From: Rafal Smigrodzki (rafal@smigrodzki.org)
Date: Wed Jul 02 2003 - 23:58:57 MDT
Brett wrote:
>
> And this means that cheap labor in say the US cannot compete
> on price with cheap labor in say Malaysia.
### Yes, they can. If they don't want to, who cares. The world was built by
diligent workers, not lazy drones.
------------------------------
The States will quite
> rightly in my view insist of safety standards for its workers and
> this lifts the cost of the workforce. In countries where a injured
> worker is essentially just tossed aside for another the labor
> force is cheap.
### Some safety measures reduce overall cost of production. An injured
worker is a lost opportunity - the money invested in his being born,
educated, trained, is wasted. A safety measure which reduces overall cost by
finding the best balance between safety and economy, is a winning strategy.
Countries which toss workers aside will remain poor, because they waste
their resources.
The argument of alleged unsafe working practices abroad that allow the poor
countries to compete with the rich ones, is just another protectionist
mind-game. The reason why the Chinese can compete with Americans on price is
because they are ready to work hard for little money, not because they feel
like getting killed for no reason.
Rafal
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