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Originally Posted by Table 5
1) Individuals hustling is one thing, but on a macro level, we're not always competing under the same rules as many countries when it comes to workers rights, freedoms, safety, and environmental standards. The reason we are more expensive is that we as society have chosen to give these things value...if we want to lower our prices and compete, chances are we will need to lower these standards too. It is one thing to have someone come to Canada and compete freely, compared to competing with those who are working under conditions we would find unacceptable. I have no issues with protecting Canadian workers under those conditions.
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I don't disagree at all, and purposely tried to sidestep that part for the original part of the debate, because this complicates things. I think it all fails because everyone wants the cheapest crap possible. For example, if Nike said that they are going to make all their crap in Bangladesh because it's cheaper, but they were going to ensure that a certain minimum working standard was met there, it would actually start to help workers in that area by raising the bar. Competitors may get levered into matching. Except what would actually happen is everyone would start buying Adidas, because cheaper.
I'd like to think I'd drop $60 on a Canadian made snow shovel that paid workers a living wage instead of a $30 made by Uyghur slaves. The fact none of those companies left says either I'm lying to myself, or I'm alone.
The flip side of this coin, is if Canada built out a bigger industrial base that could find consumers for the more expensive products, we could provide more opportunities by growing our own population via immigration.
I'm not sure how the problem is best solved. Probably a little of A, a little of B. The whole world can't migrate to the first world, having a company providing good paying jobs in India needs to be part of the solution.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Table 5
2) If we can be compassionate about others, why is it frowned upon to be compassionate about our own? I get weekly calls/emails from India offering to do design/coding work for me that's a fraction of what it costs me now. Should I dump my entire staff and save myself thousands? Or do I look at it in context, and realize that it's important to support the young people around me who are trying to get ahead in life too. My employees are awesome, they work hard, and by having a steady job and safe working conditions, they continue to be positive contributors to our community and society.
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I'm not condemning anyone for hiring local people. Good on you for providing opportunities to more than just yourself. I do think it's important for us to all realize that the vast majority of the opportunities to be doled out originate in the first world, and extending those in a fashion that helps grow foreign skilled workers can be a good thing.
If I had to TL;DR it, I don't agree with "Outsourcing is bad" without looking at the other side of it, outside of our borders, where there are people who can be very positively impacted by it.
Ok, I'll stop for real this time.