The Administration's chief economist, N. Gregory Mankiw, made it very clear yesterday why free trade capitalism WTO-style is so dangerous a system to workers all over the world.
The Administration's chief economist, N. Gregory Mankiw, made it very clear yesterday why free trade capitalism WTO-style is so dangerous a system to workers all over the world. According to the
Washington Post, in a response to questions about outsourcing Mankiw replied, "'offshoring' of U.S. service jobs is only 'the latest manifestation of the gains from trade . . . [o]utsourcing is just a new way of doing international trade . . . [m]ore
things are tradable than were tradable in the past that's a good thing.'" (italics added). On NPR this morning I also heard Mankiw say that "
things that were once non-tradable goods are suddenly tradable goods," in response to questions about outsourcing. There you have it, in black and white and from the horse's mouth, to free market capitalists, labor/people=goods/things.
Materialist thought has always been critical of capitalism because of its dehumanization or alienationof the worker, of people. People become products in the chain of production, goods, as it were, that can be traded whenever and wherever it benefits the holders of capital. Mankiw's comments are only one of the more blatant examples of how this administration, run by former CEO's, views American labor. To them people are goods to be controlled, shipped, and traded amongst industries in order to actualize their profit margins. Let's not forget that the ideology apparent in the administration's annual Economic Report doesn't simply stop at the realm of economics and free-trade. Remember that the major reason that democrats attempted to stop the creation of the Department of Homeland Security was that the administration wanted (and won the right) to have complete control over the labor force in the department. They wanted to be able to move them around whenever and wherever the administration believed they were needed. Just as they believe that labor should be a tradable good. To them humans are parts of the machine, automatons that should conform to their will no matter the consequences on their souls.
Chalk this up as another reason why I will continue to hold onto my belief that unregulated capitalism is a dangerous and immoral economic system.