damn!! it doesn’t inspire alot of confidence in the work of the guy when he’s a journalist that has very little accuracy in his spelling. Orwell was right, they’r inventing words and acting like they’ve always been part of the language. ie. orientated rather than oriented. what the hell is relucatant? oversees? laborors? Drew, where you a Bush classmate? Answer quick, is Africa a country?

Orthographic errors aside, there’s no way we can compete with the near slave labor and lack of labor laws in China or anywhere in the world for that matter without bringing prices for goods down to a more realistic level. Maybe the days of 5Million a year+ bonuses are over. Maybe not.

Slack Jed, slack. Maybe he’s typing it on the fly like you. See your ‘..where you a Bush…’ Don’t shoot the messenger. It’s the message. And you got to that. I believe this whole matter is pretty complicated, but if something smells, there’s probably a reason.

Thomas Friedman is a hack. That said, we are in serious trouble! If even 15% of Chinese are employed that gives them a workforce of greater than 195 Million workers. Add to that the workers of India which would (again at 15%) equal around 154 Million. With workforce estimates in the us being less than 70 million (that’s 25% of the population) we’ve got a BIG problem. Perhaps we should be inviting Mexican Immigrants over the border to help even the score.

Sorry, spelling tends to be a pet peeve of mine, I guess my teachers pushed a little too hard on me even though I was a foreigner, or perhaps because of it. Trying to be funny rather than dickish… ergo the smiley.

I find it disgraceful that we are so amicable with China now, particularly with their dismal human rights record.
Rember in the 80’s when they were driving tanks over the student protestors in tianenmen square? Saw a documentary on that not too long ago, there was alot we didn’t see or hear about at the time. Now we even help them spy on their people.
Seems after tianenmen a law was drafted an passed that prevented any american companies from supplying the chinese gov with police and military eqpmnt, tools to oppress their people. Since then it was reinterpreted to mean police equipment such as battons and helmets in order to allow american companies to sell them a state of the art camera and face recognition system.
hmmm, wonder what those cameras are doing on top of the traffic signals in my neighborhood?

STOP BUYING SO MUCH CRAP! You fat slob clowns. Can you fit your car into your garage, or is it packed to the rafters with clothes, shoes, outdoor gear, and other Commie garbage? Can you fit your gut into your Chinese-made size XXL shorts? The Dell / Lenovo / Sony you are using right now is also RED RED RED.

Hell Jed, I’m probably worse than you. I HATE it that reiterate has been legitimized.

How CAN the Cons condemn? A) it’s against their nature, B) they believe in the philosophy and C) they’d be slitting their own throat.

Good point Jethro. Since our standard of living is inevitably going to take a nosedive anyway, we might as well start cutting back now. But can I keep my computer? How about my car? Doh!

Tom Friedman (check spelling, Mr. Dickinson) may be a “hack,” but he also covered the Lebanon wars throughout the ’70s and ’80s when they were hot (I don’t mean hot as in hip or with it, but hot as in deadly and lethal), has called repeatedly for a fair two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine mess from early on and absorbed all sorts of ill-informed and one-sided attacks (most of them snarky and sarcastic, most of them unfair, and most of them plain ignorant) from the far left and the far right for doing so, and continues to hunt out stories about the effects of the global economy on the Third World that few other American journalists ever bother with. He’s not just some slob who lucked into the NYT foreign affairs op-ed column; he’s paid his dues (like a number of other Minnesota-born and -bred Jewish boys: the late lamented Paul Wellstone, Al Franken, and little Bobby Zimmerman, better known to us as Bob Dylan). I’m sick and tired of seeing cheap shots from blog posters who know little and think less attacking Tom Friedman. As far as I’m concerned, he has just two significant sins against him: 1) He was wrong about the Iraq war; he’s since admitted as much, wrong especially to trust the Bush admin. 2) He’s an execrable prose stylist, inexcusable in someone who makes his living as a writer. Oh yes, and 3) He refuses to conform his nuanced vision of the world to the armchair blog posters extreme-left or extreme-right views, their easy scapegoats and their facile, snarky remarks.

