MCLC: Foxconn lifts wages (1)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: debbie hu <dbbie.h at gmail.com>
Subject: Foxconn lifts wages (1)
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>From the "Foxconn lifts wages" piece in the The Guardian:

<<"This is the way capitalism is supposed to work," David Autor, an
economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told the New York
Times. "As nations develop, wages rise and life theoretically gets better
for everyone.

"But in China, for that change to be permanent, consumers have to be
willing to bear the consequences. When people read about bad Chinese
factories in the paper, they might have a moment of outrage. But then they
go to Amazon and are as ruthless as ever about paying the lowest prices.">>

I see this logic used over and over again by economists, and it actually
makes no sense. If capitalism just works, then consumers shouldn't have to
curb their ruthless impulse to pay low prices. If consumers have to go
against what they want to do naturally in order for capitalism to
function, then it's false to say that capitalism just "works."

It's the same as when conservatives argue that the free market "just
works," and then George Bush started telling Americans that they needed to
do their patriotic duty by buying more things. If the free market works,
then consumers shouldn't have to be given ideology for how to behave.

Debbie