In that alternate history, I don't think that the subsistence farmers would be middle class.
That doesn't mean that I think the US was in the right. I don't. But it does not follow that all the problems in Guatemala are our fault.
That doesn't mean that I think the US was in the right. I don't. But it does not follow that all the problems in Guatemala are our fault.
My point is that a factory moving overseas isn't some platonic transaction. There is a history and a context to why labor is so cheap and regulations are so lax.
[Edit: Forming unions doesn't automatically lead to rising wages - or if it does, it may do so at the price of fewer jobs. It isn't automatically going to lead to all the subsistence farmers getting good-paying factory jobs.]
> There is a history and a context to why labor is so cheap and regulations are so lax.
In Latin America, perhaps. In China? Korea, back in the day? Vietnam?