no one was ever sold the idea of a "service sector" economy. what was pushed was alvin-toffler bs about a third wave information society. while everyone was focused on that carrot unions were crippled and real wage jobs sent overseas. the reality that was left was a service sector economy, because lets face it tech and computer jobs will always be for a small sector of the population.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shotsie
The problem is that we were sold this bullshit about America moving towards a service sector economy that has come home to roost. The problem with a service sector economy is that there is nothing tangible produced to support a nation's currency, it's all stuff like "consulting" and "finance", and it's caused massive inflation. Not to mention most well paying service sector jobs require a college degree.
The American quality and standard of living will be stagnate over the next few generations, perhaps it will degrade slightly. As the global economy settles in on some equilibrium, developing nations standards of living will need to increase. Until that time, there is nothing that can be done short of out-and-out protectionism. And no self-respecting American consumerbot would ever go for that.
An 80¢/hr. factory worker in a plant in Xian Shaanxi Province is not improbable, but impossible to compete with today. The only thing to do is wait until his wages go up 400%(better hope they unionize over there and quick), and our buying power comes down 50%. At that point, when he is making about $2.80/hr, then and only then will domestic manufacturing begin to return, and thats in a scenario where some enterprising fool doesn't open a new plant in Burundi, Ethiopia, or the Democratic Republic of Congo.
|