Speaking of facile and snarky, I continue to be baffled and completely mystified at Mr. Dickinson’s enthrallment to the written vituperations of Matt Taibbi. Sincerely, Mackb

Well said Mack. I’m impressed by your post (more so than I am by his story). And I’m sure Mr Friedman appreciates you sticking up for him. You go right ahead and enjoy his column. I’ll go right along thinking he’s either naive or a tool of the establishment (or both?). Perhaps some day we can meet in the middle. Remember when you read blog posts, not all of us put as much thought into each post as you do.

Hey Mackb,
ARE you Tom Friedman?

If so-or if not I don’t really care-could you please explain to us why a company would want to hire a very expensive American worker over an equally qualified inexpensive foreigner regardless of how hard they worked?

On a related note: Since healthcare is so expensive in this country why can’t we all go off to Thailand where we can receive better care from better doctors for less?
And don’t even get me started on importing those (unsafe???? would YOU trust the FDA???) drugs from Canada.

Until we build a big enough fence, CLB.

China Law,
You may be right China, but I still have my doubts. I grew up in the 1970s. Back then the label “made in Japan” meant that a product was cheap, shoddy workmanship, lower end. That all changed in the 80s. Now Japanese products rule the American marketplace. I don’t think it will take the Chinese that long to get their manufacturing humming along. This country doesn’t really manufacture much of anything anymore. India will take over the service industries (they already have a lot). Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy for the Chinese and Indian people that they will finally be getting a share of the big pie. I’m not a protectionist or an isolationist, but the inevitable conclusion I keep coming to is that the American Lifestyle is not sustainable in the long term. The American Labor force needs to continue to sharpen their skills and be ready to compete in an ever-shrinking job market. I’m not sure how many Americans realize this. Sometimes I think that the answer is a government regulation that would force American Global Companies to Pay within a small percentage of the same wage to American or Foreign workers. I told this to my conservative Mother-in-Law and she gave me a look like I had seaweed coming out of my nose. What do you think about it? I’d be interested in your input.

Jethro,
You’re going to advise the Chinese on building a wall?

No, TinFoilHat, but subcontractors loyal to Dick Cheney will continue paying him compensation years after the fence is built. What a guy.

Curious about which Beijing ministry China Law Blog is reaching us from.

Or is CLB posting from somewhere inside WalMart?

Virginia,
You have a point about them needing us. I guess our only trump card (normal Americans) is that if we can’t afford all this shit, that reduces the marketplace considerably. China is in transition right now. I’m sure they have many times the number of people unemployed as we have people period. That will change though, and as the chinese people gain affluence, so they can replace the marketplace they currently have here. At the rate they are growing it may just be a mater of decades before we are left out in the cold. Currently the chinese are the largest contengient of many who are financing our debt in order to ensure their customer base. If the deficit continues to grow, that could change quick. To be honest I’m scared about the legacy we might be leaving for our children.

No I’m not Tom Friedman; apparently if you defend somebody against idiotic posts, self-satisfied smirking anonymous bloggers, smug “rebels” who use the anonymity of the web to push their nonsensical, self-aggrandizing (me against the “establishment”) ideas about themselves and about life, then you must be that person. Tom Friedman ain’t perfect, but he’s no schmuck, and I’m not him. I don’t know if he “appreciates” my sticking up for him because I’ve never met him and I doubt seriously if he wastes his time reading the so-called wisdom of all the self-romanticizing “rebels” on this blogsite, or my posts herein. As for capitalism, my own opinion is that the regulated welfare-state version (a la the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Canada, etc.) is the worst form of political economomy in existence, except for all the others. Or perhaps we should emulate the workers’ paradises, like China in the ’70s or that fine pluralist democrat Hugo Chavez’s version in present-day Venezuela. Sincerely, mackb

Sorry TinFoilHat, but I think the primary drivers behind China purchasing US debt are 1) Taiwan and 2) military modernisation.

