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Forum Post: Exploitation Outsourced

Posted 12 years ago on Jan. 21, 2012, 1:11 p.m. EST by proletarian (8)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

Many people defend capitalism by citing the fact that it benefits everyone, both the capitalists and the workers. They talk about how high our standard of living is in America and declare that that proves the superiority of capitalism. However I believe that they forget a critical component - outsourcing. Many of the huge corporations that sell these cheaper goods that result in a higher standard of living for us in America manufacture the products overseas or purchase components that were manufactured overseas then simply assemble the pieces here in America. The countries that these corporations outsource to are ones where the workers can be treated in the most detestable ways. Long hours for low pay. Even if the jobs are better than others around it doesn't justify it. Slightly less exploitation is still exploitation. Make no mistake these workers abroad are exploited. This is the part that people tend to forget to mention when defending capitalism. What if all production were done here in America where the workers could not be exploited so effectively? Would these commodities still be so cheap? Would our standard of living be so high? I personally seriously doubt it. The only reason that capitalism has brought everyone here in America such a high standard of living is because these massive corporations have outsourced exploitation.

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10 Comments


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[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23769) 12 years ago

Exploit here, exploit there. It's just a matter of degree.

Have you heard about the Microsoft workers in China who threatened suicide in an attempt to raise their wages:

http://seattle.cbslocal.com/2012/01/10/hundreds-threaten-suicide-at-microsoft-supplier-plant-in-china/

[-] 1 points by Builder (4202) 12 years ago

You want to talk about outsourcing?

Have a look at this link;

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/business/global/26bridge.html?pagewanted=all

At a sprawling manufacturing complex here, hundreds of Chinese laborers are now completing work on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

Next month, the last four of more than two dozen giant steel modules — each with a roadbed segment about half the size of a football field — will be loaded onto a huge ship and transported 6,500 miles to Oakland. There, they will be assembled to fit into the eastern span of the new Bay Bridge.

[-] 1 points by JoeTheFarmer (2654) 12 years ago

The only way to solve that problem is for people in those countries to organize. You have to stop it at the source not at the consumer. You cannot expect Americans to stop buying goods from china, Indonesia, India, or Africa. It is just not going to happen when they are so inexpensive.

[-] 1 points by proletarian (8) 12 years ago

Of course they will keep manufacturing in China. However, our high standard of living should not be completely portrayed as the result of the virtuous benefits of capitalist improvements. In reality others are exploited so we can reap the benefits. Additionally in many ways our government ensures that citizens of other countries won't organize in a way that would be harmful to American interests.

[-] 1 points by Mooks (1985) 12 years ago

But it is capitalism that allows us to exploit the cheap labor in those other countries. Companies find the people that will do a certain job for the least amount of money.

[-] 1 points by AFarewellToKings (1486) 12 years ago

How about all the production that is done in America is done in an America where the people are not exploited AT ALL. Loved and respected in fact? A standard of living raised to unthinkable levels? While the whole world watches?

http://www.40pointplan.com/storyline.htm

[-] 1 points by proletarian (8) 12 years ago

In large part the reason they aren't exploited and our standard of living is so high is because of the exploitation of workers in other countries.

[-] 1 points by AFarewellToKings (1486) 12 years ago

Workers here are being exploited right now, just maybe not as ruthlessly as others in this world. An unemployment level anywhere above zero creates a labour market where non-unionized workers will be exploited (I'm not a labour specialists or anything). As for our high standard of living, the 99% are tired of seeing it decrease, and it has been in decline for decades now, with all indicaters pointing to this getting worse. Do you understand this is largely what OWS is about?

[-] 1 points by tomtalltree (5) from Houlton, ME 12 years ago

Tell it to people in Detroit Gary Camden youngstown etc,Wrong

[-] 1 points by proletarian (8) 12 years ago

By Detroit are you talking about GM's runaway success?