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Comment by CommanderData | Hacker News Reader

Not sure if sarcasm but let's just obliterate the west's middle class. I'm sure all will be fine.

We did it for all the working class jobs though? Plus the media says all economists agree that protectionist policies are bad... I read that paying workers first-world salary to make things in first-world countries will increase product and service costs which is bad for economy. Apparently if the West can't compete with third-world labour it's better to just outsource the those uncompetitive manual labour and service jobs.

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy when we've used military and political intervention for centuries to create poor, low-wage countries in order to increase corporate profits. The entire state of this global economy is artificial and shaped by violence and collusion, and so the answers to our global economic problems are not necessarily axiomatic in a healthier, more fair environment.

Agree, but what’s left? How would countries that import everything, export little, actually survive?

Feels like in the medium term, the West survives by importing both goods and skilled engineers/researchers, because it provides a ready-made environment conducive for business. Feels like that is just an aberration that lower cost countries will eventually match.

I’m sick of “American tech startups” that consist of some US-based VC investors, a figurehead “founder”, a few beefy executives who only care about their headshot, and all engineering/manufacturing done in Asia.

It’s not like we can export our realtor and insurance salespeople to 3rd world countries either…

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