THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT THE SOLUTION TO ALL OF YOUR PROBLEMS. Why is outsourcing an issue that the president (whoever he happens to be) needs to deal with? Why isn't it a problem that YOU need to deal with? When you make it Bush's problem, you shut your brain down and sit around waiting for something to happen. This is the United States of America. The shining city on a hill. The land of opportunity. You don't see people from all over the world stuffing themselves like sardines into cargo shipping containers to go to India. Do you realize that there are lots of people every semester who graduate without having a job waiting for them? In fact, as far as I'm aware, the only majors that typically have jobs waiting are those in business and engineering. And they haven't even been that way for a couple of years. It may very well be that Computer Science has moved from being of the same value as an Engineer to being the (salary) value of someone with a Literature degree. Whatever the case may be, YOU are the one who needs to control your life. I'm sure you've had great ideas for software that needs to be written. Now's your chance. You've seen the POS software that people get $50 a copy for on download.com. You don't have to join the rat race. There is a ton of wealth out there just waiting to be created. Go out there and create some. And, by the way, I am against minimum wage, governmentally mandated paid holidays, paid vacations, and paid health care for workers.
Not only has Bush been in office for over three years now, but the Republicans dominate every branch of government--the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court. It is a Republican government.
Hey vote for Bush--an American President who promises millions of jobs created in the next four years--just remember that those jobs will be created in India, Mexico, South America, China, and Taiwan, among other places.
America still has the highest productivity in the world. High productivity means balancing these issues in a smart way. Who says it must be either/or? We don't need to be like France with 4-day work weeks, 6 weeks of paid vacation, socialized health care, high minimum wage, high taxes, etc. The French will never be productive. But it doesn't mean that we go to a third-world scale of 7-day weeks, no holidays, no vacation, low taxes and no health care. Those folks are not highly productive either. The answer is balance ... equilibrium. America has reasonable salaries, heath care, taxes, and holidays. And it has the most productive workers in the world.
Thank you Red. Good post. My only concern about outsourcing and free trade issues is that we are moving too fast in this new economy. I was once for totally free trade but now I have some concerns. Free traders see the world as market. That's not a bad idea. To me, that means a market of TRADE. I take that to mean there's all kinds of bartering going on. Country A makes Product A and sends it to Country B in exchange for Product B, with no tariffs or price restrictions. The market decides how much the product is worth. However, I'm starting to see something that bothers me; the world being divided, not into equitable trading partners, but producer nations and consumer nations. And the United States is and is being seen as and planned for as the ultimate consumer nation. What do we bring to the world market? What do we make en masse, in bulk, better than anyone? Is there any product or resource made or found in the U.S. that cannot be produced anywhere else in the world? I can't think of a single thing right off the top of my head. It seems all our manufactured goods are made in China our heavy equipment comes from Japan or Germany, and even our agriculture is starting to feel the pain. Everyone knows Louisiana's sugar cane farms and industry are toast if we go total free trade with Latin America. For me, it's a national security risk. I see the potential for one day the consumer nations being completely at the mercy of producer nations. But it's also an economic issue. What are all the people in America who need jobs going to do? An unemployed 50 year old steelworker who still needs to put a kid through college is NOT going to be able to be retrained as a computer programmer, nor is he going to get a job flipping burgers. That's unrealistic. And now even the computer programmers are losing their jobs to outsourcing. What is the solution? I think I have one. I'm all for free trade, but free trade can't be a one way street. We cannot divide the world into producer nations and consumer nations; every country should be able to have reasonable control over it's own economy to avert problems and protect itself. Therefore, we should only have free trade with countries that have economies reasonably compatible with ours and where we both have something the other wants. When I say "compatible economy" I mean that that country should have similar fair labor standards, environmental standards, and economic regulations and controls as us. I'm all for free trade with Canada, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. I am NOT for free trade with Mexico. I am NOT for free trade with Latin America. I am NOT for free trade with any Third World countries. Not until their labor and environmental laws catch up to ours, their currencies and banking systems are reasonably stable, and they can afford to buy American products en masse at face value. At the same time, we need to make some changes in our economy and the way we do trade agreements to make us more competitive. The U.S. has the absolute worst trade negotiaters in the world, and some of our environmental and labor laws are unnecessary hindrances to economic development.
I would contend that there are a few things we do better than anyone. 1) We have more capital to invest than any other country in the world. Whatever your business idea, you have to come to the US to finance it. 2) We are more innovative than any other country in the world. I can't think of a new idea (new product, new service, etc.) that's come from another country in te last 100 years. 3) The rest of the world may build our stuff, but for the most part, we still design it all, and we do that better than anyone else in the world. 4) Even in manufacturing, as Red said, we have the highest productivity in the world. The reason that it costs so much to employ someone in this country is taxes. In order for someone to actually take home $30k a year in this country, the employer's actual expense, due purely to taxes, for that employee is closer to $60k a year. I've read (I'll have to look it up) that a major concern of eliminating an income tax in favor of a national sales tax is that we literally don't have the labor force to support all of the manufacturing and industry that would move to this country. American workers are paid more, but they're also worth more. Unfortunately, what they are paid is not what it costs to employ them. I'd be interested to know how low a foreign wage has to be before an american company can break even by paying that wage instead of $20/hr in the US. I'd be willing to bet that it's close to $2 an hour or so.
Ohio has lost over 250,000 jobs since Bush was elected. He won Ohio by 165,000 votes in 2000. No Republican President has won the Presidency and lost Ohio. Every Republican who has been elected has won Ohio. Bill Richardson, as the first Hispanic V-P, will be very popular with the Latin voters in Florida.
You see it for yourself folks. These are people who will vote to send jobs overseas for the next four years. Since the Republican Party is funded largely by companies that are sending American jobs overseas, I am sure they have no objection either. I am sure every American voter will be voting to send millions of more American jobs overseas. Sure.
Bill Clinton and Democrats who threw unconditional support behind NAFTA would know about sending American jobs to foreign countries. The Democrats are just as ardent about free trade as the Republicans. Only John Edwards came out as an anti-NAFTA candidate and now he has been bounced from the race.
Without unions and labor laws, which come from the Democratic side of the aisle, and which the Republicans and business vehemently oppose, we would have a third world scale of labor in this country. Of course then we wouldn't have to worry about outsourcing, would we? Without unions and labor laws, we would still have children laboring in factories because just like in the past, before minimum wage and child labor laws, they would have to work to support the family. There would still be company stores. The business mind today is no different than it was a hundred years ago-make the most profit at the least expense. And the worker, since he is the easiest to replace, should be the least expensive piece of equipment The common worker is no more than a piece of equipment to be used up and replaced. There are plenty more where that one came from, so why worry about him.
