09-08-2015, 04:41 PM
(09-08-2015, 04:30 PM)GodHatesBengals Wrote: But blaming it on the unions is just a reversion to the problem that created unions. Should we have allowed manufacturers to get away with not paying their employees a living wage merely because some poor third world country would gladly allow their citizens to be worked to death for next to nothing? I don't believe so.
Nobody will pretend the problem isn't complicated. We are at a threshold in human advancement in which technology can now do a lot of the work for us; sooner than we realize, it may be able to do all of it.
The philosophical question during this transitional point in history is whether we decide to protect our own, or let them die off for not being mathematically or scientifically gifted enough to help us build this new society. My personal position is that just because somebody can't be an engineer, doctor or physicist doesn't mean they shouldn't be able to put a roof over their head and a shirt on their back.
Solid post.
While it may certainly go against my libertarian beliefs, I do think that government has to play a role here, although I would prefer they do it by offering solutions rather than handouts. Most of the people in our government from either party in the last couple of decades (if not longer) are nothing more than corporatists.
They'd have to be tough decisions, and wouldn't make us a lot of friends throughout the world. Imagine telling China that were going to raise tariffs to such a high level that businesses want to move manufacturing back? Offering tax breaks to businesses might offer some incentive, but they also interfere with the market too much IMO. Why should company A get a great deal for bringing X number of jobs back here when company B has kept jobs here the whole time and gets nothing for it?
People are also greedy. We say that we want good paying jobs here in America but then we flock to Walmart and IKEA and buy a bunch of cheap crap that was made in some impoverished country for pennies on the dollar.
I'd personally be willing to spend more money on the same items even of the same quality if it helped get us back to being a manufacturing giant and put good people back to work with a decent job.
I'm thinking out loud here. Sorry for rambling on.
