So you are telling me that the Swiss are not capitalists because they do not have these grand visions of globalization? Trust me capitalism can work with out globalization. The Swiss do it right and we are cannibalizing ourselves to satisfy the greed and stupidity of our politicians and multis'
Losing Our Edge?
- Thread starter omcate
- Start date
Also, China and India are not capitalist countries. At some point they will not need any more outside capital investments. When that happens, they will create their own companies, which they will heavily subsidize in order to kick foreigners like Dell & HP out of their economy; even bankrupt them if necessary. If you thought Microsoft was predatory, wait until the Chinese giant wakes up.
True, but in manufacturing, it only makes sense (for the American-style capitalist) to employ workers for the smallest wage possible, while charging the highest price the market will withstand. It is about enriching the shareholders through any means necessary.
I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying it's reality. Our system is set up ("the board has a legal responsibility to maximize shareholder value", etc.) to promote cutting corners where possible, while NOT passing the savings on to the consumer.
Now that the Pandora's Box of Globalization has been opened, and the barriers to globalization are being destroyed with our advanced networking, we will see more of this in the future. If it makes financial sense to outsource, ethics be damned, it will happen, or the competition will do it first and put you out of business.
And I agree, it will destroy our way of life as we know it. Cutthroat competition against people who are willing to work for a quarter of our wages and do better quality work? Our standard of living HAS to drop, and drop hard. It's all part of the plan to increase the divide between the superwealthy and the other 99.9% of the population, the unwashed masses. PM Harrytrader; I'm sure he has researched the details and evidence more than I have.
lol I'm not to worried about that. The entire reason their economy is on fire right now it they are doing the *exact* opposite of what you said. They are lowering tariffs and removing barriers to entry for direct foreign investors. And this trend will continue as they are in the process of becoming a full member of the WTO.
Believe me if they ever do reverse course significantly as you say, their economy will crash, just like so would ours if we are stupid enough to put up barriers to trade. It's just like the steel tariffs, they saved 10,000 jobs and destroyed 100,000 jobs of suppliers that were had to pay higher input prices. It is the same thing. We could try to stop global outsourcing and it might save 200,000 computer programmer jobs and destroy 2 million. Definately a bad idea IMO
lol-Taric
Well if you are so against a skew in wealth (ie a few rich people and lots of poor).. then I think you should consider what you are really implying.. as if what you say is true, then the poor Chinese will have an increased standard of living and us rich Americans / Europeans / Japanese will have a lower standard of living. But if you are a liberal redistributionist you should be pleased-- more wage equality! Unless you only care about the poor in America and think it's fine if the poor people in Chinese get screwed.
I have a different view.. economics is based more on dynamic principles not static in real life.. I think we will continue to get richer (although at our snail's pace race due to high government that we have experienced the last 50+ years), and China will continue to get rich just at a faster rate. Again many people make the mistake of thinking that wealth is static.. that there is only so much to go around.. clearly that is not true if you compare how people lived in the 5th century versus today.. the average global standard of living has increased over time which proves things overall are dynamic not static ..
-Taric
tax filing of citizens and having bank records in india is a bad idea. I am not saying that trade barriers are the answer or we should have socialism. However we need to manage labor and capital better so we won't kill the middle class in the US.
I am aggressively moving towards the information age and I set up a trading and publishing business, I am still a fanatical believer of the Internet and the Information age, blind greed and stupid governments are however very low on my list and I will point them out whenever I can.
I am aggressively moving towards the information age and I set up a trading and publishing business, I am still a fanatical believer of the Internet and the Information age, blind greed and stupid governments are however very low on my list and I will point them out whenever I can.
I think it is a great idea-- but I would take it a step further. Have India outsource a ton of our data-entry if they can do it cheaper. Then outsource our pot-holed road system to Germany. Next outsource Amtrack + all public transportation services such as city subways and Airports to Germany. Next outsource our entire K-12 public education system (if we aren't going to privatize it at least) to France or another country. Keep our colleges as is though since that part isn't broken as badly. Outsource our entire legal system to Hong Kong, one of the world's most efficient and fair system. I would do all of these in a heartbeat. And of course the beauty of free trade is to the extent those government are paid for these services they will be using our private services through currency / free trade, ie buying dollar for dollar telecommunication equipment, business services, e-commerce services, medical technology, and all our other big ticket exports. And of course we would have awesome roads, an awesome education system, lower taxes, etc.
-Taric
The situation may not be that bad after all.
Mon May 17, 2004 11:18 AM ET
HELSINKI (Reuters) - One in four Europeans has fallen asleep in the workplace, with the Irish leading the pack but the Dutch able to stifle their yawns best, according to a survey released on Monday.
"Long workdays, routine tasks, meetings that drag on, and staring into the monitor are prompting workers around Europe to fall asleep at their workplace," one of the survey's co-authors, Internet jobs site Jobline, said in a statement.
The poll showed 24 percent of respondents had fallen asleep either at their desk, in a meeting or in the toilet. Thirty-nine percent said they had not fallen asleep at work, but had to make an effort to stay awake.
Close to 40 percent of Irish participants said they had fallen asleep at work, usually at their desks, while 80 percent of Dutch respondents said they had never slept at the office.
The poll from Jobline and Monster Worldwide Inc was carried out between March 29 and April 13, and received responses from some 21,500 people in 14 European countries.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=5166631
Mon May 17, 2004 11:18 AM ET
HELSINKI (Reuters) - One in four Europeans has fallen asleep in the workplace, with the Irish leading the pack but the Dutch able to stifle their yawns best, according to a survey released on Monday.
"Long workdays, routine tasks, meetings that drag on, and staring into the monitor are prompting workers around Europe to fall asleep at their workplace," one of the survey's co-authors, Internet jobs site Jobline, said in a statement.
The poll showed 24 percent of respondents had fallen asleep either at their desk, in a meeting or in the toilet. Thirty-nine percent said they had not fallen asleep at work, but had to make an effort to stay awake.
Close to 40 percent of Irish participants said they had fallen asleep at work, usually at their desks, while 80 percent of Dutch respondents said they had never slept at the office.
The poll from Jobline and Monster Worldwide Inc was carried out between March 29 and April 13, and received responses from some 21,500 people in 14 European countries.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=5166631