Star Human Rights Group Condemns Computer Manufacturers
Linked by David Adams on Wed 17th Dec 2008 17:15 UTC, submitted by Michael
In the News In a muckraking Spiegel.de article, suppliers to well-known computer manufacturers are accused of mistreating workers and violating Chinese labor law: "According to a Hong-Kong based human rights organization, working hours total up to 370 hours per month, workers aren't receiving the legal minimum wage and in the run-up to Christmas, days off are cut out entirely." One of the reasons that high tech hardware has become so widespread and useful is because it's so inexpensive. As this article demonstrates, this affordability can come at a price.
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RE[10]: shit happens
by h3rman on Fri 19th Dec 2008 08:03 UTC in reply to "RE[9]: shit happens"
h3rman
Member since:
2006-08-09

"The US is a real estate economy, it's not a labor economy, which is what Keynesianism is all about. In Keynesianism, one taxes property more than labour. Under Reagan-Clinton-Bushonomics, (speculative) property basically isn't taxed at all.


I have never heard the US be called a "real estate" economy before. Maybe you mean a service economy?
"

That's the euphemism. :-)
Look at what the collateral for most of the debts are.
What do the banks take as collateral? Where do so many people think their wealth comes from? What does the debt bubble really consist of? Sure, the US is (was?) a "service economy". Which is a euphemism not only for a real estate economy, but also for a trade deficit economy.
(I don't think countries like Britain or many other European countries are any better off BTW, this is not a purely American thing at all.)

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 3

RE[11]: shit happens
by jimbofluffy on Fri 19th Dec 2008 12:39 in reply to "RE[10]: shit happens"
jimbofluffy Member since:
2008-07-15

Look at what the collateral for most of the debts are.
What do the banks take as collateral? Where do so many people think their wealth comes from? What does the debt bubble really consist of? Sure, the US is (was?) a "service economy". Which is a euphemism not only for a real estate economy, but also for a trade deficit economy.


Real estate doesn't create new wealth (physical capital), but construction, a service, will add vaule to the pre-existing land. What does the real economy comprise of then? Inflation, demand or speculation driven land prices or the value add to that land or goods of the service sector? Lending can get out of hand, as recent times have shown, and it is very important to the economy, but the collateral for home loans is not where the new wealth comes from.

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 2

RE[12]: shit happens
by h3rman on Fri 19th Dec 2008 13:02 in reply to "RE[11]: shit happens"
h3rman Member since:
2006-08-09

"Look at what the collateral for most of the debts are.
What do the banks take as collateral? Where do so many people think their wealth comes from? What does the debt bubble really consist of? Sure, the US is (was?) a "service economy". Which is a euphemism not only for a real estate economy, but also for a trade deficit economy.


Real estate doesn't create new wealth (physical capital), but construction, a service, will add vaule to the pre-existing land. What does the real economy comprise of then? Inflation, demand or speculation driven land prices or the value add to that land or goods of the service sector? Lending can get out of hand, as recent times have shown, and it is very important to the economy, but the collateral for home loans is not where the new wealth comes from. "

To be sure, I'm not saying that actually productive economic activity does not happen, just that it's massively overshadowed by the FIRE sector.
The problem is that the FIRE sector and the (what's often called) real economy are not living side by side without hurting each other, rather the FIRE sector is a parasite on the real economy.
In the end, the more people have to pay as interest on all their debts, the less they can afford to spend on food, clothing, commodities etc. The money people *can* spend is spent on stuff often made in China, and every dollar spent on that is added to the trade deficit.
I think Peter Schiff will basically agree with me. :-)

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 3