1) It will be difficult for the US Navy to intervene in an invasion of Taiwan if, after a massive sell-off of Treasury bonds, US sailors’ paychecks can’t buy a load of bread. 2) Piles of US cash = piles of bribes to US citizens for their technology access. The FBI is in the process of making it easier by underfunding operations in Silicon Valley.

Tom Friedman is a servant of the plutocracy. American corporations depend on the military to enforce “intellectual property” rights, etc. As America takes in less and less tax dollars, as the population becomes ever less supportive of GE, etc., expect it to be harder and harder to get gunboat diplomacy done. GE and Co. are signing their own bankruptcy papers. I have always thought that our coprorate elite was a dumb as a box of rocks and this China love proves it.

lynne, I always thought GE and the Privilege Party love China because it offshores political responsibility for an ugly but inevitable future.

Bankrupting the US federal government is a slow motion slide towards outsourced sovereignty services like ‘regional citizen management’ and ‘internal border maintenance’. Gunboat diplomacy will evolve into ‘resource leasing in a hostile geography’ and be contracted to specialists like Koch and Bechtel.

The last line of my previous comment was meant as a joke. HA HA

The country with the cheapest unskilled labor will always get the jobs that require no skill. And, unfortunately, it doesn’t take any special knowledge or training to turn a bolt. Nearly anybody can work on an assembly line, and there are lots of people with no education in the world. Ultimately machines will be built by the cheapest labor of all-other machines.

Ironically, we may be benefitting econonmically from being China’s biggest trading partner. Making money off of someone is a tremendous incentive to avoid making war with them. A shooting war with China, whether over Taiwanese turf or ideology, would be far more costly than the trade war we are currently losing.

Have you ever noticed that globalization cheerleaders like Thomas Friedman are in occupational positions which are completely immune from being offshored? (In Friedman’s case, a New York Times columnist).

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like such a odd, bizarre, and unexplainable coincidence…

Eddie, The New East India Companies? Looks like it is time for a new Boston Tea Party.

Well, tough to organise a ‘Tea Party’ resistance movement when the mob is hooked on meth and glued to reruns of American Idol.

From what I’ve read, globalization comes in waves. It’s popular at some points in history and unpopular in others-around the turn of the 20th century, everyone in the British Empire thought they would lose thier jobs to thier own colonies.

That said, is it too naive to talk about a global currency? (the euro…) Or global laws giving equal protection for worker’s rights to all nations? (no precedent but it’s more interesting than arguing for a snowball’s existence in hell…)

I am boycotting the Times over this editorial position of theirs, and I hope I’m not alone. How can anyone who even remotely considers himself “liberal” do otherwise? (Or go to Starbucks, buy Nikes, patronize GE, etc. etc.?) If modern liberalism has any hisotrical foundation at all, it’s in the fight for organized labor, workers’ right, a decent standard of life for the “common” human being. Yet Americans, liberals included, blindly patronize companies that show contempt for unions, even companies that tacitly oppose the most basic human rights for workers.

American workers are under attack from all sides these days. Blathering about “shoddy goods from Asia” or “Tom Friedman is a decent guy” is just hopelessly beside the point. Everyone with any power at all (from the megacorps to the politicians to the NY Times) is lining up to chain and shackle our working class. It’s up to the rest of us not to let that happen.

Both parties are complicit. Remember Ross perot and “the giant sucking sound” . We are hearing it my brothers!

China has to stop using slave labor? Thats the best you can do?

vincent,
Here! Here! Don’t you pull any punches!

