Thanks, msolga.
I only want to add that in countries like Mexico we often feel we're in the middle of the sandwich.
Americans protest because they say they're losing their jobs to Mexicans.
Mexicans protest because they say they're losing their jobs to Guatemalans, Singalese, Chinese or Indians.
msolga,
I don't forsee laws that would address the use of cheap labor. I have, however, already seen measures taken to effect change through other means. The WTO, an entity oft reviled as a tool of globalization, is a place where many developing countries catch a break. Developing nations have been getting more tarrif exemptions, loan guarantees, loan restructuring than in the past.
I too would like to see legislation that helps promote more rapid development of the 3rd world but this is tantamount to forced charity in the minds of some. This is why I'd rather see Globalization work for all than try to fight it. It's inevitable and might end up being the salvation.
Contagion is becoming a more pressing issue. This administration entered office swearing to end bailouts but promptly did jut that. Since it's now to the rich countries' benefit to maintain strong economies everywhere I think we'll see more in the way of strengthening said economies.
Craven & fbaezer
Interesting reading both your views. Thanks.
Me, I think I'll attempt to do a little research on this issue. It's a complex one & most times, in mainstream media commentary, we only get one side of the argument. I want to know much more than I do now.
Fbaezer wrote:Many people in the richest nations want to have the cake and eat it, too.
They want economic freedom, commodities at low prices, high salaries for their blue-collar workers, respect for the environment, and a high rate of employment.
They want their corporations to "keep the jobs" home, but they are not happy when they see the "hungry, tired, poor and wretched masses" migrate to their country.
Well, there is no such thing as a free ride.
That is the point. In absence of cheap foreign labor the living standards of the developed countries may drastically decrease as a result of high prices on the imported goods. If the laborers in the Third World countries start earning wages comparable to these of the First World, the production costs will grow, and this will decrease attractivity of their countries' export goods. This will, in turn, lead to job cuts there, and the multinationals will find some other places where labor force is cheaper. It seems to me that with economic development of China its labor will become more expensive, and many manufacturing facilities will be transferred from there; for example, to the Sub-Saharan Africa that seems to me to become an emerging market in some 50 years.
