Walter E. Williams

Well, it's time for another Walter E. Williams article. After a dry spell, all of a sudden he's drawing my attention quite regularly.

This week he explores the old conservative canard that, well, if those third worlders can only make $0.70 a day on their own, and we give them $2.00 a day, that's charitable of us. He concludes his article with these sentences. "Union leaders and their useful idiots in the anti-globalism movement have also called for minimum wages and better working conditions for workers of multinational firms in Third World countries. Here's my question to you: Do you believe these people really care about the world's poor like Nhep Chanda? If you do, I have a fountain of youth I'd like to sell you.

There might be a few ministers, college students and other uninformed people who sincerely care about the Third World poor. But the thrust of the public relations campaign against the multinationals comes from the U.S. and European union movements and some businesses who see their jobs and profits threatened. They wish to raise the cost of overseas operations in order to forestall company relocation, or as Gephardt said he wants, an international minimum wage high enough so that American workers are not competing with slave, sweat shop and child labor around the world."

I truly am not sure where to start. First of all, why is preserving American Jobs some sort of dirty nasty secret agenda? I would think every American would want there to be employment opportunities in the United States. Your might, Dr. Williams, feel that this method of preserving American Employment opportunities is problematic, but I can't believe that you oppose the goal.

Secondly, what a baffling ending. Is Mr Williams saying he supports American companies investing in slave labor? Child Labor? I mean I guess I could understand it if he felt that what we call slave labor wasn't really that (Throughout his article he ignores the very real coercive power that some of these corporations use on their employees). But I don't know how you get around the child labor bit.

Frankly it's clear that Williams will support corporations no matter what they do.