This is truly, sadly indicative that the worst thing Nixon did while president may have been one of the few things he has been praised for-opening China to trade. It is absolutely shameful in this country that those who work for American owned companies are not offered the same protection of human rights and living wages that workers over here are, and it is shameful that our so called leaders on both sides of the aisle, and even pundits such as Friedman, turn a blind eye to this, and so many other, injustices in the world. T

DT,
I think the overall effect of opening China’s trade has been positive for their society. As repressive and oppressive as they are, they were worse back in the seventies. On the other hand, US companies should strive to set a superior example in foreign countries. They should pay more and treat their workers better. This would send a message to Chinese and state-owned business.
But alas (sigh), if the US Government is outlawing habeas corpus and the Geneva conventions, how can we expect corporate responsibility from our business men?

“But alas (sigh), if the US Government is outlawing habeas corpus and the Geneva conventions, how can we expect corporate responsibility from our business men?”

I agree with the sentiment, but unfortunately, driving down labor costs and undermining workers’ rights IS “responsibility from our businessmen.” They’re responsible to their shareholders & no one else.

If they move production overseas to where there are no pesky traditions of worker solidarity or rights, they’re fulfilling their responsibility to their shareholders. If they act to decimate these traditions in America, they’re fulfilling that responsibility. If they ruin the environment with no thought of reparation, they’re fulfilling that responsibility. Under present conditions these activities are more profitable for them than any alternatives.

Our only hope is to change “present conditions” into something else. The way I see it, our first, most immediate step is to boycott and urge others to boycott the worst offenders & then to organize boycotts: this will remove a lot of the profitability if it’s done right. Next we can look into passing protectionist labor laws, and legally redefining corporations as something other than the sick destructive monsters they are today.

One thing white progressive never mention is how west stole riches from China and India. So giving them advice
on how to compete with you is completely ridiculous. It is the west forced open china and India, so now you want to dictate labor laws. How about reparations for Opium war. Corporation have to grow and the only way they can expand is by going to china and India. So India and China are going to squeeze them. It is the price Corporations are willing to pay. Matt what about advocating selling of Oil not in Dollars, this is the reason that India was forced to open its economy in 1991. The whole world pays tax to us for buying oil and then using those dollars to prop the american way of life.

China will soon hit a wall as its efforts to industrialize will run into shortages of raw materials and infrastructure. It is already consuming 40% more water than it can sustain and has suffered many serious polution problems. In addition the migration to the cities is putting a strain on the population.

China has plans to build urban housing for 400,000,000 people over the next decade. This is equivalent to replacing every home in the US in the next seven years. Clearly this is not possible.

There are over 30,000 uprisings by workers and peasants in China each year as well. China will continue to grow and to dominate the low-cost labor sector, but its growth can’t be maintained.

The real issues are world over population and depletion of natural resources. These effects will swamp any other problems by mid-century. The US is not doing anything to develop a sustainable economy either.

Good stuff RDF. In the ideological stampede to the high ground, those two time bombs too often get ignored. I guess you might lump all those types of time bombs into one and call it: The Earth Fights Back.

haramee,
It wasn’t me who instituted the opium war. In fact, wasn’t it the English? Just because I’m white I should offer recompense for any ‘white’ offence in history. Dude, we Americans are still trying to make up for black slavery. We’re already guilty enough. Besides, I was not advocating dictation of labor laws. I was advocating corporate responsibility for American Companies setting up shop in China. Why don’t you take your innate hostility and put it on a shelf somewhere?

If companies want to trash international trade laws then we need a new world law. Something that states a minimum wage in real moneys that will be paid laborers no matter what country.

We also need a standard world currency.

Thank you, Matt and others concerned about China. While others go on and on about the “Foley Follies” and other Hee-Haw, China is busy executing innocent people by the thousands and making a HUGE profit on their organs! Their government is so barbaric that instead of vaccinating their dogs, they just go out and beat 50,000 of them to death with clubs when there’s an outbreak of rabies.

