This sort of thing is what frightens me the most about globalization.[1] We have a hard enough time convincing our own scummy businesspeople that someone who is disabled in the course of their work should be taken care of. Globalization forces us to fight that battle against scummy businesspeople all over the world, in places that value human life and dignity a lot less than we do.[2]
Several years ago, I was in Buffalo, NY, a city devastated by deindustrialization. I was chatting with my cab driver, a woman. She was telling me about how her husband got injured at his factory and could no longer work. He gets a small disability benefit, but not enough to get the surgery he needs to be able to get back to work. That sort of thing is such a huge societal loss. We'd rather save a bit of money up front at the expense of keeping this guy on disability the rest of his life.
[1] Even within the U.S. there is a race to the bottom. Alabama pays out only $37,000 for the loss of a hand, not much more than this woman received in Mexico adjusting for purchasing power. In Illinois it's about $280,000 for one hand.
[2] Even if we don't always value it as highly as we should.
This sort of thing is what frightens me the most about globalization.[1] We have a hard enough time convincing our own scummy businesspeople that someone who is disabled in the course of their work should be taken care of. Globalization forces us to fight that battle against scummy businesspeople all over the world, in places that value human life and dignity a lot less than we do.[2]
Several years ago, I was in Buffalo, NY, a city devastated by deindustrialization. I was chatting with my cab driver, a woman. She was telling me about how her husband got injured at his factory and could no longer work. He gets a small disability benefit, but not enough to get the surgery he needs to be able to get back to work. That sort of thing is such a huge societal loss. We'd rather save a bit of money up front at the expense of keeping this guy on disability the rest of his life.
[1] Even within the U.S. there is a race to the bottom. Alabama pays out only $37,000 for the loss of a hand, not much more than this woman received in Mexico adjusting for purchasing power. In Illinois it's about $280,000 for one hand.
[2] Even if we don't always value it as highly as we should.