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I need to make a point before I state my position;
When a product is produced in a country that does not provide collective bargaining for their work force that product must face a tariff commensurate with the wage difference a producer would have had to pay had they payed a living wage.
If we do not do that then we sponsor what amounts to slave labor and child labor, we sponsor corporate exploitation and we prevent laborers from getting the fair market value for their production.
As corporation must pay wage that allows all laborers fundamental necessities, a few (but not all) follow;
Healthy food on the table for obvious reason
Education through college for their kids if they qualify so the entire country can benefit from the educated society
Vacation every year so the laborer remains productive and enjoys life itself
Health care for the entire family so if their kid breaks his arm or wife gets cancer the laborer doesn’t go bankrupt
Retirement so he does not have to work when he is no longer productive and so he does not face the prospect of working till the day he dies.
A 40 hour work weak and over compensation for more work when needed by the industry so laborers are not over taxed to the point of health issues
There are other expenses but these are enough to talk about here.
When an industry does not pay those bills they are stealing from their labor force plain and simple, they are also stealing from the middle class of their society since public funds must be used events they cannot afford but society has a vested interest in addressing the event.
When products come into this country that do not force industry to pay these necessities that product must face a tariff commensurate with the costs the industry defers.
I have stated that position in the past, now I claim an additional position;.
countries that allow product into their economy from other countries that do not provide the necessities enumerated before, then that country needs to face tariff as well, commensurate with the costs they are allowing deferred by corporations.
That’s the addendum to my position regarding unions, labor pay, health care and fair wage as a general economic
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First, I’m with you.
Second: how do you determine the tariff? Let me give you an example so you’ll know what I mean. Let’s say we’ve established a fair wage for the US (obviously the minimum wage is NOT it) and for a particular industry, like autoworkers, and it’s $25.00 an hour no benefits because we have national healthcare and because they are responsible for their own pensions plus social security (which is fully funded and lock boxed).
What tariff do you attach to a Chinese/Korean/Indian automobile arriving on our shores?
Is the money set aside for those actual workers or just put into government coffers?
Who sets the industry minimum? Are the tariffs always going to be to prices set in the US because our cost of living is higher? Aren’t our costs regional rather than country-wide?
What about the idea of rewarding Americans for purchasing US Made especially if the product is better? Is it possible after we bail out the Big 3 and get them on a steady footing that we could allow the industry to sell itself off protecting their legacies and workers and to build their automobiles in places where the labor is cheaper?
Maybe the US is just too expensive a place to be making automobiles. OR, maybe we should be making a lot more of what we use because of the costs of transporation — maybe the way to save the auto companies is to promote industries we’ve already lost.
Should the US once again attempt to be a manufacturing country, or will be make better contributions to ourselves and the world if we find our niche in green industries?