Who can possibly be better informed about the value of what someone else produces than those who use the goods or services that the person provides and pay for it with their own money? This is a point I was making in the minimum wage thread: it’s easy to say the minimum wage should be raised if the money isn’t coming out of your pocket. But if you actually ran a company, you would see what these jobs add to your bottom line, and what they really are worth to you. Once you start paying staff out of your own pocket, it becomes a very different matter.
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Written By:
steverino
URL:
http://steverino.journalspace.com/
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"An estimated 20 million people in India rose out of destitution in just one decade and more than a million Chinese per month have risen out of poverty. But have you heard any progressive intellectuals explaining how such a dramatic change for the better came about?"
Perhaps if the Chinese government called it "The Great Leap Forward" there would be more enthusiasm in progressive circles, at least those nostalgic for the good old days.
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Written By:
timactual
URL:
http://
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I keep wishing that the philosophy of the Golden Mean could be reintroduced in discussions. You know’ for every yin there is a yang, etc.
Re China: It is admirable that so many people were lifted out of poverty, but some paid a heavy personal price for the achievement. There were designated losers. Many farmers were forcibly evacuated from their lands, to make room for develpment, and relocated in warren-like city buildings, with no means of self-support. The stripping of liberty from these people, as well as the high number of incidents of civil unrest, do not figure in the glowing reports of China’s rising.
I’m sure China’s reforms are paying off, in the large picture. But I think it is a bad, bad mistake not to also address the costs of draconian changes, in China or anywhere.
We never talk of the principles of a balanced approach and harmony any more. We are the losers in this phenomenon, because it dooms us to swing from one extreme to the other. |
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Written By:
Laime
URL:
http://
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We never talk of the principles of a balanced approach and harmony any more. We are the losers in this phenomenon, because it dooms us to swing from one extreme to the other.
Written By: Laime
URL: http:// Well I think China remains a socialist state, and our own country has plenty of social welfare programs, so we ARE taking a balanced approach. My guess is that you will remain unhappy if you believe that someone, somewhere in the world is making a profit. |
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Written By:
kyle N
URL:
http://impudent.blognation.us/blog
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I completely agree. I was at a dinner where someone remarked on how horrible it was that the editor of the Yale Review made less than a garbageperson. Everyone but me agreed. I simply pointed out that I would rather be the editor for less and obviously the editor felt the same way or he would be out hauling garbage. Fortunately, college professors (the made up the bulk of the dinner) do not determine world salaries. |
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Written By:
China Law Blog
URL:
http://www.chinalawblog.com
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" garbageperson."
Is that some kind of racial or ethnic slur? Joe? Where are you? |
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Written By:
timactual
URL:
http://
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Laime, Have you been to China recently?
Living standards are shooting up across the boards, ESPECIALLY in the ares with the most capitalism.
Rural folk had the EARLIEST opportunity under the Deng reforms, so let’s not cry too much for them. |
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Written By:
Harun
URL:
http://
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Many farmers were forcibly evacuated from their lands, to make room for develpment, and relocated in warren-like city buildings, with no means of self-support. Paraphrase to capitalism - Many buggy whip manufacturers were run out of business by the automobile and relocated to warren-like tenaments with no means of self-support (until they let go of whip making and got jobs in the automobile plant).
It sucks if you’re on the losing end, yes, but it’s called progress.
You can be nostaligic about your way of life, or job, and go on with no means of self-support, or you can move on with the changing world. One way or another it’s not going to stop moving forward.
What you’re complaining about Laime is progress, all through history.
People who made good, and people who lost out, because change happened. |
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Written By:
looker
URL:
http://
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I haven’t heard any progressive intellectuals note those facts
If you only watch Fox and listen to Rush, you wouldn’t. |
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Written By:
Boleslaw
URL:
http://
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"Many farmers were forcibly evacuated from their lands, to make room for develpment, and relocated in warren-like city buildings, with no means of self-support."
Eminent domain and urban renewal. Hey, if it’s good enough for our proles, it’s good enough for theirs. |
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Written By:
timactual
URL:
http://
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