John D. Giorgis wrote:
>At 01:53 PM 1/24/01 -0800, Kristin "flaming pinko" Ruhle wrote:
>> I say WHAST ABOUT ALL THE
>>POOR HARDWORKING PEOPLE YOU JUST LAID OFF YOU F***ING GREEDY
>>BASTARDS?!?!?!!! FOr someone in China to get a job someobody in America
>>has to LOSE HIS. Gravitating to the lowest wages.
>
>Which is the more socially responisble option?
>A) Providing a job to an American, who living in a solid economy at
>nearly full employment has lots of other potential job opportunities.
>B) Providing a job to an impoverished citizen of a Third World country,
>who without your job would likely be unemployed or working for much lower
>wages. Additionally, by employing cheaper labor you can produce your
>rechargeable batteries much cheaper allowing you to earn higher profits,
>which is translated into increased wealth for many share-holding middle
>class Americans. Moreover, even while boosting your profits you are also
>able to lower your prices to undercut your competition (boosting volume,
>and thereby profits), which also makes your products available to many poor
>American that could not ordinarily afford your products, and boosting the
>overall health of the American economy.
Of course, there's all those additional benifits of option B that you've
failed to mention, like:
*Not* having to deal with those *ridiculous* labor laws, so that you can
employ women and children for $1.00 a day (none of that pinko minimum
wage stuff) *and* keep them on for a *full* work day - 12 or 14 hours a
day at least- without having to deal with all that silly overtime. And,
of course, if they get injured or killed using your machinery, which
you've cut corners on because unlike in America it doesn't have to be
safety inspected, you don't have to deal with lawsuits or health
insurance or any of those silly little unimportant things: just hire
someone new and forget it. There's too many Chinese in the world anyway:
why feel guilty about a 10-year old or two?
Besides, they *need* the jobs, so really, we're doing them a favor.
And while we're talking about our profits, let's look at some of those
other benifits. For example, no waste discharge laws, no emissions
regulations, and again none of those pesky worker health lawsuits, so we
can produce as much pollution as we like wherever we want to. Isn't that
great? And China has a *proper* government, so we don't have to worry
about that little freedom of speech thing messing us up; we can kick the
media out if they try anything on us, which must be a great relief to all
corperate bigwigs. Unionization? Thank God, that can't happen here: China
would never let those silly protests and picket lines get far, as they've
proved more than once. After all, if they're willing to gun down their
best and brightest students, why not a few helpless, worthless,
uneducated workers?
>No, you cannot. But, most Middle Class Americans these days have a
>college education, and I woudl recommend that they get one also.
>Otherwise, they will have to settle for being a member of the lower
>classes. Simple manual labor is no longer a highly valued commodity in
>this country, and it is irrational to expect it to continue to be highly
>valued.
Interesting. So if you don't have an education, not only are you
completely worthless and unemployable, but it's your own damn fault.
Remind me to tell that to my brother's best friend, who just spent the
last two months struggling to find a college his family could possibly
afford before finally giving up, because it just didn't exist. Nor did
the scholarship or financial aid to get him into one. He was desperate
not to end up like his parents, working low-income jobs all his life, so
he signed up for the Air Force, because he was lucky enough not to be a)
female or b) unable to pass their tests. Jeez, what a looser. And it's
all his own fault too.
>Let's face it, educated workers *must* earn more than unskilled workers.
>Otherwise, there would be no incentive for getting an education.
Of course, most of my college friends are now working at McDonalds,
because it's no longer enough to have a BA; you've got to have a Master's
too. Most of them went to college because they expected it to get them a
job; well, guess what, it didn't work, and neither do they. Education
doth not a worker make, though it is true that the lack of one kills your
chances entirely.
>>Kristin the FLaming Pinko! Damn RIGHT! No I didn't vote for Nader, but
>>that's mostly because it would have just been a vote for Bush (whose
>>environmental policies make me want to throw up; according to his religion
>>the world will end soon so why save it.)
>
>Wrong villain of the week - that guy was even too loony from Republicans
>and was forced out during the Reagan Administration.
I voted for Nader, because I haven't forgotten that it was the Clinton
administration that gave China Most Favored Trading Partner status. So
much for Democratic morality. In the meantime, I'm fighting to get my
tuition fees through to New Zealand *fast*, because, in a remarkable
coincidence, the value of the American dollar on the international market
started dropping like a stone the day Bush was inagurated. They can tell
we're a sinking ship even if we can't.
All right, so all this may come over as excessively bitter, and I know
it, but I'm bitter enough about American politics and American "morals"
that I'm very seriously considering, for the first time in my life,
immigrating to another country. For the first time, I am seriously
ashamed to be an American, and I don't like the sensation at all. And
it's views like those expressed in JDG's email that are making me feel
that way. Sorry.
Kat Feete
-----------
No honey for me, if it comes with a bee.
--Sappho
