Posted on 01/15/2005 8:58:05 AM PST by liberallarry
The end of the quotas has triggered what trade experts believe could be one of the largest migrations of production in history, jeopardizing Cambodia's 220,000 apparel jobs. Hundreds of thousands more are threatened in Bangladesh, El Salvador, Lesotho and other countries that prospered under the quota system.
The massive manufacturing shift will be a windfall for billions of people, bringing huge savings to consumers and accelerating the transfer of jobs to engines of low-cost production in China and India. But it could cripple economies across Latin America, Africa and Asia.
Relative newcomers to the international commerce club risk losing their claim to an industry that lets them play in the big leagues. Millions of people whose jobs sewing knit shirts or jeans have meant schooling for their children or roofs over their heads could slide further into poverty.
In Africa, where manufacturers supply employees with condoms and healthcare, the battle against AIDS could be weakened. Illegal immigration from Latin America to North America may rise. Efforts to improve the economic position of women in predominantly Muslim countries are threatened.
The quota system "has been an extremely cost-effective method of bringing social and political stability to a very needy part of the world," said Peter Craig, a Washington-based trade commissioner for the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius, which has lost 20,000 apparel jobs since 2003. When the full effects of its end are felt, "it'll be horrendous."
Already, the unleashing of free-market forces has begun to shake the foundation of a trading scheme that brought undreamed-of prosperity to millions and helped create the corporations that dominate international commerce. Now that the rules have changed, those corporations are likely to become even more powerful, and some of the poorest will see their short-lived gains slip away.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
only way out...MADE IN AMERICA.
The free for all begins. There will be a mad scramble to source production on those locales where environmental protections are nonexistent, labor is abused and working a sub-proverty local wages, politicos are able to obtain virtually tariff free entry of their client's production to US markets and, as a capper, the IMF and World Bank will provide all of the investment capital required.
This has been a brief picture of the US Foreign Trade Office's current priorities.
As life sinks to lowest pits!
I'm surprised not to see a defense of free trade here. What about all the poor people in countries hurt by the old quota system? Free trade ultimately makes the world wealthier.
Doom and gloom...doom and gloom. It's the end of civilization as we know it! Millions will be forced into poverty! Disease will run rampant! Oh the unfairness of it all! Oh the humanity! We must have a world-wide central planning authority to prevent this catastrophe and ensure the humane and equitable distribution of labor and dollars!!
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Bull puckey. The LA Times is a bunch of socialists.
I won't pay $40 for a nice shirt made in the US if I can get the same shirt for $20 that is made in China. I know all the arguments, but economics are economics. When you have to dress three kids for the new school year, most of us have always looked for a way to stretch our dollars. The world is changing, but it has always been changing. 110 years ago the United States was the world's "China." With cheap immigrant labor (and, child labor), we built our country into a mighty industrial and wealthy country. But now it's someone else's turn..
ping
Free traders are forgetting about the human factor. People are not like the paper which is very patient and will suffer the most crazy theories. People are a very fickle and ungrateful material to experiment with.
Interesting thought-- a bunch of socialists being peddled by a bunch of capitalists..
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The paper's owned buy the Tribune Co. (TRB) --a corporation with a CEO, a bottom line, share holders etc. Notice how their stock took a hit right after the election.
In the 20th century I would guess at least 250,000,000 people died of these scourges (100 million in WWII, 60 million in WWI, the rest in small wars, famines, genocides, epidemics, etc.).
It may be that free trade is the best human beings can do, but ignoring or ridiculing the possible negative consequences is foolish.
You leave me speechless. Where does one even begin to deal with such breathtaking naivety?
Comparing our system to the chicoms is apples and oranges, for one thing. They aren't so much building a country as they are a military machine that will someday imperil your own beloved children. Don't worry about the cost of their shirts. Worry about their future and freedom.
"But now it's someone else's turn.."
Okay, let's just surrender our country and way of life. For cheap crap?
Yeah, now it's the turn of a communist slave state bent on our destruction and world domination. I didn't get new clothes every year,nor do I now. Budget other ways. Get rid of the cable, don't eat out, do with less, buy a cheaper car or house.
If your freedom and the survival of your country isn't worth a few extra bucks, then shame on you.
I know some it is crap. But not all of it. I remember as a boy, "Made in Japan" was a joke because their post-war products were junk. A few years later they nearly destroyed our auto industry with the quality of their cars, vs U.S. cars, that were at that time, crap.
You don't think that the LA Times is an extremely left-leaning product?
Now that is interesting.
Who ever said that they were? I was talking about this article, not history in general!
It may be that free trade is the best human beings can do, but ignoring or ridiculing the possible negative consequences is foolish.
I'll tell you what's foolish - fantasizing about and getting all worked up over fictional scenarios that likely won't come to pass. Now that's foolish, but it seems to be a favorite pasttime of the LA Times and other liberal rags.
Look, the Japanese were a free people, so, of course they got better and better. The chicoms use a lot of prison labor, phoney up their books, and steal patents and trade marks. Still apples and oranges.
Where, if at all, does principle fit in all of this, with you?
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Do I ssink le AIL Ai Timz to be ze LEFT-LEANING PRODUCT???
E GAD!
-- perhaps only when they publish what they call news.
I was just fascinated about how the stockholders were going along with so much socialist dribble-- but then again, Karl Marx himself owned stock in a newspaper. Bear in mind that those clowns can in no way be in it with any hopes of making a profit. Well, with realistic hopes that is.
Read: PRChina
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