Nixon sold us out to China, and so has every president since then. And now they own us! Who knows if they aren’t actually running our own government, behind the scenes. Our “leaders” in government and media better stand up to the Chinese government NOW, or else! Sad that such an ancient and intelligent culture has come up with so little concern for the quality of life of humanity.

Just out of curiosity, what would you guys consider an acceptable wage and acceptable labor conditions for China?

well, for starters, our companies should abide by our laws when doing business in the exterior. I understand that it’s not easy and that other countries have very dissimilar laws. That being said, if there are laws here that put a minimum wage limit because that is what is acceptable to make a somewhat decent living (one that hasn’t changed in 20+ years even though inflation and congressional salaries have grown) then they should pay at least that much to their workers in other countries for the very same reasons. They should abide by laws agains corruption and bribery, instead of going around willy nilly bribing governments and leaders to get contracts. Oh wait, they do that here already.

China has a minimum wage. China also has a forty hour workweek after which workers are supposed to be paid twice their normal salary. Not to say everyone follows it, but the law is there. I would say local Chinese companies are much more corrupt than foreign invested ones, the nastiest areas being construction, custom clearance, mining, and chemical processing, all areas dominated by law, by chinese companies. It was a local company that dumped 100 tons of nitrobenzene into the Songhua river, a local company that dumped 10 tons of cadmium into the Pearl river, and a local company that poisoned an entire county with lead recently. I dont think they are following your example.

China is also responsible for propping up the “leaders” of Sudan as they butcher the people of Darfur.

90% of the stuff at Wal-Mart is from China — boycott them until the bastards get the message.

Well, I’ve lived in China last 4 years. Don’t recognize the place from the xenophobic bullshit above though. Haven’t seen any slaves and probably fewer down and outs than in New York City. Seen a lot of poor people working hard to make good – but that could be anywhere right?
Too many people letting others do their thinking here. You guys ever looked at anything other than your own local propaganda news outlets?

…and you’re assuming a vast media conspiracy led by – Thomas Freidman???? Brilliant.

The problem w/ doing away w/ Habeas Corpus is that we lose our credibility when it comes to criticizing other nation’s human rights violations. We seriously need to get our own houses in order.

But that’s neither here nor there. We have our own slave workforce, we just call it prison labor.

When will the NY Times outsource Friedman’s job to India?

Greatsage, it’s human nature to listen to those with whom you agree. But words of firsthand experience are always welcome, especially when uttered quietly and calmly. Can you direct us to a source that you feel is accurate.

GreatSage,
I spend soooo much time seeking out alternative media sources. Some are better than others: sometimes you might believe a source about something that you might not believe about something else.

If I (humble FoilHat) have posted anything to be of offense to youself or the honorable people of china, I most humbly appologize and beg forgiveness. Should the Great Sage wish to point it out the offence I could more fully address my bias. I beg of you, Great Sage, please enlighten your humble servants with a suggestion of what media outlet would most accurately inform us about Chinese policy?

if youre going to be capitalist, you have to accept that your country is going to get nailed by any country that has less worker rights, less taxes on corporaitions, and a lack of democracy.
Democracy and capitalism are not compatible, america has to choose one or the other, and it looks like you are choosing tthe latter.
Of course corporaitions are going to move big-time to fascist states that crush workers and have no taxes, its uncompetitive to do anything else. If a corporation has the choice between country A: happy vibrant democracy with good civil rights and a minimum wage, and country B a no unions, dictator run minimum wage lacking fascist state, what do you expect them to choose? Your economy will always lose out when you have a competitor who doesnt pay minimum wage.

tsk – China is communist not fascist. And this is real alot of worrying about nothing. In the 1980’s people got worked up about Japan “taking over America”, and then Japan had a major financial crisis. This will be similar.

Cap, I don’t think this is anything like Japan. Let’s look at the numbers (again) shall we?

