Newsweek column on outsourcing

Newsweek ^ | 8-07-2003 | Michael Rogers

[samuel_adams_us]

There are hundreds more of your fellow citizens on this list. Hello Mr. President, we are paying your salary, are you listening? If not, it doesn't matter, salary or not, we vote.

[LS]

Um, your big "buy American" push in the 1980s was a joke. What HELPED (along with lower taxes) to revitalize the economy was that U.S. industry (especially cars, steel, and IT) got so competitive because of the jobs it laid off that it could afford to grow again. Ever hear of Nucor Steel? Probably not. While all the attention was on U.S. Steel's "downsizing," Nucor was creating the world's most efficient plants and the first truly integrated steel rolling mill using scrap iron as a raw material. Nucor's management to plant ratio was LESS THAN ONE. That's good. It means that you don't have layers of white collar bureaucrats between the front office and the assembly line, making products more effective. Nucor's steel output and overseas sales rose, just as did hundreds of IT/telecom firms that were relatively unregulated and which were not "smokestack industries." While the rust belt people complained about losing their jobs, a whole new wave of Americans were getting jobs that didn't even exist ten years before.

The same thing is happening now, for those not obsessed with India.

[tkathy]

This is the making of the largest national crisis in modern times other than the wars.

[Semper Paratus]

AFL-CIO is pressuring Congress on the abuses to the 2 tmeporary work visa programs.

Just one well publicized indictment of a major company by the Justice Department for visa abuse would 1) Scare others into compliance, and 2) take away the issue from dems.

[samuel_adams_us]

Really, what jobs are being created here in the States? You care to list them? I didn't think so.

[samuel_adams_us]

I can hardly wait!

[dfwgator]

The government will have just about as much luck stopping offshoring as the RIAA has with stopping the downloading of music.

[samuel_adams_us]

Really, kind of like the EU taking out microsoft.

[harpseal]

The same thing is happening now, for those not obsessed with India Then why according to the Department of labor statistics did the number of jobs in the USA fall every month fo rthe last six months. Please for a change cite some facts traitor.

[harpseal]

The government will have just about as much luck stopping offshoring as the RIAA has with stopping the downloading of music.

Can you say tariffs? A tax on offshoring easily collectable and not cost effective to avoid.

[DugwayDuke]

Do you think you have a right to a job?

[harpseal]

ping

[Mr. Bird]

This is the making of the largest national crisis in modern times other than the wars.

What, is today Hyperbole Day?

[samuel_adams_us]

No, I have the right to compete for a job in a fair competition. BTW, I have a job, just standing up for my fellow man, try it some time.

[dfwgator]

Define what exactly "offshored software" means. Does it mean if one small component was developed in India, does that make it an "offshored product?" The only people that are going to benefit from these tariffs are the lawyers who get to tie up the courts as they try to split hairs on just what exactly constitutes "offshored software."

[DugwayDuke]

"Can you say tariffs? A tax on offshoring easily collectable and not cost effective to avoid."

I can say "tarriffs". Can you say: "job subsidies"? Why do you want the federal government to subsidize your income? When you call for tarriffs to protect your job, you are calling for increased prices for some so you can enjoy an increased life style at their expense. Sounds like a theme more at home in the democrat party.

[DugwayDuke]

I stand up for my fellow man when I call protective tarriffs what they are "job subsidies". Subsidizing jobs is neither "fair" nor is it "competition".

[Dirk McQuickly]

A job isn't a right, per se. But the powers that be have a fiduciary responsibility to the nation that the economy be stable -- and be job-rich. Capitalism is not a work program for some other nation.

If you think this is not going to come home to roost in a major way in the not-so-distant future, you are sorely, SORELY mistaken. The 6.1% unemployment rate does not include the legion that have already blown through their benefits...

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

It is easier to read the article from the link provided and I have copied here:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/767146.asp?0cv=CB20&cp1=1

Within this article are the following links to 2 other recent MSNBC articles on this topic:

"Jobs Go Global"
http://www.msnbc.com/news/947478.asp

"Men at Overwork"
http://www.msnbc.com/news/946725.asp

[scottlang]

This is the making of the largest national crisis in modern times other than the wars.
What, is today Hyperbole Day?


To many of us it is a severe crisis. We see our jobs going overseas and see immirgrants coming to compete for those that are left. If you think something is a crisis it is. Bush would be well advised to consider this nd this issue soon. I do hope he wins, but if thing do not get better it will hurt his reelection next year.