Reviews:
 ·magicjack.com
1 edit | reply to sonicmerlin
Re: Celebrating "Labor"...? said by sonicmerlin:The problem is funding for our science-related research and development withered away under Bush. Rather than invest in basic science research, companies focused on research that they could commercialize after just a few years. I agree that subsidizing new industries would be a good social remediation to the social injustice of forcing workers to pay for a high standard of living (trash pickup, sewers, air quality, child labor and animal welfare laws), and then "allowing" them to compete against workers who don't.
I didn't care for President Bush. But, I don't know if I'd blame him for the lack of subsidy. Over the past decade or two Americans shifted more toward a "free market" mentality. Lowest tax rates in history. Higher disparity of wealth. More susceptible to the conversation-chilling words "communism" and "socialism."
I think we'll see public sentiment change as a "new normal" develops from The Great Recession.
When people lived on easy money, and used their homes as ATM machines it was easy to think everything is good, and there's no reason to consider larger social issues.
Now, as Americans are faced with paying for $124k average individual debt, and an anemic recovery (individuals returning to only 86% of pre-downturn spending levels), I think more people will be focused on the "socialized" part of "socialized capitalism."
Also, I think part of the problem with offshoring (and how it's not a "free market") is the way we enter into "free trade" agreements. The government hammers out these agreements over many years, requiring cooperating countries adopt western norms of property, employment, banking laws, etc. This essentially levels the playing field for commercial and financial markets to conduct business. But, there's very little imposition of western social norms. No leveling of the playing field for the labor market.
To me, it's like the south Atlantic where waves grow to immense size due to the absence of any land mass to slow them down. Global trade has focused on promoting corporate interests, not workers. One treaty/agreement after another, corporate interest growing without a counter force to slow them down.
Mark |
