CP strike

[bleeding heart]

I think that the wages paid are probably better than is usually explained.

I'm sure it varies quite a bit, from country to country and even within countries.

At any rate, I think the (other) point holds true; such wages are really not sufficient here, not even close. So I don't think that fighting to lower our wages (or evben to keep them stagnant) are going to stop the sort of cross-border labour shopping we're discussing.

Frankly, I don't think many of the adherents of such an idea really believe it, which begs some serious questions. (If I'm right about that, I mean.)

Edited June 6, 2012 by bleeding heart

[Jack Weber]

Non-union in competition with union labour. If unions didn't exist, their wages and benefits would plummet from lack of competition. Everybody's standard of living has improved as a result of our union brothers who single-handedly created the middle class.

Cha-Ching!!!

We have a winner!!!!

[dre]

I'm sure it varies quite a bit, from country to country and even within countries.

At any rate, I think the (other) point holds true; such wages are really not sufficient here, not even close. So I don't think that fighting to lower our wages (or evben to keep them stagnant) are going to stop the sort of cross-border labour shopping we're discussing.

Frankly, I don't think many of the adherents of such an idea really believe it, which begs some serious questions. (If I'm right about that, I mean.)

Heres the thing...

Its really just a matter of HOW our wages come down. Theres two ways this can be done.

1. Whats happening now, where only people with easily offshorable jobs have their wages driven down.

2. Drive down wages across the board uniformly with competitive devaluation. Answer chinese and American currency manipulation with our own.

#1 is extremely bad because the sectors where wages are NOT going down because impossible to afford for the peoples whos wages are. Doctors, teachers, etc. So everyone else can afford less and less of the domestic products and services that are left.

#2 avoids that imbalance and will make imports more expensive and our exports more competitive. It will also encourage tourism and give an edge to all business that pay their wages and bills in CDN dollars.

Thats the right thing to do if we want to keep these markets open. This isnt an accident... efforts by these producing nations to manipulate their currency are in every way economic attacks against us, and the very purpose of this activity is to benefit their producers and workers at the expense of ours.

We need to fight back... but even beyond that I think its time to revisit the idea of trading with countries where the workers have no meaningfull political representation and participation. The ones that dont should face large tarrifs until they have democratic elections. Its ironic that we will carpet bomb a country to achieve democracy but we wont refuse to shop there. This mindset would have lost us the cold war, because we would have been buying cheap products made in Soviet forced labor camps.

The problem is that we have been so poorly lead, for so long we have become dependant on the stuff made by workers who are not treated with dignity because they have no political representation. If our "plan" is to try to "compete" with Countries where workers are forced to work 70 hours per week, and so many people commit suicide by jumping off factory roofs they have to install nets - Link... then we are done.

[Michael Hardner]

#1 is extremely bad because the sectors where wages are NOT going down because impossible to afford for the peoples whos wages are. Doctors, teachers, etc. So everyone else can afford less and less of the domestic products and services that are left.

You're leaving out the economic advantage gained in that equation though, such as industries that can export more, companies and individuals that gain more profits from offshoring...

#2 avoids that imbalance and will make imports more expensive and our exports more competitive. It will also encourage tourism and give an edge to all business that pay their wages and bills in CDN dollars.

Does that mean raising interest rates ?