We constantly hear that the export of US manufacturing is a good thing because we get bargains. The cost of course is the loss of good paying manufacturing jobs which has contributed to the destruction of the middle class. But are we consumers really getting a bargain? I have purchased shirts from the same manufacturer for years. They used to be made in the US but no more. I am not paying less for the shirts but I am getting a year or two where I used to get three to four. No bargain for me here but the company that sells the shirts sees additional profit for each shirt in addition to more sales because of an inferior product. Three years ago I replaced a faucet in the kitchen that had been in place for 20 years. I purchased a new faucet – same model from the same manufacturer. But was it really the same? The answer is no. The manufacturer had been purchased by a large multinational corporation and the new faucet was made in China not the US. The new faucet failed after three years. The faucet I purchased to replace it was also made in China. It was an out of box failure which of course I only discovered after spending an hour under the kitchen sink.
Thomas Friedman’s flat earth free trade is only free for multinational corporations. Down here on main street we pay about the same amount for products of inferior quality while the monopolistic multinationals make a lot more money.
Neither the Democrats or Republicans will do anything that will repair the US economy because members of both parties are taking their orders from Wall Street and the World Trade Organization. Welcome to 21st century feudalism.
Cross posted at Newshoggers