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Rape is a fitting term. Most of the people I work with don't have and cannot afford degrees. They're doing what they can to feed their families and pay the bills on a lower middle class income. There are no jobs here. Many, including myself, have recently bought homes. Any homeowner can appreciate the loss incurred by selling before term. Not too many can afford that kind of loss.

Delphi automotive locally is our client. They too are shutting up shop and moving to Mexico and they are in part responsible for the move of my job to Mexico. This isn't just a few hundred IT workers, this is thousands of middle class jobs our economy is losing and cannot replace. We've been losing these jobs to mexico for years now. And the abandoned facilities have been dozed - nothing has moved in to replace them. But we've got restaraunts, thank goodness.. From 30-100k a year to hamburger flipping.. ah the American dream.

I don't know whether to scream, dump the tea bags or charge the fort. But I can tell you I've had enough of ivory tower free traders telling me how good this is for the lives of myself, my family, my coworkers and my friends to have their lives put on the edge of ruin. And the first one of them that wants to run his yap at me at this point, needs to show up in person and be prepared to defend himself. You ain't screwin with 1% of my income in some nonsense tax - I just lost 30k a year and benefits that I can't replace. And I'm ready to take it out of someone's hide. And I ain't the only one.

Bush has managed to unify my town. Republicans and Democrats alike detest my political party. I've voted Republican since I was old enough to vote. I'd put on a modern version of star crossed bars before I'll vote democrat. And from my seat, that appears preferable. If my american dream and inheritance can be so easily robbed and handed to foreigners, it isn't an inheritance. And this is tyranny. The more I think about it, the madder I get. So I'm going to bed. I may do an open letter to the president in the coming days. And I'm sure those that dislike me now will hate me when I'm done. I've had it.

For those of you cowering behind catchphrases thinking to protect your stock margins, look at the precipice. Take a long look. If you want a woodshed event this century, this is one pissed, disenfranchised American ready to give it to ya. This government won't protect our borders, won't handle the illegals, and is handing our jobs to slave labor as fast as they can. That is economic Tyranny. And I've had it.

But I can tell you I've had enough of ivory tower free traders telling me how good this is for the lives of myself, my family, my coworkers and my friends to have their lives put on the edge of ruin.

They're not ivory tower free traders. They're CEO-wannabes who think their subscription to The Wall Street Journal qualifies them as an expert, who hate their fellow American working neighbors and whose jobs haven't been offshored.

Yet.

You ain't screwin with 1% of my income in some nonsense tax - I just lost 30k a year and benefits that I can't replace.

Look on the bright side: stuff is cheaper at Walmart. Oh, sorry about your promising career. The needs of the many (cheap goods) outweighs your individual desires.

From 30-100k a year to hamburger flipping.. ah the American dream.

Don't forget Walmart .... they're our nation's biggest employer you know.

What a disgrace.

You're upset, and you've got that right. Don't give Bush all the blame. He's the figurehead, and Congress the body, and keep in mind that neither this president, nor the current Congress created the situation. They inherited it and built upon it.

The outsourcing of jobs and relocating of our factories overseas is a policy created over the last thirty plus years. Actually, the first legislation upon which our current policies are built prohibited what is occurring now.

Then President Nixon was looking for a way to reduce the amount of direct foreign aid our country was giving to third world countries (that was a major issue in the sixties and seventies). The original legislation gave American companies tax credits to locate factories within these nations. Products produced within those countries were to be sold in those countries.

It was believed such accommodations would in time create economies similar to our own. Nixon also proposed a lowering of tariffs to allow Japanese automakers access to our markets (Japan was the largest recipient of our direct foreign aid at the time). Within weeks Datsun and Toyota had the first shipment of vehicles at our docks.

Over the next decade Presidents Ford and Carter pushed legislation that lowered tariffs further on clothing, textiles, shoes, and small electronics. In 1985, President Reagan proposed and signed the first legislation that allowed our companies to take our most sensitive technology into these overseas factories.

The first high tech products manufactured in these factories were replacement parts for many of our military aircraft and vehicles. This was done to reduce our military budget, and originally allowed only non vital parts. This policy was later revised to include original equipment. (Ironically, many of the parts necessary to build our most sophisticated military aircraft, vehicles and weapons are produced solely in these countries today, and it would take us months, and in some cases years to "ramp up" or build the plants necessary to produce such goods if the situation arose.)

Once American companies were allowed to move high tech knowledge offshore for the production of military goods, high tech consumer goods soon followed.

That’s a simplified history of how we got the policy of outsourcing of jobs and relocating of our factories overseas. History illustrates how our policies do not move forward in a straight line, but more like a pendulum. We have nearly reached the point where our direction is about to shift. Our states and cities are buckling under financial burdens that cannot be met solely by tightening budgets and raising taxes.

Here in California, 11.5% of our high technology jobs are scheduled to be outsourced in 2005. For every 15 high tech workers that loses a job, one additional worker in a support industry, and one additional worker in a service industry will be left unemployed. With those workers out of work, their incomes out of the local economies, the tax base shrinking due to lost business, income and sales taxes, AND the unemployed drawing state unemployment benefits that further the budget crisis, there will be few remedies other then bringing our factories and jobs back home.

Our politicians need to wakeup and realize the original intent of our policies has been accomplished and like bringing troops home from battle after the war has been won, it is time to call our companies back home where they are now needed.

In time, people will insist these companies produce goods within our borders for consumption here at home. When that time comes, there will be a building boon. More irony... By then there should be a sufficient number of “legalized” illegal aliens possessing “work visas” within our borders to do the work cheap.

Hi Havoc - welcome to the club.

This isn't just a few hundred IT workers, this is thousands of middle class jobs our economy is losing and cannot replace. We've been losing these jobs to mexico for years now. And the abandoned facilities have been dozed - nothing has moved in to replace them.

But what have you (collectively) done about it? Does your local WalMart have a full parking lot? Who is going to buy American products when everyone wants to save a few pennies buying the imported stuff? Do you look at labels and notice that your cat food is made in China? Did you stampede WalMart for one of the cheap (disposable) DVD players last Christmas? Do you research each purchase to find American made alternatives?

It is ridiculous to blame the government for the trade deficit, look no further than your own spending habits.

Dollars to donuts, you voted for Reagan in '84 and possibly in '80. Am I correct?