>As for throwing people out of work, that's already happening and it
>will continue to happen in the neo-imperialist pursuit of lower and
>lower labor costs.
Some of that will happen, but the history of capitalism is about drawing an ever-larger share of the population into paid work, and marketizing formerly nonmarket production.
Also, it would be very difficult to prove a generalized race to the bottom. Real wages are positive in most of the First World. The U.S. was the major exception to that between 1973 and 1995, but U.S. real wages have been rising since 1995. Average incomes - and I know that all kinds of contradictions can hide under averages - have been rising in much of Asia. I think Ulhas can update us on India, but as I recall, average incomes are rising there. If you've got India, China, and almost the entire first world in the rising income category, you've got about half the human population. The major exceptions are Latin America and especially Africa. So I think we should be more specific rather than invoking a general decline that doesn't exist.
Doug