This shit right here is it. Always tell people this shit all the time. Why does capital seek out areas where it can implement 50¢ sweatshops to begin with?
The problem is approaching the question of sweatshops from a moralistic rather than a Marxist, dialectical materialist perspective. Sweatshops are indeed a necessary aspect of capitalist development.
Great post. Perfectly encapsulates a lot of things. It's also why this idea of "manufacturing" coming back is irrelevant. Even if it did come back, it sure as hell isn't coming back in a way where you'll be earning $25-30 an hour with no college education. Capital has vast reserves of labor all over the planet just desperate for anything, and that now includes the US, which can't enjoy the labor power it once did, as an equilibrium is being approached all across the planet.
Literally the only way industrial manufacturing would "come back" is if the state actively invested in and operated new industrial ventures, which isn't going to happen under capitalism today
There are some sectors where these wages can still be earned, like in medical device, aerospace, and weapons manufacturing, but these are very small niches which are overall meaningless in the grander scheme of things. Not to mention, the vast majority of both industries still have been outsourced to locations were labor can be more easily exploited.
Probably the only reason these manufacturing plants are still around is because the upstream industries (pharmaceuticals, defense) are flush enough with capital from hyperexploitation that a couple hundred good salaries here and there is essentially a rounding error.
When I started out doing non-specialized manufacturing the starting wage was $10/hr (in an area where a 1BR apartment starts around $1500/mo). Far from the standard of living we think about in the American "Golden Age."
This shit right here is it. Always tell people this shit all the time. Why does capital seek out areas where it can implement 50¢ sweatshops to begin with?
Great post. Perfectly encapsulates a lot of things. It's also why this idea of "manufacturing" coming back is irrelevant. Even if it did come back, it sure as hell isn't coming back in a way where you'll be earning $25-30 an hour with no college education. Capital has vast reserves of labor all over the planet just desperate for anything, and that now includes the US, which can't enjoy the labor power it once did, as an equilibrium is being approached all across the planet.
Literally the only way industrial manufacturing would "come back" is if the state actively invested in and operated new industrial ventures, which isn't going to happen under capitalism today
There are some sectors where these wages can still be earned, like in medical device, aerospace, and weapons manufacturing, but these are very small niches which are overall meaningless in the grander scheme of things. Not to mention, the vast majority of both industries still have been outsourced to locations were labor can be more easily exploited.
Probably the only reason these manufacturing plants are still around is because the upstream industries (pharmaceuticals, defense) are flush enough with capital from hyperexploitation that a couple hundred good salaries here and there is essentially a rounding error.
When I started out doing non-specialized manufacturing the starting wage was $10/hr (in an area where a 1BR apartment starts around $1500/mo). Far from the standard of living we think about in the American "Golden Age."