This is really in draft form. But since I said I was going to write about it, I may as well put it out there.
Many companies are using the information technology and help desk resources of companies in India because of the claims of lower costs the off shore IT and help desk service providers. But as more companies have been using the resources in India, something funny has been happening: the pay scale for the workers has been quickly rising. The workers are in demand and the companies are now fighting for their services. I mentioned these market forces at work here.
When I lived in Montgomery County, I had to take my trash to the dump or hire a refuse service. I chose the lowest cost company. At one point, the company's workers went on strike and my garbage wasn't collected. I complained to the supervisor and he told me what was happening. I remember telling him that I was sorry to hear about the labor troubles, but that was his trouble, not mine. Now they were making it my trouble and if they didn't get my trash the next day, I would find another company. They didn't collect the trash so I found another company. They cost about $5 / month more. They either paid their workers a little more or they were more efficient elsewhere, but I didn't care.
In both cases, capitalistic market forces are at work. In the first, the employees are in the driver's seat because their services are valued. In the second case, the consumer is in the driver's seat because although the service is valued, there is a maximum cost that the consumer will allow. In the first case, as long as the price of the off shore services are perceived to be major cost savers, the employees pay will rise until the off shore service prices are no longer perceived to be cost saving. Then the pay will fall some and level off. [ BTW, I tend to think that the pay of garbage men should rival, if not exceed, the pay of doctors. Policemen and firemen should be paid on par with doctors as well. Policemen work to keep a civil society. Firemen defend the lives and property of those who are victims of fires, accidents, and other dangerous situations. Garbage men help protect society from disease by picking up the garbage. ]
No where is "poverty required" in this example capitalistic model. In the clothing sweat shop model of capitalism, employers do take advantage of their employees. The employers need low skilled labor to do the job. They do not place a high value on their workers. However, there is a vast supply of people who are willing to do sweat shop labor. Meanwhile, in the end, the buyers of goods consider the value of lower priced goods to be paramount over sweat shop labor, or they don't care at all. But in this case, it is the end consumer who can control what happens. If the end consumer cared about what was happening and refused to buy sweat shop goods, things would change because the sweat shop companies would either go out of business for lack of orders or they would change their policies to stay in business. So, in this sense, poverty is controlled by the consumer. The consumer wants cheap goods. The suppliers are willing to provide cheap goods, but to do so, they have to use cheap labor OR use "labor saving" devices that cuts down on the need for manual labor.
So, if poverty exists, SOME of the blame can be laid at the feet of consumers, but I don't think the blame could be placed on the economic model of capitalism.
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