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Stuff has to be made somewhere. This argument is essentially predicated on the idea that it's okay for some places to be polluted and for some people to have to
by markovs_gun 4mo ago
Stuff has to be made somewhere. This argument is essentially predicated on the idea that it's okay for some places to be polluted and for some people to have to deal with it but not for other places and people. What you're really saying is "When people talk about how they want manufacturing back, they conveniently forget the pollution impacts people who live here instead of China and India, where it's totally okay."
Domestic manufacturing has a lot of advantages from the standpoint of total pollution. I guarantee you that even with lax American environmental rules, the pollution caused by a factory in Georgia is still lower and less hazardous to workers and the surrounding community than if the same factory were in India. Furthermore, our government is at least theoretically capable of adding better protections for workers and communities, while our government is going to have a hard time enforcing pollution rules overseas.
I don't think you are racist or xenophobic. I just think that when people make this argument they don't think about the fact that this stuff is still getting manufactured somewhere if it's not made here, and basically the complaint is that Americans are having to deal with the consequences rather than people in other countries.
- collabs 4mo agoIt is supposed to get better over time though. I mean at least that's the sales pitch. Globalization was supposed to lift all boats. If you remember the air quality in Beijing used to be the absolute worst but it has allegedly improved a lot recently. I don't know where the flaw in the logic was but I think the idea was first you have to become wealthier and with more money comes a better quality of life.
- pocksuppet 4mo agoGlobalization does lift all boats. We get cheap stuff without having to make it, and they get jobs and pollution.
- breezybottom 4mo agoIt got better in Beijing because they moved factories to more rural areas, not because manufacturing is any less dirty.
- derriz 4mo agoWhen people extol the virtues of manufacturing, I’m always reminded of the poll where 80% of Americans say that the country would benefit from a bigger manufacturing base but only 25% are interested in actually working in manufacturing. This isn’t an American thing btw - I’ve had arguments with brits and others who argue passionately that the country has been destroyed by the relative decline in manufacturing but when I ask “so you’d prefer to work in a factory?” it provokes fairly confused responses like “no but other people would”…. https://fortune.com/2025/04/15/americans-want-factory-jobs-reshored-dont-want-work-them/ https://fortune.com/2025/04/15/americans-want-factory-jobs-r...
- Zigurd 4mo agoAmerica is pretty good at creating an underclass they can force into less desirable jobs using the prison industrial complex.
- mystraline 4mo agoThe word for that is "slavery". The Civil war never banned slavery. It only banned private citizens from owning people. The government (state and federal) kept sole right to still own people. The only gate is found guilty of a crime. Technically, that can even be for a speeding ticket. And when they can keep prosecuting for a laundry list, they effectively guarantee a win against whomever they want.
- echelon 4mo agoDalton has been the worldwide leader in carpet manufacturing since before I was born. Multiple generations of people have worked in those factories. They earn good money and can afford big houses and savings. You should talk to the people of Dalton. They're really proud of it. The first thing they tell you is they're from the "carpet capital of the world". Without fail they will mention that to you. It's so ingrained that it's part of their identity. I don't think they'd be happy to lose their jobs for knowledge work or anything else.
- expedition32 4mo ago
- Zigurd 4mo agoStuff is made in response to demand. That can feel like an inevitability especially if you look at the failure of interdiction of drug trafficking. But that's no excuse to give up on harm reduction and demand shaping. Cigarette smoking hasn't disappeared, but the costs it imposes on healthcare has been reduced successfully. The same can be done to reduce the freeriding on ecological damage.