Pfui. Using your team analogy let’s deal with this nonsense. A good basketball team needs five good players. You can’t have two strong players, and three duds on the court. They won’t win. The two stronger players will be dragged down trying to carry the weaker players.
In economic issues, especially trade. Equals is what you are gunning for. Trade between economic equals means that competition is increasing the quality, reliability, and safety of the products. Trade between economic inequals means you are shipping your manufacturing elsewhere.
American Cars are much improved over where they were when the auto trade began. Japanese cars forced American manufacturers to increase the quality and reliability of their products to stay competitive. Efficiency was also improved. The Japanese had to work hard to increase their own performance. Safety was improved thanks to the design work of Volvo and Mercedes.
That is trade between essentially equal economies. It means that the overall product across the board, from all manufacturers is increased.
When you send your manufacturing to a second, or third world nation, you do not improve quality, you reduce price. This is where Mexico comes in. We improve their economy slightly, because the wages there will remain low. The workers at the Ford Plant can’t afford a new car on what they make, so they won’t be buying a new car. They’ll be buying whatever they can afford, and repair, to keep it running.
That isn’t trade. It isn’t cooperation. It is suicide by trade. We lose the highly skilled labor jobs we had. We lose the skills we once had. We forget how to do it. We become the consumer, and the service based economy starts moving the people downwards on the ladder.
Trade between equals is awesome, and I can point to a number of fields where companies around the world compete to produce the best product. Boeing did not rest when Airbus began building planes. They adapted to new technology, new design ideals and producted better aircraft because of it. The 787 Dreamliner uses carbon fiber, after Airbus began using composite materials in their aircraft. The tail assemblies tend to be Composites on Airbus Aircraft. Boeing was forced to adapt to the competition, and we all benefit from safer, more reliable, more efficient aircraft.
That is competition. To build the aircraft Boeing needs highly skilled labor. Those are good paying manufacturing jobs. Those are jobs that people can profit from, and jobs that they can afford to consume that which is being manufactured. They can afford to take a vacation, and fly on the jets they built to Hawaii or other destinations.
A service based economy where we consume that which we had no hand in manufacturing is a downward spiral. At first, the products come down in price, and we can afford them. Next, the products become unaffordable for the masses as their earning power decreases. The gap between the have and have not increases, and the animosity and vengeance desires increase as well.
Skilled Labor is the bridge between the two. The have nots have a lot more. They can afford to send their children to school to become management, or to a trade school to learn the skills necessary to become the aforementioned labor.
When you lose those skilled labor jobs, you lose a vital leg of the economy. You lose the middle class. The middle class is no longer made up of workers, but of management. Arguing that anyone can do it is asinine. There are only so many managers needed to oversee manufacturing in another country. We’ll hire cheaper managers there in time.
There is an old saying. Stop pissing on my back and telling me it’s raining. Applying that to this topic, stop screwing me and telling me that you are doing me a big favor. You aren’t Harvey Weinstein. And I’m no actress.
