P4gemaker

Robert Reich: In the current climate of global economies, what role do you think that forces outside our own economy is driving the current trends of inequality, and what meaningful steps can be taken to address issues such as living wages without simply re-distributing employment geographically?

I think, on a couple of further steps, that trading partners should be on equal footing, not just on wage equality. While I agree with the requirement of trading partners having a minimum wage 1/2 of their nation's median wage, I think that other aspects of production need to be part of the equation as well. Trading partners should be on fairly-equal regulatory ground as well, in terms of workplace safety requirements (think of the recent factory collapse in India), environmental regulations (lax or non-existent environmental regulations continue to ensure that the products we purchase create pollution, and dramatically reduces the cost of production abroad, but for destructive reasons. That the pollution is going into the Yellow River, rather than the Hudson is cold comfort; all rivers flow to the oceans, and pollution is eventually all our problem). Political alignment (or at the least, absence of antagonism) should be taken into account as well. All these factors play into, not only an even playing field & fair shake for American labor, but ensures that our trading partners truly function as partners, with their markets presenting opportunities for our products as well, rather than opening up the U.S. as a dumping ground for outsourced goods produced in under the most predatory circumstances possible.