A senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, Diana Furchtgott-Roth, has told a U.S. House subcommittee in the U.S. Congress that American Samoa should be allowed to set its own wages to attract businesses.
Diana Furchtgott-Roth was testifying before the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife on the American Samoa Protection of Industry and Resources Act - or ASPIRE.
ASPIRE seeks to pay tuna shippers and processors in American Samoa amounts ranging from 100 to 200 US dollars per metric ton to persuade the canneries to stay open and shippers to continue to use the island.
She says this doesn't address the issue that Congress has priced American Samoan labour too high to be globally competitive.
She also says this is a poor use funds at the time when the U.S. has one of the largest deficits in history and makes American Samoa dependent on federal grants for the existence of its economy.
Instead she suggested that the territory be exempt from the U.S. minimum wage and be allowed to set its own wages to attract businesses.
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