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up with PyGUI!

Cliff Wells clifford.wells at comcast.net
Thu Sep 16 19:53:35 EDT 2004 
On Thu, 2004-09-16 at 14:30 -0400, Terry Reedy wrote:
> "Alex Martelli" <aleaxit at yahoo.com> wrote in message
> > So I was wrong -- it's happening all right, but tends to be disguised
> > (perhaps for marketing reasons).  Thanks for the info!
> 
> Also for political reasons.  The US has reactionaries, left and right, who 
> reject the idea that all people have a right to participate in the global 
> information economy.

The main problem a lot of people (myself included) have with the so-
called "global economy" is that it mostly benefits the US employer who
can pay wages that are far below cost of living inside the US.  I'm
certain there are few people who begrudge others getting work, but the
usual motivation for those who drive this sort of thing (businesses and
politicians) tends to be greed.  The net result might be a greater
distribution of wealth for the lower classes, but a wider division
between the lower and middle/upper class in the US.  $15k a year might
be decent wages for a Ukrainian developer (I'm not certain), but in the
US you'd have to choose between food and shelter at that point.

To sum up: I have no problem with people in other countries
participating in the US economy, rather I have a problem with US
businesses who capitalize on that to drive down wages and increase their
profit margins at the expense of workers.  I say, let's have a global
economy, and tax the exported work up to (or at least near) the cost of
local labor, or have laws that require employers to pay prevailing wage
(based on the *employer's* country of origin).  Only then will employers
actually choose developers based on their skills rather than how
desperate they are to make a living.  This would also prevent the all-
too-common practice of moving an industry to the cheapest region,
leaving behind soaring unemployment rates (and this happens outside the
US just as much as inside).

Regards,
Cliff

-- 
Cliff Wells <clifford.wells at comcast.net>
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