reply to post by LoneWeasel
"My own view is that Nationalist politics are simply outdated. They don't work any more because the concept of nation has changed. It might be
regrettable to some degree, we may lose some things that we held dear, but on the other hand globalisation gives us so much in return."
Globalization is based on David Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage. One of the central assumptions of that theory is that capitalists will
reemploy their capital in their own country to produce a product with a comparative advantage.
The reality is that capitalists often don't keep their capital in their own country. They move it to other countries and build factories in those
countries with lower wages.
Globalisation has effectively turned into wage arbitrage. Essentially a race to find the cheapest labour around the globe with the poorest and least
skilled in the West being the chief losers because the factories they used to work in are now in China.
The chief winner of globalisation are the holders of capital - people with money who can invest it in the parts of the world where returns are higher
due to lower input costs (primarily cheaper non British labour). The chief loser is the British worker at the bottom. The net effect is that the poor
get poorer while the rich get richer.
"The reason Griffin stance on immigration is so absurd is that it suggests that by removing the immigrant workers you remove the problem. You
don't. In effect you create an economic disaster for the country by removing cheaper labour and forcing running costs up wildly. That isn't a
sustainable way forward."
Perhaps but perhaps not. It was predicted that the introduction of the minimum wage would have the effect of costing jobs and wildly driving up costs.
It did neither.
You appear to be assuming that those goods and services which will revert to their previous higher cost could be supplied from abroad at a cheaper
rate or are for export.
Many, many types of goods and services can be neither exported nor imported i.e. the services sector in general. When you pay an Eastern European
waiter less than a British waiter that isn't creating a more competitive Britain. It is merely redistributing wealth away from the bottom of society
upwards.
Correct me if I am wrong, but the vast majority of immigrants who work in the UK, work in the domestic service sector and haven't reduced the cost or
increased the competitiveness of UK exports in any significant way.
Globalisation has made the rich, richer. The poor have watched their manufacturing jobs disappear to China to be replaced with low paid service
jobs.
Mass immigration into the UK has pushed the wages of the lowest paid in down.
The BNP is the only party that isn't ignoring the fact that British people at the bottom are the ones who are being squeezed.
Of course the Oxbridge dominated Tory, Labour and Liberal parties don't want to pay any attention to the plight of the working class - they are the
ones enjoying the fruits of capitalisation and mass immigration.
[edit on 12-6-2009 by gpzrd350]
