The Batlord |
07-31-2019 03:14 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by jwb
(Post 2069317)
It's less valuable specifically because of the labor pool they are competing with. That's like asking is a Cuban cigar more valuable in America vs Cuba. It's more valuable because of the scarcity of the product here, despite being the same exact product in either location.
|
Yeah see I think you're missing that value does not exist an economic bubble. Value is at least partially a power transaction. Unions lobby for minimum wage and the value of labor goes up, not for any market reason, but because power has been "paid" by the unions to make it so. Minimum wage employees aren't paid low wages simply because of the value of their labor, they're paid low wages because of the power imbalance between employer and employee (e.g. corporate lobbying for the benefit of the company, lack of unions, etc). Countries with sweatshop labor don't have less valuable labor, the workers lack even more power than we do.
Attributing value simply to supply and demand implies some sort of mathematical legitimacy. It's that way because that's how the system simply functions. That's not how the system functions though. Power transactions from both workers and employers act as leverage to alter how the system functions.
|