Quote (Black XistenZ @ Jul 9 2019 10:12am)
which technology are you thinking of that caused globalization?
Increase in technology is the only way globalization is possible. worldwide shipping improvements, worldwide communication improvements. people in brazil are good at growing palm. people in Iowa grow pigs well. people in iowa can't grow palm tho.
you're not inherently wrong on all counts, you'd just looking at it incorrectly. the starting point and ending point are the same whether you protect or whether you allow free trade. but in a free trade model you have general improvement of your own economy while some sectors leak slowly. in a protectionist environment you artificially prop up sectors until they collapse upon themselves.
tariffs cause market collapses. because the goods are still demanded, but the competition leads faster to automation with a set pricepoint caused by said tariff.
General motors, General mills, all corporations (in general) are living in a certain meta. they have employee costs, and they know automation costs. when there's free trade they stick with workers and empower them, when there isnt the eliminate the workers.
not to get too terribly specific, but machines like automated box packers, sealers, wrappers, labellers, etc. these are all OLD technology. none of these is revolutionary by any means. but from the time they first started to be implemented the endgame was set.
NAFTA caused a slow loss of jobs, to mexico, to china etc. but if instead we protected, we'd have lost ALL the jobs a short time after. or so many that it makes no difference. we'd have gotten robots earlier, we'd have gotten more automated factories earlier, etc.
Lastly unions, especially the UAW, played a role. they priced themselves out of jobs as much as NAFTA slowly did.
Quote (ofthevoid @ Jul 9 2019 10:26am)
The race for Competitive advantage fathers globalism. Production migrated to cheap labor markets. Tech certainly has a role to play in this all but at the root it’s still the age old minimize costs which leads to higher profits causation.
Globalization has lifted most boats worldwide. Even the middle class in the west has reaped the benefits. It’s nice to have quality electronics like iPhones or dell laptops assembled in China when if those same products were made here they’d be double probably. It’s also nice to be able to buy 10 t shirts made in Bangladesh or or buy 60 cent avocados from Mexico.
In the short term it’s wonderful for the middle class but as jobs keep leaking to the 3rd world the negative consequences are starting to be noticeable.
I quite agree, and we should remove excess labor from the pool to stem the bleeding.
This post was edited by thesnipa on Jul 9 2019 10:50am