> Capitalists in the consumer sector sure have to
> care, otherwise no
> customers. But they're not big on thinking
> systematically - and they
> sure never think, "If I outsource this to China,
> I'll be eroding my
> customer base."
>
Actually, maintaining the customer base is a classic public goods problem, since the cost of eroding by outsourcing your own firm is infinitesmal for the firm. It is only collectively that the behyavior is irrational. Creating and maintaining the customer base by creating good high paying domestic jobs was the basis of Fordism -- Henry Ford I definitely thought this way, and this idea became accepted for the brief period of Golden Age capitalism, basically 1945-73. But that is all gone now. Now the rule is:beggar thy neighbor.
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