Kentcuk tries to figure out why the US is loosing jobs. Is it because our government is passing laws making business harder? NOPE!!! It's because the people are too well off.
kentuck (1000+ posts) Wed Jan-26-11 05:07 AM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x277127"Innovation,
Competition, and Global Economy" are bullshit words.
If the problem is lack of jobs, then why did "American" corporations create more jobs overseas last year than in America?
If innovation is the solution, then why did the new solar technology move most of its manufacturing to China?
If we have labored since the Industrial Revolution to build up the wages and the standard of living of American workers, how are we now supposed to "compete" with countries that pay from .18 cents to $1.00 per hour?
When they say "global economy", they are talking about countries where the most profit can be made for the cheapest labor. That is the bottom line.
All the sweet words about "exceptionalism" and "competitiveness" are only that. They do not address the reality of labor in America.
The only way for America to compete with these countries is for wages and our standard of living to drop in this country. In fact, they already have. But we will need about 20 more years of this bullshit to equalize the wages of the other "competing" countries. They will use inflation to drive down the wages to the level required to compete with the Chinese. Only then will the American workers be able to compete with the other countries.
To talk about these words in such positive terms is only perpetuating the status quo and is a heavy weight on the shoulders of all Americans.
Let us first look at the reality.
I guess I don't get the need for us to be equal with all the other countries.
pampango (1000+ posts) Wed Jan-26-11 05:13 AM
Response to Original message
2. Canada, Germany and other high-wage countries "compete" quite well in the "global economy".
Why not us?
If I knew something
Is it because we have the 2nd highest tax rates in the world? NOPE!!!
kentuck (1000+ posts) Wed Jan-26-11 05:16 AM
Response to Reply #2
5. It must be....
...that they have much lower corporate taxes or...
...they do not ship their jobs all over the world?
Why do you think?
NOPE!!!!
pampango (1000+ posts) Wed Jan-26-11 05:41 AM
Response to Reply #5
8. Taxes in Canada and Germany are higher than in the US, so lower taxes is not the attraction.
Why don't they send their jobs overseas, even though they pay wages comparable to American wages? To some extent they do export jobs but not on our scale. I have a friend in Germany who went to college 30 years ago to become a textile engineer. But all the textile companies left Germany, so she went back to school and is now a teacher.
The best explanation I've seen for why the German economy works is from a book "Were You Born on the Wrong Continent". The author suggests that "an economic model with more bottom-up worker control than that of any other country in the world — and argues that, while we have to take Germany’s problems seriously, we also have to look seriously at how much it has achieved. Social democracy may let us live nicer lives; it also may be the only way to be globally competitive. His anecdotal book helps us understand why the European model, contrary to popular neoliberal wisdom, may thrive well into the twenty-first century without compromising its citizens' ease of living — and be the best example for the United States to follow.
Strong unions are a part of Germany's success. Of course, they also have a strong social safety net and effective national health care. It may be that this combination creates a social cohesion (and middle class wealth and buying power) that makes it more likely for German companies to remain in the country.
Even with that domestic buying power from a strong middle class, trade with other countries represents 60% of their economy so they rely on exports for much of their prosperity.
Romulox (1000+ posts) Wed Jan-26-11 07:18 AM
Response to Reply #8
22. "trade ... represents 60% of their economy"--Yes, because they run huge trade SURPLUSES
with the likes of the United States. And we have concomitant huge trade DEFICITS with Germany and others. You left that part out (convenient!).
somone (1000+ posts) Wed Jan-26-11 05:22 AM
Response to Reply #2
6. They also have single-payer universal health care
Even Japan and Taiwan have it.
NOPE!!!
pampango (1000+ posts) Wed Jan-26-11 07:13 AM
Response to Reply #18
19. I didn't know that. I know Canada has 2.6 times the legal immigration per capita
compared to the US so they have lots of immigrants getting jobs there every year. I had never heard anyone say that Canadians had employment preference over legal immigrants. It is a very multi-cultural society with strict anti-discrimination laws, so that must get pretty tricky for them.
Do you have a source for their Canadians-first law?
I know that Germany does not have a rule of hiring Germans first.
Is it ILLEGAL immigrants? NOPE!!!
Romulox (1000+ posts) Wed Jan-26-11 08:31 AM
Response to Reply #31
32. The vast majority of immigrants to the US are low skilled workers. Entirely unlike Canada, e.g.
Canada does not have the same history of low-skilled immigration being used as a bludgeon against the working classes that we in the US have.
NOPE!!!
WinkyDink (1000+ posts) Wed Jan-26-11 08:35 AM
Response to Reply #2
36. TAXATION.
Alerted. AND Ignored.
HughBeaumont (1000+ posts) Wed Jan-26-11 05:22 AM
Response to Original message
7. K&R. The Cost of living Goes Up. The Chance of MAKING that living goes DOWN.
THAT'S the problem. Working America needs to be paid better. Executive America needs to take a giant pay CUT.
It's not that the people make too much. They don't make enough. And Tax more.
chillspike (626 posts) Wed Jan-26-11 06:16 AM
Response to Original message
13. Competitiveness is not an answer it's the problem (nt)
Javaman (1000+ posts) Wed Jan-26-11 06:17 AM
Response to Original message
14. Stop bringing reality to the conversation...
I think I will stop.
