Asked about the impact of such a policy, weeks before it became law, Lee said outsourcing of jobs was unstoppable. “Suppose the Americans forbid this - ‘You can’t outsource’ - but the Japanese, Germans, British, French outsource, so their goods and services are cheaper. If you deprive yourself of outsourcing and your competitors do not, you’re putting yourself out of business. I see this opposition as a roadblock to slow it down, but it is unable to stop the forces that drive the economy. Economic forces are let loose and are not stoppable unless all the developed countries agree they will not outsource. Why should they agree?”
Lee adds that if one state prohibits outsourcing, “business will migrate to the next state,” because of how economic forces work. “So long as you are driven by profit to sell your goods at the lowest possible cost and to sell the maximum number of goods or services, how can you stop it?” But this focus on profit is precisely what many anti-globalization protesters complain about: in their race to the bottom, companies show a lack of social conscience. Lee’s response is simple: “If you’re not driven by profit, and do what the communists used to, which means price equals cost plus, then your economy will collapse.” [YaleGlobal]
If you would like to share or comment on this, please discuss it on my GitHub
Previous © Copyright 2003-2024. Nitin Pai. All Rights Reserved.