you blindly stick to the "capitalist book" and talk about capitalism using abstract notions like "labor", "production cost", "bottom line", and "profit margin".
So you think capital is philosophically, or altruistically motivated? That's not capital Gustave... that's called foreign aid.
Capital is about rates of return on money invested. It is attracted to highly skilled, inexpensive sources of labor and cheap materials which lower costs and enhance returns.
Why you think capital "owes" something that is antithetical to its nature, namely the quest for profits is beyond me.
As I've often stated before, capitalism is just as brutal and oppressive as communism when taken to its utmost extreme.
Now on the other hands, governments HAVE a vested interest in people, either for votes, or to be avoid being overthrown. Countries like Ireland took pride in their excellent educational systems, and consequently when the government reduced tax rates, they attracted foreign capital that put those highly educated people to work.
But think about the excesses of the Union system Gustave and you see where their is room for give and take on both sides. The difficulty many companies have in convincing union to cross-train, because its not in the interest of the union to making labor too flexible (steals a potential job from someone else).
Additionallly, the ability to strike and effectively shut a nation down, as occurs in many overseas states, creates incredible political risk that is a deterrent to attracting the very capital that would provide them jobs.
Once you have the capital committed from abroad and invested in factories.. .etc, a gradual advancing of worker wages, as opposed to suddenly making demands (as you anarchists often do), would seem sensible so long as they don't dramatically impact the profit motivation for the investors.
Bottom line, both capitalists and workers need each. The capitalist needs workers to produce the goods, but also consumers to buy them. They have a vested interest in a happy, productive workforce and the worker has an interest in having a job.
But when it comes to the point where the workers think they can dictate terms to the money guys, they'll almost always quickly discover the error of their ways as capital flies to more stable markets and labor environments.
It may sound like ideology, but it's based upon reality Gustave.
As for local worker problems that relate to racism, that a human prejudice that circumvents the analysis. Someone is willing to pay an opportunity cost to higher more expensive labor. It has more to due with civil rights in Europe and blood and soil citizenship issue.
And prejudice is a learned behavior, taught and acquired, often at very young ages from our parents and friends, that takes a lifetime or two to no longer be an issue.
But as you stated, losing this sense of nationalism (I'm german.. french, spanish.. etc), and creating a continentalist perception of "I'm European".
Regards,
Ron |
