i am surprised that you bought into all that liberal nonsense (or were you joking?).
Funny, I never thought of free trade as a classically left-wing idea. Frankly, I find it rather odd that people far left-of center and far right of center seem to hate free trade, although for very different reasons.
Anyway, while I respect your opinion, I disagree. My father was laid off during the recession, and I saw first hand how psychologically devastating that could be. And I have a lot of sympathy for people trained in the industries that have moved abroad. While in the long run we're better off specializing in high-paying jobs rather than low-paying ones, the people who suffer the most from these disruptions are those on the ground floor. The Ford execs are still doing pretty well, but the blue-collar workers are getting the shaft. It's not so easy for "unskilled laborers" (god I hate that term) to just up and find a new profession at age 45.
I don't really understand the economy, to be honest. But I basically believe that focusing on developing a skilled work force is the single most important thing we can do.
By teh way, I also think our principles here differ. I don't think of "american jobs" vs. "foreign jobs". From a moral standpoint, I don't think the well-being of Americans is any more important from, say, Filipinos. In that light, if you were to ask me whom I'd rather see unemployed, the average american or the average mexican, i'd probably say the person who can afford it most.
Oh, and BTW, while the asians have taken a lot of "our" computer manufacturing jobs, the profitable ones are still mostly over here. Asian companies may make commodity home electronics and DRAMs, but MSFT, INTC, CSCO are all born in the USA. |
