Outsourcing America

[ramapo]

What's Behind Our National Crisis and How We Can Reclaim American Jobs
Hira & Hira


I just finished this book and couldn't have asked for a better analysis of the short-sighted policies that have brought our country to the point where jobs are a major export.

This is a very readable book. The authors debunk the often cited "benefits" of outsourcing and particularly offshoring. These "benefits" include the great opportunity that outsourcing presents to workers as they are "freed" to pursue new opportunities.

I've been in the IT field for more than 20 years and have seen firsthand how our country has lost countless jobs, first in manufacturing, then in call center support, then in programming and development. This cancer is spreading and will continue to metastasize unabated until Americans wake up and rebel.

The authors document the free passes given to corporations to evade taxes and responsibility to our society. The debacle of the H1B visa program, its effect on American workers and the foundation it provided to building the offshore industry, is documented.

What I find most amazing about the trend of the past five years plus, is the docility with which Americans have ceded tens of thousands of good jobs to offshoring.

In the past, transitions in workforce such as agriculture to manufacturing and manual work to automation, have been mitigated by what the next "new, new" thing. Today there is no driving "new, new" thing in our economy. A lack of foresight and a complete failure of leadership at the national level over past decades have left our economy dependant upon debt and sprawl as the driving forces of growth.

With politicians giving lip service to constituents while serving their corporate masters, the demonization of organized labor, and the unfettered rise of corporate power, American workers are at a distinct disadvantage.

I recommend this book as a must-read as the wave of outsourcing/offshoring will only grow with its effects impacting all segments of our society. Perhaps this good work by the authors will help educate Americans as to what is happening to their country.

[getmeouttahere]

1. A good start would be...

boycotting the companies that outsource. And Kucinich's call for a corporate charter must be heeded.

[RethugAssKicker]

3. They ALL outsource.

[RethugAssKicker]

2. I'll definitely get it.

I am also in the IT business (a DB2 DBA). I have lost 35% of my income in the last 3 years. Outsourcing has been a pet peeve of mine for some time now, and like you, don't understand why more people aren't absolutely furious over this incredible sell-out of America. It is a massive rush to the bottom. Instead of these corporate bastards bringing the rest of the world up to our standards, their desire is to bring us down, way down.... to third world standards.

I am currently reading Confessions of an Economic Hit Man ... another MUST READ!!! As soon as I'm finished I'll start reading Outsourcing of America.

Thanks

[Double T]

4. Between bush's destruction of America and the corporate destruction and...

outsourcing of America, the future looks only bleak for the American worker. The rising cost of everyday 'survival' combined with stagnant wages and declining benefits will result in a powerless and penniless middle class. A workers revolution will need to take place to set things straight. Buy American made products when there is a choice, the American job you save will be your own. The corporate scum and the wall street crew need to hear a resounding message, 'You take our American jobs to slave labor markets, we will not buy your products.'

[ramapo]

6. American made products?

Few and far between... you won't be buying much in the way of clothes and electronics. Even "American-made" cars have a significant foreign-manufactured component. Lots of fruit and veggies are imported...

[AValdoux]

5. My questions about outsourcing

Why would a company agree to pay wages to support our lifestyle cost if they can get the same work from someone who doesn't need 2.5 vehicles and 3,000 sq ft house. I believe the corporations are money grubbing vultures, don't get me wrong. But we have a little soul searching to do ourselves as a nation. We have become a global economy and the world has risen to the challenge of education and intrastructure that was only found in the US & Europe.

The distant future will play out one of two ways. The entire world rises up to our standard of living or we drop our standard to a more sustainable level on a par with Europe. I really don't see enough resources out there for the world to get to ours so I see a little priority adjustment coming to America. The belief we have that every generation has to improve its wealth over the previous is unrealistic. How much more stuff do we can we accumulate. Our arrogance over our "great super power society" might seem a little presumptuous to societies with over 1000 years of history behind it.


AValdoux

[ramapo]

7. Because we should make them agree

I fully agree that we must do some soul searching and that our lifestyles are unsustainable. Outsourcing our manufacturing and technology work, along with support positions, leaves us with an economy based in large part on selling stuff, which is exactly what we don't need more of.

Justifying outsourcing based on cost-of-living is pretty outrageous. Corporations have gotten away with murder...

A list off the top of my head...

* Tax breaks including the outrageous offshoring of corporate headquarters to evade taxation

* H1B/L1 visa programs to bring in technology (and other) workers to replace American workers. The experience and contacts gained by the H1/L1 workers went a long way towards establishing the offshore companies such as Tata.

* The US did much to build the worldwide infrastructure now in place that supports the Internet which enables the global economy.

* Cost of living is lower in developing countries for a host of reasons, not just because they don't need to support cars and big houses. They're not paying to support insurance companies or a hugh defense establishment. There is intense competition for work within those countries.

I have no problem with the development of an individual country's economy but not at our expense. The US should not be providing experience for some other country's college graduates at the expense of our graduates.

Companies "agree" to the many benefits of doing business in the United States. Any company doing business in the United States has the advantage of relying upon an infrastructure created in large part with our tax dollars. To me that company should have a responsibility to pay taxes to support that infrastructure and also be a good citizen which includes supporting the economic well-being of the United States.

Increased corporate profit based on removing jobs from our economy is not in the best interests of our society, it is in the best interest of the corporate elite and, to a lesser degree, shareholders.

A bigger concern now should be the jobs that will not be created here but will be created in India or some other country. We simply won't have the work to be be offshored any longer.

[Double T]

8. You are correct, Americans need to downsize their lifestyle.....

pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered!!!!