21880: Durban: About Labor Creation in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Lance Durban <lpdurban@yahoo.com>

In his critique of the Herb Gold piece (Corbett #21749) , Brett
Donoviel comments:

  Mr. Gold says that "Cheap labor is economically useless
  in a society sunk into violent anarchy; businesses won't
  take the chance of investment." He takes us for fools.
  Levi Strauss seems to be taking the chance. So is Tommy
  Hilfiger. Grupo M is taking the chance. Of course these
  and other companies will benefit far greater from cheap
  labor once a more business-friendly government is installed,
  along with the return of a military apparatus so they
  can 'suppress "violent anarchy"' (what a concept), just
  like they did in the 1980's when the manufacturing sector
  was relatively thriving.

Ironically, Mr. Donoviel castigates Herb Gold for getting it
almost exactly right.  In fact, there is virtually no foreign
investment in Haiti at the present time, and for exactly the
reasons Mr. Gold cites.  Grupo M has managed to finagle a
dribblet of business for its Haiti-investment based on its
reputation as a dependable supplier in the Dominican Republic.
I'll bet that they are not selling this to Levi Strauss as an
investment in Haiti, but rather, as an investment "just on the
border".  OK, granted there are SOME sewing plants in Haiti, and
even one electronics company (smile), but these are homegrown
Haitian affairs which have struggled against terrible odds for a
pathetically small slice of the world market.

Mr. Donoviel, along with much of the liberal left,  probably
feels that factory work for the Haitian minimum wage is
degrading, demeaning and just not worth pursuing.  That has been
the position of most Haitian governments in recent years,
judging from the effort expended in job creation.  Fact is, you
would have to go back to the Duvalier-era to find much of any
government effort to attract foreign investment in light
industry.  A pity, because having a fulltime job that pays a
regular salary creates a source of pride and sense of self-worth
that is quite important in life.  It is something that many poor
Haitians will never experience.  Meanwhile, China and much of
the Far East has been experiencing double-digit growth for most
of the past decade by creating favorable conditions for
attracting such investment.

My question to Mr. Donoviel is precisely this:  If we do away
with these nasty low wage factory jobs just what, exactly, do
you propose as an alternative?  What will you do with the one
million uneducated people in Port-au-Prince who are either
unemployed or under-employed?   And no, you can't count on
foreign aid to bail you out because there just isn't enough of
it.  Lord knows, the previous government wasted plenty of time
and effort chasing after those "international loan monies"
without ever understanding that simply creating employment will
go a long way toward growing the country.

So how do you create that employment?  Now, that is a good
question, and I would welcome some ideas from the Corbett group.


Lance Durban