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Socialism, is the race to the bottom. That is what we have primarily in this country is socialism, and that's why we are in a decline. Just like under the USSR.
If anything, we're a lot more communists than the Chinese! Look at all the surveillance alone!!!! That right there is communism 101!!!
I was born poor in a 3rd world country. I , like many in my position, knew there was ONLY one way out. Out-compete everyone around you. So I chose analytical thinking, I am an engineer. I honed my skill, and sold it to the highest bidder, my employer. I feel I am very well rewarded by this system of open negotiations of my skill with some corporation, where they will pay me the least they can. But they also have to compete with other corporations who want my skills, and this raises my price in the market.
Only in capitalism can I hope to become rich when I was born with little.
That created 25+ years where there was no competition for US corporations. Labor costs simply didn't matter.
Consumer-capitalism self destructs unless the consumer salaries rise in concert with the capitalist's profits. The '29 stock market collapse and the following 45 period of rising consumer wages corrected for the imbalance that was incurred up to that point.
What do you mean by "competition"? We are a really big country, we have plenty of competition without including the rest of the world. Why are we competing with other countries if it isn't beneficial to us? Why did labor costs not matter then, but now they do? You seem to imply that we were exporting a lot of product, but we weren't. We never had a significant trade surplus. Trade was balanced throughout our history until the 80s.
Global trade is supposed to increase productivity and make everyone richer. And actually it will if it is properly managed to give that result. But it can also be managed to create a huge income and wealth disparity. By including the rest of the world in your consumer-capitalist playing field you can drain middle class wealth in developed countries and make up for it in developing ones.
Global trade is supposed to increase productivity and make everyone richer. And actually it will if it is properly managed to give that result. But it can also be managed to create a huge income and wealth disparity. By including the rest of the world in your consumer-capitalist playing field you can drain middle class wealth in developed countries and make up for it in developing ones.
And how is it to be "properly managed", save to sink further into the crony-capitalism which has undone the workings of the markets and caused most of our present discontents?
I can readily agree with the point that the disruptions of World War II -- in particular, North America's near-monopoly on heavy industry, created an artificial advantage, and that our media-saturated culture makes for a hard time in weaning those who expected too much away from the dreams. But a rising tide lifts all boats -- just not as far for those already close to the top.
I also see the "perception of affluence" by a society not well-trained in the basics of "personal" economics as a major contributing factor. When incomes rise on a personal or family basis, more of the disposable income is likely to be spent in the pursuit of either higher-quality goods requiring more input of labor, or direct personal services. Furthermore, increasing wealth conditions the recipient to avoid the labor-intensive jobs we are all instinctively shun.
"We have met the enemy, and he is us," (Walt Kelly)
Last edited by 2nd trick op; 10-30-2015 at 06:36 PM..
And how is it to be "properly managed", save to sink further into the crony-capitalism which has undone the workings of the markets and caused most of our present discontents?
It's been managed for cronies since the beginning of the "free" trade campaign. The simplest way to fix it would be to manipulate our currency to balance trade rather than manipulate it to force a trade deficit.
Quote:
I can readily agree with the point that the disruptions of World War II -- in particular, North America's near-monopoly on heavy industry, created an artificial advantage
An advantage in what sense? We were not exporting our production. Our trade surplus was nil.
When your currency is at the center of the world economy, and you get to set up all ruling bodies for global trade, politics, banking, ect, you have advantages.
Consumer-capitalism self destructs unless the consumer salaries rise in concert with the capitalist's profits. The '29 stock market collapse and the following 45 period of rising consumer wages corrected for the imbalance that was incurred up to that point.
What do you mean by "competition"? We are a really big country, we have plenty of competition without including the rest of the world. Why are we competing with other countries if it isn't beneficial to us? Why did labor costs not matter then, but now they do? You seem to imply that we were exporting a lot of product, but we weren't. We never had a significant trade surplus. Trade was balanced throughout our history until the 80s.
Global trade is supposed to increase productivity and make everyone richer. And actually it will if it is properly managed to give that result. But it can also be managed to create a huge income and wealth disparity. By including the rest of the world in your consumer-capitalist playing field you can drain middle class wealth in developed countries and make up for it in developing ones.
Since you're big on leading all your posts with ad hominem attacks, here's one back at you.
Are you merely stupid & ignorant or are you just pretending and being a troll?
Outside of pickup trucks, what are the top-10 selling automobiles? What is their percentage of domestic content? Of the ones assembled in the United States, how many of the factories pay UAW compensation?
