I was having a conversation at work and somehow we got onto the topic of cheap overseas labor. (I remember now, it was in response to Trumka’s nationalistic position on outsourcing.) I made a comment to the effect of maybe Trumka should ask himself why jobs are being outsourced overseas. My co-worke…

Making the case that overseas workers are better off is easy. They wouldn’t be taking the job if they weren’t. We nominate for sainthood those who go to empoverished countries and offer a few months of food to stave off starvation. Entrepenuers who go over to the same places and offer compensation …

They don’t understand supply and demand. Pure and simple. Their whole economic thought process is wrong for this topic. Wages are a function of productivity, which is mostly a matter of how much capital a worker is sitting on. There isn’t some local “wage rate” that could be higher or lower in a pla…

In Defense of Cheap Labor The Division of Labor is World-Wide The Economics of Outsourcing Perils of Outsourcing In Defense of Outsourcing That ought to get you started. The fact is your initial instinct is correct…it is often times the taxes and regulations and red tape that make outsourcing c…

Again, the arguement that both parties involved in outsourcing labor are better off is easy. If you don’t believe me, ask them. Or consider the reverse scenario. If you found out that Japan was outsourcing production of microchips to your town, you’re response would correctly be “woohoo!” In any ex…

This is not very useful in debate against egalitarian statists who use terms like “living wage.” Leftist response: “Yeah, but they have to abide by our labor and wage laws…we know Americans aren’t going to get exploited if a plant is opened here because we have all the regulations in place that p…

this should be such a simple questino and the fact that some people object to the practice on humanitarian grounds is disgusting to me. Think about this for just a moment. Would you take a job unless you had a better alternative to that job? Of course not. Now imagine what conditions you would have …

I’m free market of course. Just pointing out the other side’s arugments which we are likely to encounter. You did much the same above. The toughest arguements to argue with IMO in regards to free trade and open immegration are those where they project the US labor pool as a special interest unto it…

So if you admit that your points are easily countered, why do you contend that that’s the easiest way to address the objection?

I didn’t. Just pointed out the arguements and counterpoints he is likely to receive. Keynes is easily countered. It doesn’t mean he’s no longer encountered.

Thanks all for the responses. It is difficult to argue with people, as John James says “egalitarian statists”, because their expectations are unrealistic and contradictory.

How to address this objection

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John_James May 22, 2011, 6:32am 14

We actually had a thread about this a while back. To get to the root of it, I actually think Tom Sowell has the answer…

On Greed and Selfishness

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