« December 2006 | Main | June 2007 »
San Diego Union Tribune Editorial, 23rd February 2007
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070223/news_lz1ed23bottom.html
Keep all this in mind the next time you see a talking head declaim about the horrors of the trade deficit. It's an interesting statistic, not a national threat. If the doom-and-gloomers were right, we'd long since have declined to Third World status.
Andrew Cassel
Philadelphia Enquirer, 18th February 2007
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/business/16722848.htm
most economists who've looked at the issue rate the long-run economic impact of offshoring as either (1) minimal, or (2) positive. Using overseas workers to save money or boost productivity generally results in better or cheaper services, which in turn leads to more competition, more innovation, and growth
...
Listen to Scott Kirwin, who made a return appearance in December to Wired magazine. Things have changed. He shut down his anti-offshoring Web site in 2006 and has since found himself a better job in the software business. "I don't view outsourcing as the big threat it was," he told the magazine. "In the end, America may be stronger for it."
Richard Posner and Gary Becker
Wall Street Journal, 26th January 2007
http://users2.wsj.com/lmda/do/checkLogin?mg=wsj-users2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB116978492591488718.html%3Fmod%3Dopinion_main_commentaries
An increase in the minimum wage raises the costs of fast foods and other goods produced with large inputs of unskilled labor. Producers adjust both by substituting capital inputs and/or high-skilled labor for minimum-wage workers and, because the substitutes are more costly (otherwise the substitutions would have been made already), by raising prices.
...
Mr. Salanie has argued that the minimum wage also contributes to the dismal employment prospects of young persons in France, including Muslim youths, an estimated 40% of whom are unemployed.
George W. Bush
Federal Hall, New York, January 2007
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/01/20070131-1.html
Every time we break down barriers to trade and investment, we open up new markets for our businesses and our farmers. As we improve free trade, consumers get lower prices. There are better American jobs. You see increased productivity. Jobs supported by exports of goods pay wages that are 13 to 18 percent higher than the average. So one of our top priorities has been to remove obstacles to trade everywhere we can.
by Russell Roberts
LA Times, 17th Feb 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-roberts17feb17,0,3318291.story?coll=la-opinion-center
The sad irony of unions is that they can only improve the lot of their members at the expense of other workers.
A better way to increase wages is to make workers more productive. That lifts everyone's standard of living.
