At 22:40 11-5-01 -0400, John Giorgis asked in confusion:
> >You may recall that JDG and I discussed this recently. I agree with you
> >that moving factories to the Third World would be bad for the European and
> >US economies; John however is convinced that it would be *good* for the
> >economy if we did that...
>
>But wait a second Jeroen, just a few messages ago, you wrote:
>
> >>One of the main effects of Kyoto would be a transfer of wealth.
> >
> >Doesn't sound like such a bad thing to me.
>[snip]
> >Of course, this would require the capitalists to start thinking long-term...
>
>So what is it Jeroen? Is it good in the long term for us to transfer
>factories from the capitalists to the Developing World, or isn't it?
We may not have to move factories to increase wealth in the Third World.
How about helping those countries set up their own factories, at first to
produce for their internal market, and later for export? This will (a)
reduce unemployment, (b) increase the national income, because more people
will actually *have* an income, and (c) make those products more easily
available because of the lower price (since they don't need to be imported
--> lower costs).
Another big step would be to stop the West's current practices in the Third
World (such as long hours, little pay, aggressive response to workers'
attempts to form unions) and start treating the locals decently, and giving
them a decent pay for their work.
Example of the wrong way: a while ago, I saw a documentary about the
practices of IKEA. They have their furniture produced in the Third World,
and do their best to look like the Evil Oppressor from the West. Several
owners of local factories working for IKEA were interviewed, and they all
told the same story about long hours, low pay, violence etcetera. One of
them also told about the annual "negotiations" with IKEA about the price
IKEA would pay for a piece of furniture. Every year it was the same
routine: IKEA would "suggest" a price (which everytime was a little lower
than the year before) and the factory owner would immediately accept. No
discussion possible.
Example of the right way: several food products here are sold under the
"Max Havelaar" label. These products still come from Third World, but are
not bought from large factories but directly from the producers (read:
local farmers) themselves, and at a higher price than those producers would
get otherwise. This makes "Max Havelaar" products a bit more expensive than
other brands, but they sell quite well.
Jeroen
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