Robert B. Rich – Why the Richer Are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer

2) What are “routine producers”? What will be their fate in the future?


The routine production workers in the United States are going for a down fall. As stated by Robert B. Reich, the improvements in production facilities which resulted in men being replaced my machines. Also modern factories often scramble to locate in places where production costs are lowest. These places are where people tend to the same job at a fraction, in most cases they just need enough money to survive. Another prime factor is that the relocations of factory are relatively cheap to establish, they can be easily moved. In today’s society this raises the issue of foreigners taking over the Americans jobs. For example: The big 3, Ford, GM, and Chrysler having there productions moved places such as Mexico where the companies can have mass production at dirt cheap costs. This leads people being laid off and unemployed in the U.S. B. Reich discusses an interesting example dealing with Maquiladora. “…Maquiladora factories cluttered along Mexican side of the U.S border in the sprawling shanty towns of juana, Mexicali, Nogales, Agua Preita and Ciudad Juarez—factories mostly owned by Americans, but increasingly by Japanese- which more than a half million routine producers assemble parts into finished goods to be shipped into the United States” (Reich 421). Reich also states that these jobs have been vanished in traditional unionized industries, where average wages have kept up with inflation. “…. This is because the jobs of older workers in such industries are protected by seniority; the youngest works are first laid off…” (Reich 424).


Work Sited

Robert B. Rich." Why the Richer Are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer” A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. 7th ed. New York: Bedford St. Martins,2006 pp 102-110.