"Low-wages" Friedman targets educated workforce
I shouldn't read Thomas Friedman. It irritates me every time.
Friedman's main purpose in life is to sell a kinder-gentler version of free trade to liberals and intellectuals. He soothes bleeding hearts by convincing us that the downsides of WTO, IMF and World Bank globalization policies can be fixed with band-aids, like educating our workforce.
He casts all who disagree as "protectionists" while he ignores the fundamental goal of trade pacts that are designed to lower the cost of production for corporations by lowering wages, lowering environmental standards, weakening unions, weakening national sovereignty, and lowering the standard of living in all nations involved.
His latest column proposes that cheap-labor trade policies do for America's educated workforce what they already did to our manufacturing workforce. Much like those who still believe that lowering taxes will magically solve our economic problems (in spite of the Bush years proving otherwise), Friedman's column is full of his usual grandiose promises that cheap-labor policies will magically create more jobs for everyone (despite the failure of NAFTA/WTO to live up to their promises).
Here's what his hype boils down to:
Now is when we should be stapling a green card to the diploma of any foreign student who earns an advanced degree at any U.S. university, and we should be ending all H-1B visa restrictions on knowledge workers who want to come here. They would invent many more jobs than they would supplant. The world’s best brains are on sale. Let’s buy more!Yes, the brains of the world are on sale at 1/3 the price of American brains! Anyone who works in the tech industry knows that H-1B visas are about nothing more than paying someone from another country to do the same job for much lower wages while a qualified American worker remains unemployed.
For years, Friedman and his NAFTA allies have told us that the answer to American manufacturing jobs going overseas is to have a highly educated workforce. Now he claims that it's in our interests to have foreign, low-wage workers occupy the jobs that Americans re-trained and re-educated themselves for.
I'm glad Friedman wrote a book about the environment. It's good to have new supporters so I read the Introduction and first chapter. I stopped there because I didn't see an adequate apology.
It's absurd for Friedman to present himself as an authoritative environmental advocate unless he's going to first apologize at length for over a decade of promoting globalization policies that destroy environmental regulations in the name of removing "trade barriers," deprive people in developing countries of the power to protect their natural areas, and fueled a race to consume what little natural resources the world has left.
He needs to admit that the mechanisms of free trade he advocated for are responsible for untold environmental destruction. I can't take him seriously until then. I won't hold my breath since I still haven't seen his apology for supporting the Iraq War.
Comments
I understand your argument but it feels like you are comparing blue collar jobs to white collar jobs in a way that isn't fair. Friedman thinks that those discount brains will fuel innovation and make the whole pie bigger, and I tend to agree with him. I don't think that blue collar industry works the same way.
"Anyone who works in the tech industry knows that H-1B visas are about nothing more than paying someone from another country to do the same job for much lower wages while a qualified American worker remains unemployed. "
Doesn't anyone who works in the tech industry know that the internet reaches everywhere and won't be impeded by trade protections? I would much rather an Indian come to the US and steal my job than steal it from their branch office in India. At least then they would be paying US income tax, right?
Posted by: John Milito | June 29, 2009 12:26 AM
John Milito's comment is a perfect illustration of why the take over of the IT industry by India has gone largely unchallanged. Many of us are "first generation" white collar workers, sons and daughters of blue collar workers who busted their butts to give us better opportunities. We are proud of being white collar workers and look down on unions, so we have allowed our jobs to be quietly spirited away because we don't want to admit that the same power brokers that destroyed American industry are after knowledge workers now. No one stands up when coroporations like Microsoft push the lie that there aren't enough trained workers in America. They "offshore" our jobs and the offshore companies are so cheap that they can still afford to keep a few of us on to clean up the mess. We are so proud of our white collar jobs that we won't take the kind of down and dirty action that might have worked to stop the trend. We wear white collars and think we are on a par with the executives that make the offshoring decisions but we aren't and by the time enough people recognize that fact, it will be too late for our IT industry.
Posted by: Mother Jones | June 30, 2009 9:58 AM
In Thomas Friedman's latest column (July 5), he claimed that Obama is putting heath care at higher priority than the climate change bill - He's saying that the climate bill is on the back burner. Does anyone know if Friedman's statements are true?
Posted by: Confused | July 5, 2009 12:26 AM
Milto,
You wrote, "Friedman thinks that those discount brains will fuel innovation and make the whole pie bigger, and I tend to agree with him."
1) If this is merely about fueling innovation then why doesn't Friedman address the wage issue by calling for equal pay to foreign workers? I'm sure the foreign visa holders would be happy to receive regular US wages.
2) Why should we assume that those new jobs resulting from innovation will be located in America? Won't they go to low-wage overseas factories and more immigrant workers in the US? There's an endless supply of low-wage labor in China (white and blue collar) that will never be exhausted.
Companies are discovering disadvantages to relocating overseas and technical work that involves construction (like new power plants) must be done here. Friedman's column indicates that some companies want to lower their costs without the logistical problems and bad press of moving overseas. The rest is hype and BS.
Posted by: Will | July 5, 2009 2:15 AM
Dear Confused,
Obama seems to be emphasizing health care more, but I don't know why Friedman believes he isn't doing both.
I heard from people on Capitol Hill that a number of Democrats decided to support Waxman-Markey only after getting a personal call from Obama. He spoke about climate change in strong terms during his weekly radio address yesterday. Plus, he did more to stop global warming during his first two months in office than Clinton/Gore did in eight years.
I suspect Friedman is exaggerating a bit. Obama can walk and chew gum at the same time.
Posted by: Will | July 5, 2009 2:37 AM
Illinois is the best state for higher education. Also, legislators like Costello (IL-12) and Shimkus (IL-19) have made it possible for big box retailers and fast food restaurants to acquire the most educated workforce in the U.S.
Would not surprise me to discover that the some lawyers had the bright idea to move IT overseas. They never liked it when they learned their billables were less. Those of us in the IT industry who are a little on the geeky side consider tech support no support for a reason. Has nothing to do with a language barrier -- OK, not much :)
Posted by: Philosophe Forum | July 8, 2009 5:12 PM