If even 15% of Chinese are employed that gives them a workforce of greater than 195 Million workers. Add to that the workers of India which would (again at 15%) equal around 154 Million. With workforce estimates in the us being less than 70 million (that’s 25% of the population) we’ve got a BIG problem.

Taibbi is the best political/social writer in the nation. Where has Road Rage gone from the print edition? It was the whole reason I subscribed…

TinFoilHat -
Where do you come up with the U.S having less than 70 Million workers? There are over 113 million workers in the U.S. I am not sure of how many workers China and India have, and don’t really care to look for the info, the U.S. advantages in production and technology make up for the differences in the number of workers. But the workforce size is really irrelevant. China has some serious economic issues looming in the near future, and it is doubtful that they will be able to prevent them because of the state control of the economy.

Unfortunately it’s not how many you have but how they are put to use.
When a majority of the work force is employed in menial low paying service jobs you have a population struggling to survive rather than prospering.
The same situation is going on in China to some degree, but they are using their population for industry and technology – alot of those hacker attacks on defense systems and industry come from china – which should put them in a great position to improve their economy and better serve the wealthy among them.

Seems to be a worldwide pattern lately.

Pig,
I was basing those estimates on 25% of the US population vs 15% of the Chinese population and 15% of Indians. I just wanted to get some numbers out there, apparently you have better estimates than I do.

Jed,
Yeah, have you heard about those Chinese companies that hire workers for pennies a week to play video games all day? They get some sword, or a key, and sell them to lazy American gamers for $50 a shot. Can you imagine what a whole room of full-time hackers could do? Nothing on the web is safe (except for maybe the parts that are blocked by Beijing).

well, i’m not sure if taibbi is the best anything in the nation. last i read he’d dropped some acid and was pretending to be hunter t.
good look wit dat, boyo. it’s 2006, hello?

Taibbi,
Although you swan around with movie stars now and forget the old friends who used to hold onto your belt loop as you vomited your guts onto the tracks at Mayakovskaya (not that I ever did that, but I might have done it, had we actually been, you know, old friends who swanned around together), I still must admit that this is a hell of a piece. Molodets!

“China needs to stop using slave labor.” I agree. How could we do that? Who is going to feed 1.3 billion people. Sometimes it is really unbearable to see Chinese work and live in such horrible situation. US should donate money, tech, and whatever possible to help Chinese people not be working like slaves.

tsk writes:
“If a corporation has the choice between country A: happy vibrant democracy with good civil rights and a minimum wage, and country B a no unions, dictator run minimum wage lacking fascist state..”

Then why aren’t US companies all moving to North Korea or Cuba??

Taibbi writes:
“America doesn’t need to try harder. China needs to stop using slave labor. If you see things any other way, you’ve probably got a factory in the Suzhou industrial park. Or you’re taking money from someone who does.”

Even if China doesn’t use slave labor(and I’m sure your definition of ’slave’ is loose – you most likely mean ‘cheap’ labor) it wouldn’t stop manufacturing companies from moving overseas. If the yuan were to appreciate 25% or 30%, as some have argued for, and if Chinese manufacturing labor wages were to rise to ‘market’ value, China still has a huge, huge advantage. Someone who makes $350 / month in China is squarely in their middle class. So it’s really pointless trying to compete with China in manufacturing. “Slave labor” has nothing to do with it. The fact is, Friedman’s advice notwithstanding, Americans are innovating, as we always do. There are plenty of new companies providing jobs. The Internet company in my building increased their staff by 30% in the last year, to 500 employees, just to name one example.

Andy – You make a very good point. The U.S economy will overcome by using technology to increase productivity. The U.S also leads the world in research and development. The number one way to lower cost in manufacturing is not to pay less but to get higher productivity out of your workers. If you look at what China is manufacturing it is not items requiring a large degree of skill. There is a reason why Toyota built their engine plant in Alabama and not China. Slave labor is of no use in manufacturing a product such as engines.

If it’s ‘technology’ building the engine then it doesn’t matter where it’s built.

