From that perspective, I agree but the dynamics are different.
"Rich" people moving into your neighbourhood is very different from rich people setting up a factory in your neighbourhood.
Both have positive and negative impacts but for the workers rich people moving into your neighbourhood is almost exclusively negative but if a foreign company sets up business in your neighbourhood its more of a mixed bag.
Exploiting the arbitrage is how arbitrage is removed so it is a good thing in principle, notice how the poor countries seize being poor after rich countries invest in them and produce all the stuff for cheap.
My problem is with the limits on who exploits that arbitrage. Workers are the most limited bunch with very little prospect to benefit from the arbitrage.
Rich people coming to your country and bringing money is tourism. It's often a much better deal for the local population than a polluting factory intent on paying the most meager wages possible; often the reason they're even there, after all.
Nope, Tourism has some benefits but it destroys local communities. In many places in Europe there are movements against tourism. Google for "Tourists go home" and start digging from there. The gist is, only the business and property owners directly benefit from it and the economy created from it often don't offset the troubles it creates to the locals.
Factories are a different situation, they are a necessary evil if we would like not to go back living in the woods. Rich or poor, countries need factories and the pollution they create can and is managed. Not in poor, but in corrupt countries factories can create problems but other than that they are a good thing.
Too much tourism, and the way it's funneled through designated channels, can negatively impact communities, indeed, as everything gets gentrified, and deployed for tourist duty.
Too many factories? An absolute blessing, no doubt. lol.
Seriously, they completely warp and devastate rural communities, which are left with only old people. You can argue that everyone is getting richer etc, but that's not really true. Land prices increase dramatically as foreign 'investment' comes in, forcing people out of the countryside, and into factories just to afford food, which previously they could grow themselves, share, or just forage.
Having a few rich foreign workers around could well be the catalyst for them to realize they're getting screwed and should raise their prices, collectively, and those connections could also be the means to do so.
I also think the 'cost of living' is misunderstood.
In many poorer countries, the cost of living is much lower, because the standard of living is much lower.
To live a western level family existence is often more expensive in poorer countries than in rich countries (probably excl. US), once you factor in security, education, health, imports, etc, etc.
"Rich" people moving into your neighbourhood is very different from rich people setting up a factory in your neighbourhood.
Both have positive and negative impacts but for the workers rich people moving into your neighbourhood is almost exclusively negative but if a foreign company sets up business in your neighbourhood its more of a mixed bag.
Exploiting the arbitrage is how arbitrage is removed so it is a good thing in principle, notice how the poor countries seize being poor after rich countries invest in them and produce all the stuff for cheap.
My problem is with the limits on who exploits that arbitrage. Workers are the most limited bunch with very little prospect to benefit from the arbitrage.