WSJ on A16

Max B. Sawicky sawicky at epinet.org
Sat Apr 8 10:07:46 PDT 2000


YF: . . . I think that the rhetoric of protecting "American" jobs, keeping China out, stopping cheap labor abroad from bringing "our" living standards down, etc. has not appealed to activists of color. It's not just coincidence that the most vocal critic of AFL-CIO's China focus on this list here has been Rakesh (an Asian-American), is it? . . .

Um. Rakesh as representative of American minorities. Um. As Bhandari goes, so goes Furuhashi.

We did a report on public opinion and trade a couple of years ago. Monday I'll see if it has any stats on minorities. Once place that works on polling is the Joint Center on Political and Economic Studies, D.C.'s "black think tank." They might have something too.

. . . The loudest message from the movement's media-chosen spokespeople has been that imports made by foreign workers of color . . .

Now we're channeling Philion. Two weeks ago labor was supposed to be talkin' 'yellow peril,' then they were 'goosestepping.'

IMPORTS. Who makes 'em is irrelevant. What they get paid is relevant.


>>>>>>>>
are threat to American workers (even though, as Rakesh notes, most imports from, for instance, China don't compete with products made in America). . . .

Basic economic boo-boo. If an entire industry is moved from the U.S. to Malaysia, we could say Malaysia does not 'compete with products made in America.' But we would be wrong. Competition is not a question of products when they can be made anywhere, but a question of barbaric labor/enviro standards used to "compete."

peace and love, mbs



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