Comment by badpun
You also need millions of destitute people somewhere on Earth, to work on all the goods that Americans buy for cheap.
You also need millions of destitute people somewhere on Earth, to work on all the goods that Americans buy for cheap.
It's simple. If one day we run out of people willing to work on goods for us for pittance, the price of goods we consume will rise and our quality of life will drop, because we won't be able to afford as much stuff. Right now, there are still billions in people living in poverty in countries that are friendly to capitalism (so, easy to set up a factory, a sewing sweatshop etc. there), so that risk is far from us.
I’m not convinced… there’s so much room for technology to fill the gap. Companies that fail to properly invest in tech to replace this labor will be beaten by those who do, and quality of life may actually improve as the marginal cost of production marches ever downward.
Huh, why, how?
People in mainland China have gotten massively richer over the last few decades, but America did not have to pay more for imports. If anything, the increase in productivity made Chinese imports relatively cheaper.