Greg Mankiw on Outsourcing

Harvard professor of economics on outsourcing:

Some people fear that Americans cannot compete with low-wage workers abroad, or that global competition will mean that wages will 'race to the bottom.' The truth is that we can prosper in a global economy because our workers are among the best in the world. Our real wages are ultimately determined by our productivity, and American productivity growth has been spectacular over the past three years.

Yeah, but see, we can only prosper when we workers are actually rewarded for our productivity. The thing that you're missing, Greg Mankiw, is that wages are going up, all right: straight out of the middle class and straight up to the executive suite.

What've We Got to Lose?

Ever feel like you're going to spontaneously combust?

Nazification. Global warming. Water shortage. Housing values. "Free" trade. Wage suppression. Job outsourcing. Pension erosion. Healthcare implosion. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Shaky stockmarket. National debt. Trade imbalance. Nuclear proliferation. War on women, gays, and immigrants. War on Iran. Occupation of Iraq. Blackwater. Christianists. Vote fraud. Freeper Nation. The Shock Doctrine. New Orleans.

So why's everybody on the Left so afraid to fight back? It's not like we've got anything to lose!

But that's not enough to keep me awake at night, so I was wondering: How does someone brought up in the USA decide that his sole purpose in life is to strip all his fellow citizens and their offspring of financial security, environmental safety, and their constitutional heritage?

I mean, how does that work? How do you get there from sixth-grade civics? I can see that being Barbara Bush's baby might be a big factor, but that can't be the only thing; it also happened to Dick.

Are they aliens? They're sure goddamned illegal.