And what of the workers ‘left behind’ when the jobs go to Asia. What’s to become of them?

DirtyDennis | 10/21/2006, 9:59 am EST

If it’s ‘technology’ building the engine then it doesn’t matter where it’s built.

——————– —

Wrong. If you have to have people who are capable of operating the technology. That is one reason why work such as mold making and toolmaking have not went overseas. If you are making trinkets that cost less than a penny in material you can get by with 10% scrap, or more, if you are making a V-8 engine where one piece of scrap can cost you thousands you must have highly skilled people who can do it right the first time.

As for the people left behind, they can be retrained for positions that will not go overseas. Sometimes industries die, and should. Case in point, before the automobile there was a huge business making horse drawn carriages, those jobs were eliminated by the auto industry, which provided more jobs, and at a better pay.

Another little fact. Since 2000 China has lost 4.5 million manufacturing jobs, and the U.S. has only lost 3.1 million.

Highly skilled workers? Making V-8s. What a crock. Those jobs don’t go overseas because the Unions won’t let them. They try that and the UAW would shut down every plant in North America.

They only move the jobs of workers who can’t fight back.

As for retraining, yeah, computer programmers are retrained to flip burgers. That’s good for the corporate executives, NOT for America.

DirtyDennis | 10/26/2006, 8:31 am EST

Highly skilled workers? Making V-8s. What a crock. Those jobs don’t go overseas because the Unions won’t let them. They try that and the UAW would shut down every plant in North America.

They only move the jobs of workers who can’t fight back.

As for retraining, yeah, computer programmers are retrained to flip burgers. That’s good for the corporate executives, NOT for America.
—————–

I hate to disappoint you but there are three auto plants in Alabama, Toyota, Mercedes, and Hyundia, and none of them have unions. The only crock is you not knowing what you are talking about. Those companies came here from overseas.

China is not perfect and a huge room for improvement. However, if you have a chance to go to some of the cities in China, you will find that they are different from what you think. Your article may not reflect the whole true situations.

China needs to improve human rights in the country. But the US administration does not have a good human rights records after 9/11. How can you lecture them?

Pig,

What does Toyota, et al, moving plants TO America have to do with America moving jobs OUT of America?

DirtyDennis | 10/29/2006, 9:34 am EST

Pig,

What does Toyota, et al, moving plants TO America have to do with America moving jobs OUT of America?
————————

Real simple. First it shows that your whole point that it is the UAW that keeps jobs from leaving is BS. The UAW is not doing much to keep GM and Ford from laying off thousands, in fact they are largely to blame for the current situation at those companies. Secondly, we lose some low skill jobs to other countries, but we gain high skill high paying jobs. The end result is a net plus.

Taibbi writes:
“Remember Roger and Me? Remember those two rich old white ladies on the golf course who waxed poetic on the first tee about the despair of laid-off auto workers in Flint, Michigan, talking about how people just need to “try harder” and “keep at it” or whatever to overcome their problems?”
I remember it well. The lowpoint of the film. Rush Limbaugh used to do that sort of thing with homeless guys when he had his TV show–ambush them with a rolling TV camera and then edit their confused talking to make them look as bad as possible. Those addled ladies are not the enemy–hell, being a company wife in Flint seems a lot like hell to me.
We on the left, with the legacy of Pol Pot, Mao, and Stalin to answer for, must ensure that we never deny the humanity of our adversaries.

Selwyn:civility moral:carbonates paraphrased irreproducible regulative,… Thanks!!!

discord reinvented troubleshooters,springtime unsuited rib Lorraine – Tons of interesdting stuff!!!

diseases Triceratops contouring,divans!slumbered … Thanks!!!

averts wary excellent patriotic!resultantly calloused checkpoint

unfriendliness rod foresees snarl disagrees reminiscently .

patenting immaterial Morris phosphorus slayer societal antagonized resuscitate?cowherd: