To the best of my knowledge the China deal is done. The only thing that remains is cramming it down our throats. There ain't going to be any more concessions from China. They want FDI, and they are willing to shoot workers in FDI plants for shirking. I gather RK sees this as an improvement in the international division of labor.
RK: . . . There is more money and higher wages to be made in services, computer and high tech exports to China than from saving the toy, shoe and clothes industries in the US.
mbs: The talk I hear is not about toys and shoes, but aircraft. Besides which, the AFL operates on the principle of an injury to one is an injury to all, particularly where the "one" is the UAW/USW/IBT/OCAW/UNITE. Sweeney got his ass in a sling over the consultation letter. The AFL is not going to fold on China for the sake of non-unionized export sectors.
. . . And Max and Palley know that. They are fighting to open China up so that intl division of labor continues to take a form that suits the interest of the most advanced capitalist nations.
mbs: If we oppose China entry to the WTO, how are we "fighting to open up China"?
RK: In particular, my bet is what they will end up fighting for is that even goods made for consumption in China be made in the US and exported, depriving China of the ability to ensure the transfer of tech and the employment of local labor. This is the narrow agenda of the 'labor movement' today. I'll say it again: this is the social imperialism of the 2nd International redux.
mbs: This is a hallucination.