NY Times: Exportation of jobs harming recovery

[midnight armadillo]

(From NY TIMES)
New Reality Is Leaving Growth in the Mire
By LOUIS UCHITELLE

OR nearly 29 months, the nation has struggled through a recession and a weak recovery. That is a long struggle, a new form of hardship for many Americans, who are tantalized with incessant forecasts that a decisive upturn is about to happen. But as the months wear on, the dogged optimism detaches from reality.

For starters, the forecasters seem not to grasp how much the American economy has deviated from the standard business cycle and the standard cures. A major reason for the deviation is the mobility of American companies, particularly the ease with which they now shift operations to China and India. "The wholesale movement of jobs and production overseas is handcuffing the recovery," said Mark M. Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com.

The rest of the story

Considering how much discussion of this there's been on DU lately, I thought another article discussing how companies are exporting our jobs instead of hiring Americans would be worthwhile.

[brokensymmetry]

1. Good post!

n/t

[sonias]

2. Yep, this is not going to get better anytime soon

Under the bu$h regime business people get everything they want (no regulation, lawsuit caps, consolidation, lower taxes, etc) and so they will maximize profits. That's the capitalist model after all. And the greed and heartlessness embedded in that model will also flourish. Who's gonna stop them? As long as the fat cats at the top keep their millions of dollar a year salary, the guys at the bottom can go to hell. The only ones that are going to care are the guys at the bottom. Something is going to have to give. People are either going to revolt or move. I think eventually this country will be a total service economy. We are moving in that direction. We will produce nothing. That means a two class system, the very rich and the very poor that support them performing manual labor.

Sonia

[lkinsale]

3. Important argument

It should get more play.

Speaking (humbly) as someone who does work that couldn't be transferred outside the U.S., it seems to me the best approach is the last line in this article:

We could also force American companies, through regulations, to stay out of countries that fail to observe minimal labor and environmental standards. Regulation is not popular in America. But it could regain its popularity, if the alternative is a continual loss of jobs in every state.

It seems like this would benefit everyone, including the sweatshop overseas labor.

I hear everyone dissing NAFTA, and I don't know enough about the specifics--does NAFTA have no requirements to protect overseas workers? How far does it extend in scope? Is it a single law or a series of laws?

[JHB]

4. NAFTA left workers' rights to "side agreements"...

...which tend to be inadequate and lack the muscle of the main agreement.

Seattle—January 1, 1999

The Wall Street Journal's 1997 verdict on the labor side agreement signed along with the North American Free Trade Agreement was harsh: "Both supporters and opponents of NAFTA agree that the side agreements have had little impact, mainly because the mechanisms they created have no enforcement power. … Not a single worker was ever reinstated, not a single employer was ever sanctioned, no union was ever recognized."
MORE: http://www.speakeasy.org/~peterc/nafta/labor.htm

[hatrack]

5. Wow! You think so?!?!

Boy, can't say too many good things about the powers of perception at the good ol' NYT!