On Saturday, October 20, 2001, at 01:17 PM, Steve Schear wrote:
At 01:42 PM 10/20/2001 -0400, Declan McCullagh wrote:
On Fri, Oct 19, 2001 at 05:35:53PM -0700, Steve Schear wrote:
The direction of all recent administrations has been to expand globalization (i.e., interdependency) thus increasing economic risks and narrowing diplomatic choices. In the short term, and we have no idea what
When I speak of globalization, I mean removing barriers imposed by government to voluntary exchanges between consenting people. Sounds good to me.
Unfortunately, many citizens in the developing world are not party to these "voluntary" exchanges, but are directly affected. I've read the reports of the many low wage sweat shop jobs, mainly performed by young women, in these countries and that their alternative is worse. In a way one could portray their situations as dismal but not dire, sort of along the on-screen comments of Arthur to the prostitute is dinning with "... so you might say you're having a relatively good time?"
In the short term economic inequalities and human rights abuses may be exacerbated (e.g., the fate of rural mainland Chinese). The long-term effects of globalization are as yet unknown.
Talking about "low wage sweat shop jobs" indicates profound confusion on your part. Sorry to be so blunt, but this is the way it is. Henry Hazlitt wrote a good book on basic economics. I doubt I can convince you in a few paragraphs, but consider some miscellaneous points, which are all closely related: * "Low wage" compared to _what_? * Comparing the wages to U.S. wages is not meaningful, for many reasons. * To those getting paid $300 an hour, most jobs in the U.S. are "low wage sweat shops." Perhaps the U.N. can attempt to force U.S. average wages to be raised? * If the labor is being "exploited" by being paid "too little," this is an excellent opportunity for an efficient producer to enter the market and offer more. Henry Ford did this with car production early in the 20th century, Intel is doing it now with factories in Malaysia, Costa Rica, and mainlaind China. More "globalization" explotin' da peeples, I guess. --Tim May "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the Public Treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the Public Treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy always followed by dictatorship." --Alexander Fraser Tyler