A Thousand Cuts: Austerity Measures Devastate Communities Around The World

Commented Jul 12, 2012 at 11:00:26 in Politics

“I will keep pounding at this because no one else will. The opening of cheap labor to the world is why everything is crumbling in the western world. When enough jobs are lost to cheap labor it is going to affect your tax base. Without jobs were is the money going to come from? The rich? I do not think so. If you tax them and they can not find a way out of paying them, they will go else where. Globalization could be a good thing if the world was brought up to our level, but that is not going to happen under unregulated capitalism and no labor laws. Businesses can move to where they are not regulated. This enables non competitive monopolies. It does not take much thought to see where this leads. A third world world, with only the very poor and the very rich. All of this was brought on by the free trade agreement and Americans buying cheap foreign products while their fellow Americans were loosing their jobs. And people think that a president can change this. In that Romney is one of the rich, do you really believe he will even try to stop this? It seems to me that he was one of the first to jump on the outsourcing band wagon.”

cheleiams on Jul 12, 2012 at 12:05:18

“Agreed. And while many like to look to the past and point fingers at Clinton for our economic situation today, it was actually that Conservative darling Reagan who initiated many of the free trade policies responsible for the gross outsourcing of American jobs. Reagan promoted and signed off on tax cuts that encouraged companies to shift manufacturing abroad, resulting in job loss and decreases in pay. At the same time, loosened regulations enabled banks to allow people to become swamped in credit card and mortgage debt, with a marked increase in interest rates. Republicans claim all this brought prosperity to the nation, but more than one hindsight observer has noted that essentially he paved the way for today's uber-rich 1%, while destroying the middle class.

Austerity of this kind is snake oil, peddled by the wealthy and powerful. They lick the spoon and say "It's good for you," but that's the largest dose they ever take; while the middle class and very poor are fed it by the bucketful and end up sicker than dogs.”

Left of Right on Jul 12, 2012 at 11:11:12

“I agree. I know this will never happen, however, I think the world governments should come together and pit is all on equal footing; a global standard. A standard currency, minimum wage, tax, trade laws, and basic workers rights.

It would be complicated, but I think there are answers there.”