You really don’t need to work so much

Re:You really don’t need to work so much by Asbostos on Saturday August 22, 2015 @09:38AM (#10102464)

The Chinese worker can't participate in the US market because as you said, it's too small even if he was allowed in. So that's not an alternative that might have happened. He couldn't do it in China because either because the value of the RMB was too low for him to buy a nice imported car and phone. Factory workers now can afford iphones of course, but only because of the exports they're producing.

With the US worker and consumer being the same person - I'm not so sure, we're mainly talking about manufacturing, where most people don't work - The rest of the consumers would otherwise be subsidizing the overpaid US worker. Is it right that all consumers (people) in America pay a bit extra in charity to a minority of people who somehow aren't being as productive as they could?

What kind of solution do you propose? More freedom of the labor markets, or less, or something else?

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Re:You really don’t need to work so much by Asbostos on Saturday August 22, 2015 @10:10AM (#10102538)

severus_bro. I'm still not sure what you're suggesting. Is it that the Chinese government is allowing its people to be treated badly by employers? That may be true, but could they actually do much better? Improved working conditions mean reduced competitiveness and more unemployment.

Anyway, "I don't want to repeat myself" tends to be a sign that somebody has come to the end of their chain of reasoning. So there's probably nothing further for us to discuss. I hoped you might be someone who could explain a valid reason behind this popular idea. More than "Be like the better ones."

[ Parent | on HN ]