Reply #1: There would be no unemployment problem [View All]

[Warpy]

....if we all decided to forego wages completely.

Chinese "factory towns" are set up very much like Chinese prisons: dormitory living, no privacy, no say in the running of one's onw life, no marriage, no nothing. The workers are there to work, and the only benefit they derive is being allowed to send money home to elderly parents who can no longer work. There is no shortage of poor rural Chinese who are waiting on lists for a crack at these jobs.

Enforcing fair labor practices is only the beginning. Yes, any goods manufactured overseas in substandard conditions should have a very large punitive tariff attatched to it. Companies that outsourse jobs and still expect the US to be their primary market should also have to face tariffs. We need to equalize things, and US labor simply cannot compete with Chinese near prison labor, not even if those people are paid the full pittance they earn.

This system cannot sustain itself. It has to change.