Be Selfish!

I live in Texas. Around here we are generally big on nationalism, protecting the American way, and restricting immigration. We don’t tend to deal well with unions, and some amount of concern over outsourcing is mitigated by the lack of company towns and dependence on manufacturing.

That said I can’t help but cringe when people complain about outsourcing, off shoring, and globalization. Somehow competition has become evil, a strong dollar has become foul, and “free trade” has become the enemy.

People complain about jobs moving abroad because the wages are “artificially” low. They claim that developing nations should implement minimum wage laws, to make labor competition “fair.” I won’t go into how minimum wages actually artificially inflate wages; I won’t talk about how a developing nation implementing a minimum wage that is comparable to the one in the US will stagnate growth; I won’t mention how it will starve billions of people so that the US can keep jobs that aren’t needed in the US. I won’t even tell you that the US has a versatile, flexible labor force that needs to move forward instead of clinging to the past.

Instead, look at it like this:

The US is a land of consumers. For better of worse, we are all materialists. No matter how much we have we want more; no matter how good something is we want something better. We are perpetually “keeping up with the Joneses.”

Globalization, trade, and more perfect competition have allowed us to continue our buying binge. Lower wages ultimately benefit the consumers, because they allow the supply curve to shift so that suppliers will make more product for lower prices. Increasing wages by decreasing competition ends up increasing the cost of living. Everything costs more. From the vast outcry over the rising price of gas we all know that is not something that Americans are prepared to live with.

So, be selfish. Demand greater competition in global markets. In the end your selfish act just might save a life... or a nation.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/22/AR2006112202170.html?nav=rss_world/southamerica