whence & thither

[Flosshilde]

low pay looks like becoming structurally permanent rather than just an aspect of economic recovery bears out something I wrote in one of my first political postings on this forum - namely that without concerted resistance there is nothing to stop the ruling class from reducing Britain, Greece, Spain or anywhere else to the status of a third world-type economy

In the recent past China & the Indian sub-continent have been the source of cheap manufactured goods because of the low pay & poor conditions 'enjoyed' by workers. However, pay & conditions in China, at least, are improving as workers organise & fight for improvements. This could have the effect, ultimately, of shutting off a source of cheap goods (or higher profits for those companies that manufacture goods there cheaply but sell them at high cost). Would it be too far-fetched to see Europe (including the UK of course) eventually becoming the new source of low-cost manufacturing as pay & conditions are driven down further, perhaps with goods shipped to the newly wealthy middle classes of China & India?

[Serial_Apologist]

In the recent past China & the Indian sub-continent have been the source of cheap manufactured goods because of the low pay & poor conditions 'enjoyed' by workers. However, pay & conditions in China, at least, are improving as workers organise & fight for improvements. This could have the effect, ultimately, of shutting off a source of cheap goods (or higher profits for those companies that manufacture goods there cheaply but sell them at high cost). Would it be too far-fetched to see Europe (including the UK of course) eventually becoming the new source of low-cost manufacturing as pay & conditions are driven down further, perhaps with goods shipped to the newly wealthy middle classes of China & India?

That can't be ruled out; the world of business being constantly on the lookout for compliant workforces and governments beckoning with inducements to keep making easy pickings. My guess is that the international ruling class has ruled out any more Keynsian demand management-type experiments of the 1945-75 type to buy off the workers as putting too many constraints on the free flow and growth of capital, which of course includes that of labour within and between agreed territories, hence Cameron's rhetorical case for negotiating Britain out of the EU. Anyone disputing this has to explain why otherwise the PM is so keen to reveal his hand prior to said negotiations. The desperation all-round vis-a-vis UKIP and various proto-fascist parties in Europe clearly shows establishments now to be bereft of any ideas on salving their electoral prospects along with those of captalism as capable of creating the amount of wealth it needs on its own operational terms to spread reasonably equitably down the ranks to present itself short or longterm as the rightful ethical, moral and ideological beneficiary of the so-called post Cold War dividend.

[Richard Barrett]

Would it be too far-fetched to see Europe (including the UK of course) eventually becoming the new source of low-cost manufacturing as pay & conditions are driven down further, perhaps with goods shipped to the newly wealthy middle classes of China & India?

I think that's already begun to happen in the countries of south-eastern Europe.

[amateur51]

That can't be ruled out; the world of business being constantly on the lookout for compliant workforces and governments beckoning with inducements to keep making easy pickings. My guess is that the international ruling class has ruled out any more Keynsian demand management-type experiments of the 1945-75 type to buy off the workers as putting too many constraints on the free flow and growth of capital, which of course includes that of labour within and between agreed territories, hence Cameron's rhetorical case for negotiating Britain out of the EU. Anyone disputing this has to explain why otherwise the PM is so keen to reveal his hand prior to said negotiations. The desperation all-round vis-a-vis UKIP and various proto-fascist parties in Europe clearly shows establishments now to be bereft of any ideas on salving their electoral prospects along with those of captalism as capable of creating the amount of wealth it needs on its own operational terms to spread reasonably equitably down the ranks to present itself short or longterm as the rightful ethical, moral and ideological beneficiary of the so-called post Cold War dividend.

Ref. Cameron's panic, I see that he bunged Sir Andrew Green, Chair of Migration Watch, into the House of Lords the other day, doubtless to show a watching world how seriously he takes immigration. The fact that MW's funding sources are mostly a closely-guarded secret matters nought in CameronLand, apparently.