Posted on 11/02/2010 7:19:53 AM PDT by WebFocus
Trade: In the 2004 election, with the economy in full recovery mode, Democrats launched an all-out attack on outsourcing to win votes. It didn't work. This year, in a much weaker economy, they're trying again.
When Democrats made outsourcing a big issue in 2004, the economy was growing at a 3.6% annual rate, thanks to the Bush tax cuts the year before, and unemployment had fallen to 5.5% - on its way to below 4% two years later.
The arguments about outsourcing costing Americans their jobs just didn't resonate. The GOP not only added seats in the House and Senate, President Bush won a second term.
This year things are different. Economic growth has averaged a tepid 2.5%, while unemployment has hovered above 9% for 17 straight months during our so-called "recovery."
In such an economy, fear of outsourcing is a way to win votes.
In September, with just days to go before hitting the campaign trail, desperate Senate Democrats pushed a bill to penalize companies that outsourced jobs to other countries. It failed.
If it had passed, "job losses would have accelerated," former Intel CEO Craig Barrett and former Assistant Commerce Secretary James Moore Jr. argued in the Wall Street Journal. "The U.S. government once again would have misunderstood how jobs are created and caused even more companies to relocate jobs overseas."
In California's senatorial election, Republican Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, has been hammered by Sen. Barbara Boxer for firing 30,000 workers and defending outsourcing.
Meanwhile, President Obama is expected to raise the issue of outsourcing when he travels this week to India for talks with that fast-growing nation's leaders.
All this is premised on the idea that when U.S. businesses create jobs overseas, it leads to fewer jobs here. It's a zero-sum game.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearmarkets.com ...
Very effective and valid approach, IMHO.
Republicans would do well to get on the right side of this issue.
It has the potential to ruin Republicans. It’s become an albatross for Carly Fiorina in what should be her walk-over of Barbara Boxer. Ms. Fiorina is being hammered about outsourcing jobs at HP when she was running things there.
Outsourcing is a loser issue for Republicans, as it should be, if Republicans are on the side of outsourcing.
America first.
Republicans need to point out that all outsourcing is a direct result of Democrat over regulation and high taxation.
read the article. Outsourcing, when done correctly, is a net positive for the country and for our workers.
The problem arises when government interferes and companies react by moving everything overseas.
Outsourcing, done correctly.
Wouldn’t happen.
Had Carly not outsourced and implemented other fiscally-responsible measures appropriate to the times, it is likely HP would have gone down, eliminating a great many more than 30k jobs. The responsibility for the outsourcing should be laid on the doorstep of those who set up the structural facts making it fiscally responsible.
This argument is, of course, difficult to get across in a campaign.
Yes. My daughter loves it. She works in lower Manhattan and has had to explain why she needs reimbursement for an expense to HR. The HR guy is in India. We need to reduce compensation to the level of India to get these jobs back. It’ll be rough on people but that’s what needs to be done. Keep the government out and cut wages.
No it’s not. Not all of it. You an get technical college grads at pennies on the dollar compared to American workers. That has little to do with regulation and taxation.
I have seen it first hand. Twenty years ago, the outfit I work for had virtually no fixed operations overseas. We had a few ex-pats and some local agents operating overseas, but no hard assets. Then we began investing, building regional facilities that could do just about everything we did here. And we hired a lot of 'foreigners' to do those jobs that in the past would have been done here.
The result? Our overseas sales boomed. So did our overseas employment and at the same time so did our domestic sales and employment. It has been a win-win.
RE: It points out that the biggest ‘outsourcing’ has been European and Asian companies moving jobs here, not US companies moving jobs there. It’s a 2-1 win for us.
I will admit that IT’s THE TRUTH.
But it’s kinda measly consolation to the poor bastard in any of those rust belt states to point this out. The last thing they want is a lecture on macro economics. It might have helped some worker living 500 miles away, but he still wants to find a job closer to home.
THIS ISSUE ISN’T GOING AWAY AND WILL BE DEMAGOGUED BY DEMOCRATS.
FREE MARKETER ORIENTED CANDIDATES BETTER FIND A GOOD, SATISFYING RESPONSE TO THIS.
America first.
Amen. I've had to deal with uncooperative idiots in India too much over the past few years. It's one of the things that really makes me hate my job.
BUMP
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