Quote from Scataphagos:
Can't say, "nobody saw it coming"..
To restore labor and jobs at any kind of standard of living in the US will require protectionist policies. How do we do that when we're depending upon China continuing buying our Treasuries?
Good point. Unless I missed it, I don't think Goldsmith anticipated that. The Chinese-US relationship although damning to the middle class if maintained, would also have negative consequences if the current arrangement is broken. Damned either way.
Ultimately, I think that if fuel costs soar, then a lot of trade will suffer and many things will be manufactured locally once again. But that's long term; it's anyones guess when oil production doesn't keep up with global demand and prices skyrocket.
However, outsourcing thru telecommunications - from call centers, loan processing and even X Ray diagnostics can be done anywhere in the world.
I think the genie is out of the bottle. Middle Class incomes have stagnated the past 20 some years because of global trade. Sure the tech boom of the nineties and Real Estate booms of the 00s compensated to a degree... but those are over now. Now we are experiencing the wage descent and job loss.
Add to that, the productivity/efficiences gained thru technology - where today one person can do the job it took 3 people 40 years ago... and now we're looking at population overshoot. Lots of hungry mouths and idle hands.
You can't just tack on 4 billion people into the global market that will willingly work for peanuts and not expect negative consequences. See the poverty in India and China? Guess what? We're now importing that poverty and exporting our prosperity. Wealth and Poverty will flow freely around the world. The transnational corporations don't give a shit. They have no allegiance to countries or communities - unless they need a bailout.
