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For Whose Benefit?

Muirgeo — a frequent and thought-provoking commentor here at the Cafe — asks, in response to this post,:

can some one explain to me the benefit to the American worker of
competing with 1.5 billion low paid third world workers? Is that a
benefit for the American worker or for the multinational CEO and their
owners of stock (mostly 15% of Americans)?

No one denies that corporations attempt to maximize their profits.  Nor does anyone deny that these attempts sometimes involve laying workers off.

Of course, many persons believe that laying workers off (especially if doing so is done merely to reduce production costs and, hence, raise profits) is wrong.  To these persons I pose the following question, paraphrasing Muirgeo:

Can someone explain to me the benefit to the American worker of competing with billions of high-powered machines — everything from state-of-the art computers to John Deere tractor-combines to big diesel rigs to pneumatic hammers?  Is that a
benefit for the American worker or for the multinational CEO and their
owners of stock (mostly 15% of Americans)?

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