- columbus -dot- rr -dot- com
Personal Web Page - http://home.columbus.rr.com/murrell/index.html Last Updated 06/16/02
--Proud Vietnam Veteran. I am NOT a victim.--

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