RE: FWD [forteana] Health Care: USA, Iraq & Canada

From: Emlyn O'regan (oregan.emlyn@healthsolve.com.au)
Date: Mon Aug 11 2003 - 00:37:26 MDT

  • Next message: Robbie Lindauer: "Re: FWD [forteana] Health Care: USA, Iraq & Canada"

    > > > PS. In case it is not clear, I used a bit of hyperbole to
    > drive home
    > > > the
    > > > point that protectionism, aside from being harmful for
    > the US economy,
    > > > is in
    > > > the end a form of crude, selfish and inconsiderate
    > short-term greed,
    > > > depriving others of chances for significantly improving
    > their lives,
    > > > and
    > > > impoverishing all.
    > >
    > >
    > > Inane corporate drivel. It's agreed that if a company
    > makes money in
    > > one country they should abide by the rules of that country. Just
    > > because you can purchase slave-labour in burma doesn't mean
    > that all
    > > people should allow themselves to be enslaved. Supporting
    > slave-labour
    > > or poverty-labour in other countries is extremely inhumane and our
    > > government inasmuch as it has any purpose at all, should be
    > simply to
    > > make sure that our people do not become enslaved or nearly-enslaved.
    > >
    > ### Inane commie drivel.
    >
    > Rafal

    Actually, I think this is hinting at a point which others have made about
    the global free economy, or Globalization if you want to use a capital
    letter.

    There is a glaring hole in "free trade", which is that goods and money can
    move freely, but labour can't. That's ok if you are a consumer of labour,
    you just move to where it is cheapest. In fact you get some extremely cheap
    labour, subsidized in a weird indirect way by the artifical partitioning of
    national borders. However, as a supplier of labour, you are very clearly
    disadvantaged by your inability, in most important cases, to move to the
    economic conditions that best suit your labour supply business (ie: that
    best suit your life generally).

    I'm quite impressed by the theory of global free trade, but in practice the
    restriction on relocation of individuals makes the market extremely
    inequitable for the suppliers of labour (most people in the world), and
    thus, I think, very damaging to most people.

    Emlyn

    This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Mon Aug 11 2003 - 00:47:19 MDT