Unfair Trade Lowers USA Wages
February 1st, 2008
Does trade with countries that lack enforced standards for a minimum wage, worker safety, or the environment lower U.S. wages? Absolutely.
Some would argue, and for a long while I believed, that free trade is a good thing pretty much no matter what the other country is doing. However, while I lived in Asia for work, I constantly saw the results of this tireless search for the lowest economic denominator. Where standards are weak it is much more about exploitation then true development.
The net result is that product cost is artificially lower than any country with standards can compete with, while often not even causing development in the low-cost country. That means job loss in the developed country with no real gain in the other.
That pressure in turn means fewer well paying jobs in the developed country. With more folks looking for work, it means downward pressure for real wages across the board.
This does not apply to only physical labor, as outsourcing of many white collar jobs is the trend. Even jobs like engineering.
Only in buying products from countries that you know are meeting standards for wages, safety, and pollution control can we be sure. Everything at www.MadeinUSAForever.com is made in the USA.
Friday, February 1st, 2008 at 9:52 pmand is filed under Uncategorized.
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