The Advantages of Treating People Decently

Conservative and neoliberal ideologues in the U.S. claim that the welfare state has become obsolete in an era of globalization. Then they use this claim to justify cutting taxes for the rich and cutting public services for the rest of us. Consequently, the infrastructure for the U.S. is eroding, and many Americans lack decent educations and affordable health care.

We shouldn't be surprised, then, that Toyota chose to place its new assembly plant in Ontario, Canada rather than the U.S., even though several Southern states offered huge financial incentives to lure Toyota there. Why did Toyota execs choose Canada over the U.S.? Too many American workers were functionally illiterate, and the cost of providing health care in the States, where we've got a bloated private health-care bureaucracy, was too high.

Comparing America, where "basic health insurance is a privilege," with Canada, where "it's a right, " Paul Krugman suggests that "treating people decently is sometimes a competitive advantage."

I think I can already hear the right-wingnuts decrying Krugman for being a "Pro-Canuck Commie." Amongst certain circles, of course, it's considered heresy to suggest that that "we, the people" want our government to work for us by raising the quality of life for everybody.

More Krugman: "Funny, isn't it? Pundits tell us that the welfare state is doomed by globalization, that programs like national health insurance have become unsustainable. But Canada's universal health insurance system is handling international competition just fine. It's our own system, which penalizes companies that treat their workers well, that's in trouble."

That last line reminds me of a piece I read in the New York Times last week about Costco's success, which has been attributed in part to its implementing pro-worker policies that make it a sort of "anti-Wal-Mart." Apparently, Wall Street greedheads want to see benefits for Costco employees, who make something like $17/hour, reduced.