Name the top domestic consumer electronics manufacturer. Actually, name any domestic consumer electronics manufacturer.
What percent of the clothing in your closets and drawers is manufactured in the United States?
Over the long term, trade deficits tend to take care of themselves. The currency of the deficit country falls making imported goods more expensive. The currency of the trade surplus country rises making their goods less competitive. Due to global geopolitical stability and economic issues, the US dollar hasn't fallen yet. Europe needs to sort out their enormous social spending problem. China manipulates their currency to keep it artificially low against the dollar. Even with all that, it's happening. China is slowing down and kicked off the stock market correction a couple of months ago.
The long term trend is that the Chinese garbage in Walmart is going to get more expensive. The United States will see inflation from it. Wages for the unwashed masses won't increase at the rate of inflation and US labor will be come more competitive relative to China. I already see it in my little universe. A good engineer in Shanghai used to cost $30K fully burdened. They now cost $90K and it's damned tough to retain them. The rate of outsourcing to the Chinese has pretty much stopped because it's not enough of a cost difference to justify the business, language, and cultural hassles.
You clearly have zero understanding of basic economics. Global competition is supposed to maximize your competitive advantage. It makes the people who control the capital richer because they merely move production of the resource to the lowest cost place. If I own stock in Apple, I'm totally happy that the Chinese build Apple's iPhones at Foxconn. It's made me wealthy since the gross profit margins are enormous. Even better, Apple keeps all their retained earnings from foreign sales offshore so they're not subject to the obscene 36% United States corporate tax rate. I'm getting wealthy from it because I have the capital. The rust belt factory worker is unemployed. Repeat that formula with all the Fortune 500 multinationals. Those corporations have no particular allegiance to the United States. Lots of them have relocated their corporate HQ offshore because the US corporate tax rate is so out of line with world standards. They sell globally.
So the trend over the last 20 years is that global competition and automation have driven down the wages of unskilled workers in the United States. They have to compete against the rest of the world. People with aptitude, skills, and work ethic are very well compensated in the United States because they're competitive. The good ones create enough capital for themselves where the passive income generated by that capital exceeds their wages. It's the way it's always been and it was only the 50-year aberration from the Great Depression and the economic circumstances of WW II that left the United States as the only player standing that briefly changed that. Since the dawn of the industrial era, you had a small number of wealthy people with the capital and an enormous unskilled working class. The difference now compared to 200 years ago is that there is a path for smart people from modest means to become part of that wealthy class. There simply aren't that many smart people in the world. If you need a smart person to do a job, you have to pay them relative to their very limited supply. It's why Goldman Sachs pays their Ivy League superstars millions per year. It's why Silicon Valley pays $200K+ for a good engineer. It's why the high skill medical specialties make a million bucks per year. Those people all have a good shot at creating the capital where they have huge passive income. They join the 1%-er class.
When your currency is at the center of the world economy, and you get to set up all ruling bodies for global trade, politics, banking, ect, you have advantages.
You're describing England in 1890?
Obviously not but I think you understand my point. No nation remains the economic center of the world forever. Until the Germans bombed the country to rubble, England enjoyed a number of decades where their inertia as the former dominant world power kept the income rolling in. The United States is politically stable and has well-enforced property law. China doesn't have that (yet). The EU looks kind of sketchy and none of the nation states are large enough to fully displace the United States by themselves. The GDP of the United States is 5x that of Germany.
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And yet, I see tons of unfilled mid and high skilled jobs going unfilled in manufacturing. Like I said, I think the crap education system has a lot to do with the problems we are seeing today.
Tell us more about those alleged jobs.
Contrary to "education" hoopla most of the jobs in the modern economy require RRR and simple on job training. It is amazing to even assume that rugged capitalists dont realize that. If they keep on bithching and moaning, if they require ever more expansive certifications and training, they claim that they are willing to lose billion$ because they cannot find properly labeled wage unit, it means one thing, labor glut in each and every area. An improperly labeled wage unit can be just tossed out without consideration of his unlabeled talents, and bitching about lack of somebody extraordinarily and properly labeled goes on. How else they can keep masses under control, if they cannot train the masses to blame themselves for their lot?
According to the mainstream capitalist apologetics, labor is just commodity that is worthless without visions, energy and guidance of owners and managers, who naturally deserve the bulk of compensation. The fact that corporations successfully passed bulk of the labor commodity training costs onto labor itself, points to labor glut.
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