It seems that 'patriotism' - or a particular interpretation of it, i.e. economically favouring people who share the same nationality as yourself - is the only acceptable form of tribalism these days. If you happen to select your universe as the country you live in, then it is probably correct to want the best for your compatriots and mourn the loss of programming and factory jobs to China and India (unless you're on the next level and welcome their chance to move up the value chain.. but that's another topic). What if your universe is the world? Should you not rejoice that formerly poor people have a chance to be respected professionals in the global economy? I'm not really looking at the economic benefits or otherwise of outsourcing here - just the emotions. Any thoughts?
Before asking a question like that you should try living in a 4th floor walkup in hell's kitchen, sleeping on the floor with no furniture or electric lights or hot water or enough to eat and using the fire escape as a refrigerator. I did when my father went bankrupt in 1937.
Yes, but the essence of my question was why is it ok for people in the third world to live like that but not ok for Americans? The question needs to be asked as outsourcing is the most radical NON SOCIALIST wealth redistribution programme yet devised.
On the contrary, wealth redistribution is largely CAPITALIST, not socialist. The market has been dynamically transferring wealth from those with inferior business models and ideas to those with superior ones since time immemorial. It's just that people who usually complain about 'wealth redistribution' are complaining about governments taking money from those who have it and giving it to those with less.
The notion that racism is wrong rather than simply a faucet of human nature and group identity is false. Our perspective is colored by the "white guilt" industry, whose viewpoints have been shoved down every non-brown american's throat for the past 40-50 years. In spite of the massive effort to reprogram human nature, people still tend to prefer people most similar to themselves, and this includes race. People can at times overlook group identity (particularly intelligent people) yet it is always there, under the surface, ready to bubble up once again. People who are blind to reality will at some point be victimized by it. Strategic advantage matters in all things.
This is USA in 1870's all over again. First the wealth is gathered through the use of lowest cost labour and then as the poor sods struggle and sweat themselves into some sort of a middle class you can have another bite at them through over extended credit. The next move will be into AI and robots and the production will return home again but sadly it will not bring any jobs with it. Even the robots will manufacture and maintain other robots .. so no jobs there.
Disagree. Yours sounds like a Leftist/biased view. Isn't your definition of "redistribution of wealth" nothing more than "The big and strong get bigger and stronger while the weaker die off and perish"? That's not "redistribution of wealth, is it? Isn't it merely capitalism?
My point was that those who are implementing outsourcing are acting rationally by choosing lower paid workers regardless of race, i.e. they just want to make more money. Those who OPPOSE outsourcing are acting irrationally as they are saying one group is more 'deserving' than another based on race.