21–30 of 166 posts
He had me up until: Levy an extra tax on the product of offshored labor. (If the result is a trade war, treat it like other wars -- fight to win.) Everybody loses a trade war. And the ensuing impoverishment and desperation can trigger a shooting war.
Andy makes an excellent point: when we outsource the manufacturing and scaling processes to another country, what we lose in addition to jobs are the innovations and experience necessary to maintain a strong defensive econosystem with respect to our economy. However, I disagree with Andy's recommendation that we should tax offshore labor - we should focus on making labor in the United States less expensive. Neuter th…
Aaronontheweb, why wait for government action? Come work at my apartment TOMORROW 16 hours/day for $0.20/hr. I'll try to find a way for you to inhale some heavy metals and asbestos while you work. Imagine the fun of trying to predict whether you will be functionally retarded or die of painful cancer first. Either way, you will die painfully, because I do NOT provide health insurance. Seriously: How did we get from "l…
And you're not as clever as you think bringing up asbestos. You're far more likely to die in a fire because your building had its asbestos replaced with shitty fireproofing than from the cancer that asbestos can cause.
Andy makes an excellent point: when we outsource the manufacturing and scaling processes to another country, what we lose in addition to jobs are the innovations and experience necessary to maintain a strong defensive econosystem with respect to our economy. However, I disagree with Andy's recommendation that we should tax offshore labor - we should focus on making labor in the United States less expensive. Neuter th…
Aaronontheweb, why wait for government action? Come work at my apartment TOMORROW 16 hours/day for $0.20/hr. I'll try to find a way for you to inhale some heavy metals and asbestos while you work. Imagine the fun of trying to predict whether you will be functionally retarded or die of painful cancer first. Either way, you will die painfully, because I do NOT provide health insurance. Seriously: How did we get from "l…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Aaronontheweb, why wait for government action? Come work at my apartment TOMORROW 16 hours/day for $0.20/hr. I'll try to find a way for you to inhale some heavy metals and asbestos while you work. Imagine the fun of trying to predict whether you will be functionally retarded or die of painful cancer first. Either way, you will die painfully, because I do NOT provide health insurance. Seriously: How did we get from "l…
This post is silly. No one is forced to work at an unsafe job for any given wage. The job of the government should not be to say "you can only work for this long, for this wage, under these conditions." Shouldn't that question be up to the would-be employee? And you're not as clever as you think bringing up asbestos. You're far more likely to die in a fire because your building had its asbestos replaced with shitty f…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Neuter the Department of Labor, get rid of labor regulations with heniously expensive and obnoxious unintended consequences like the mandatory 8-hour work day in California, eliminate the concept of wrongful termination, and put a muzzle on the EPA. Enjoy your third world working conditions. But you are an executive and/or a shareholder, are you not ?
Enjoy _your_ third world economy, free from pesky pollutant-causing industry and manufacturing. The poster has correctly identified the value proposition that causes companies to locate their manufacturing facilities elsewhere, and points out (also correctly) that making our tax codes as unfriendly to business as our labor laws will only encourage _those_ bits of the business to relocate as well. You cannot have all…
If instead of people spending $28.73 on a cheap toaster at Wal-Mart every 3 years, they spent $150 on a toaster every 20 years, the cost of labor would become much less of a problem. People are conditioned from birth by marketing and advertising that these cheap pieces of shit are really good deals.
There are enough examples of manufacturing companies that have a shred of decency improving their efficiency through process design and intelligence that I don't buy it. But, of course, it's much easier and profitable in the short-term to find some people on the other side of the planet you'll never have to meet. iSupply estimated that it costs $6.50 to assemble the iPhone 3G -- labor, equipment, management, everything. Is the cost of labor in Ohio (at $49/hour) really a problem for Honda?
He had me up until: Levy an extra tax on the product of offshored labor. (If the result is a trade war, treat it like other wars -- fight to win.) Everybody loses a trade war. And the ensuing impoverishment and desperation can trigger a shooting war.
We are currently losing this non-war. The Chinese are playing to win this non-war.
Andy makes an excellent point: when we outsource the manufacturing and scaling processes to another country, what we lose in addition to jobs are the innovations and experience necessary to maintain a strong defensive econosystem with respect to our economy. However, I disagree with Andy's recommendation that we should tax offshore labor - we should focus on making labor in the United States less expensive. Neuter th…
Go to Beijing, and enjoy the brown air, which is pretty unbreathable on the bad days, and just moderately smelly on the good ones. Whatever you do, don't drink the tapwater, because it'll make even local residents sick. Don't go for a swim in the river, either.
Be careful near construction sites; there are gaping holes with no signs, and if you fall into one and break your leg, tough. Also, if there's construction only on the higher floors of a building, slag from welding may rain down onto your head. Unless you're well-connected, don't even think about getting the construction firm to pay for your medical bills.
If you're a woman and your boss rapes you, and you're not connected, that's too bad. If you're a man and your boss rapes you, and you're not connected, that's even worse.
Californa's labor practices and tax laws aren't ideal, but I'd much rather work in California than China.
Whenever, someone starts a debate like this, or whenever I see a human being slaving away for a pennies in despicable conditions. I have to ask this question.
If and only if companies are entities that exist to make more and more money (not wealth) then you will inevitably run into such problems. The companies in the USA outsource that labor to China, or India only for earning more money, but are they creating wealth? By destroying the long-term sustainability of human civilization on this planet (I live a few kms from a few of these factories in India. You have to see in order to believe what they get away with)? By ultimately harming the very source of their wealth through such measures?
I have absolutely no idea about the implications of these concepts to make any categorical statement on them, but I think that David Packard and Bill Hewlett may have gotten it right. (see: http://www.jimcollins.com/article_topics/articles/the-hp-way...)
*profits are a pre-requisite to its existence. I want to ask if they exist only to do that?
Andy makes an excellent point: when we outsource the manufacturing and scaling processes to another country, what we lose in addition to jobs are the innovations and experience necessary to maintain a strong defensive econosystem with respect to our economy. However, I disagree with Andy's recommendation that we should tax offshore labor - we should focus on making labor in the United States less expensive. Neuter th…
Oh yes, the EPA and Department of Labor, with their obnoxious "don't fuck up the environment" and "don't treat people like shit" rules. God damn them.