Exploitation

Exploitation isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Sure, it has a sour aftertaste and it's appalling to think about.  But people's aversion to funding companies that exploit cheap labor is, I would argue, not morally substantiable.

I want to end poverty in the world.  That's my first priority when it comes to economic policy.  I don't want fairness, I want everybody to have their living essentials paid for, and I want everybody to have equal access to big bucks for hard work.  If the way to do that is through rigorously meritocratic socialism, then so be it.  If the way to do that is through pure democratic communism, I'd be good with that too.  I just don't like that people have to suffer with poverty.  It's a blemish on human civilization, and it's wrong for us to let people suffer at the hands of our society's normal activities.

For this reason, I have an open mind when it comes to the issue of cheap labor.  I'm not strongly espoused to the opinion I have, whereas I strongly believe in the values I based this opinion on (universal freedom from poverty).  I'm no economist; nor are most people who have strong opinions on the matter of whether it's right to patronize companies that outsource to countries where citizens are willing to work for cheap.  And I think that the dialogue is largely misinformed bullshit.

The conclusion that I've come to after thinking about the big picture is this:



When companies outsource labor to other countries, they are taking advantage of people in a way that's useful for those individuals.

Sure, it's exploitation.  But I think it's a good thing for people who are living in poverty in money-based economies.  It improves their region's economy by bringing in capital and business.  It creates jobs for people who are otherwise poor.

"Exploiting" this situation improves the economic situations in those countries.  It also enables people to buy cheaper products elsewhere in the world, which is good for impoverished people in the importing countries.

This situation is not ideal, sure.  There should be a minimum wage everywhere in the world.  But that's a problem for governments in their respective regions to handle, and poor people generally have no voice in their local or national politics--barring the times that they're driven to actual revolution.

There are alternatives to this business strategy that would be good:  demanding from the governments where businesses outsource their labor a higher minimum wage, for instance.  Or customers could reach out to these regions and encourage that the workers demand fair payment--this would probably not be adopted by any group of cheap laborers, because they'd realize that fighting for equal payment would cause these companies to up and leave to another country with cheap labor.  For that reason, I think the more sustainable solution is for educated consumers to push for international regulations on minimum wages. The UN sucks, so this would entail a United Nations renaissance.

One day this might happen, but it's not really plausible.  So what about the suggestions that most "worker welfare advocates" suggest?  Boycott the company in question until they raise wages?  Yeah, that's going to work.  Advocates for this kind of issue have such a small impact when they suggest a boycott, it never works.  The only effect of this type of campaign is to slightly reduce a company's profits, which means they are driven to cut even more corners.  Companies generally push off profit loss on the people who already have it shitty, which tends to be the workers.  So reducing an extortionist company's profits only serves to increase their extortion.

So this plan is ineffective.  The only case in which it would be successful is if the consumer class were to collectively boycott companies like Walmart.  But they won't, because in an economy where people want things, the most competitive companies and the most patronized companies are those which have the best value, or are cheapest for their quality, and have the most money put into advertising.  This is just how markets work.  So this plan is too big to be effective, and when it fails, it actually makes things worse for the exploited workers.

I don't know what the solution is, but I know that it is not a mediocre boycott off companies that exploit poor workers.  It needs to completely circumvent the economy and go straight to corporate laws and regulations.

To accept boycotting as a reasonable alternative to patronizing exploitative corporations is silly.  It doesn't actually accomplish anything.  Even after one company changes their ways, another will replace it and traipse into the region with newly-unemployed cheap labor.

The only real solution is to acknowledge the absurdity of our economic system, the extant corpus of half-assed corporate regulations.  The only real solution is one that's both sustainable and courageous.  The only such solution to labor exploitation is to rewrite our economy and our  government.  Before then, the entire contemporary dialogue is moot, and the so-called humanitarians must stop confusing morality with their reluctance to get their hands dirty.