Sunday 28 April 2013

Paul Krugman on cheap labour...

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The trendy left's favourite economist has this to say about cheap labour:

These improvements have not taken place because well-meaning people in the West have done anything to help–foreign aid, never large, has lately shrunk to virtually nothing. Nor is it the result of the benign policies of national governments, which are as callous and corrupt as ever. It is the indirect and unintended result of the actions of soulless multinationals and rapacious local entrepreneurs, whose only concern was to take advantage of the profit opportunities offered by cheap labor. It is not an edifying spectacle; but no matter how base the motives of those involved, the result has been to move hundreds of millions of people from abject poverty to something still awful but nonetheless significantly better.

This is absolutely right. Capitalism - neoliberalism if you prefer - is what gets us out of poverty and keeps us out of poverty.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr Cooke

"It is not an edifying spectacle; ..."

This is precisely where those of a socialist persuasion are wrong: it is an edifying spectacle: it is all about people working with people. There is no such thing a soulless multinational, because it is made up of real people and rapacious entrepreneurs are only so judged by people who do nothing but sit and criticise.

Socialism is slavery.

DP