"Its chief executive, Robert S. Miller, wants the company's workers to accept drastic wage cuts, from an average hourly wage rate of about $27 to as little as $10 an hour."
And he wants to increase management compensation at the same time. What is wrong with this picture? Personally, I don't see any reason why management can't be outsourced, just like everything else. Compensating management on Chinese wages would unlock a lot of value for shareholders too...
I have had to back away from my advocacy of free trade. In principle, I like it. In practice, though, it has been used to gut the system. Job loss is inevitable. The textile industry moved from New England to the South and now is in the process of migrating to China, Malaysia and other countries. That happens. But what is going on now goes beyond that. And a lot of it doesn't make real sense. Just look at some of the call center business that has been outsourced. Sure, it might be cheaper, but if the customers can't get actual service, they tend to be customers of other companies in the future. So it looks great on the quarterly, but when it results in declining sales...
Whatever else you might have to say about Henry Ford, he did realize that if he paid his workers more they would be able to afford the cars he was building. That sort of self interest seems to be foreign to many CEOs. When they reach their goal of everyone being at the lowest wage structure, who can afford to buy their products? |
