The Partisan Divide on Issues

[pbrower2a]

(03-02-2021, 10:04 AM)Einzige Wrote:

(03-02-2021, 10:01 AM)pbrower2a Wrote:

(03-01-2021, 01:53 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote:

(02-24-2021, 01:23 PM)David Horn Wrote:

(02-23-2021, 06:46 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote: Labor is mainly being displaced by foreign trade policies and machines to a lesser extent. Are you getting rich off doing business with China? Are you kicking back and living of a dividend check or stocks associated with Chinese trade or getting a kick back for use of ports or a political kick back to ensure lopsided trade deals remain in place?

I thought you liked capitalism, because that's the reason for all of this.  Relocating South was the mantra in the 1970s, when the Right-to-Work movement started in earnest-- anything to cut labor coasts, you know.  Offshoring was the mantra that followed, once it became obvious that labor was even cheaper elsewhere. None of this was promoted by politicians.  It was you business guys.  So blame?  Look in the mirror.

I was a kid during the 70's.

That is not an excuse for failing to learn about the past. Before the neoliberal era, Big Business and Big Labor were able to hammer out compromises that kept the overall economy competitive for both and ensured that Big Business made profits and workers made solid wages. The consumer economy was the reward for competent, dedicated, diligent service to the engine of prosperity and progress. 

Then Ronald Reagan offered something new -- the capacity for elites to make wild promises of some super-prosperity in return for treating workers badly and taking away any pretense of economic security or economic equity, and having no responsibility except to any but the elites. Management became harsh. Monopolization and vertical integration became the norm.   

It's falling apart, and historical patterns explain why. Economic orders that work for only one small clique of elitists inevitably go bad. There is no technological fix for moral rot, including irresponsibility among elites. There is no Divine Blessing of pathological narcissism.

Spoiler: There isn't a policy fix within the system which produced it, either.

Second spoiler: the urge to exploit and abuse people has nothing to do with the economic structure. 

Third spoiler: human nature is so complex that simple models invariably fail as behavior adapts to the new model of social organization or management.