US Firms That Outsource are 'Traitors': Says Kerry -- [Article from India]

Rediff.com (India) ^ | 6 February 2004 | Rediff.com (India)

[AmericanInTokyo]

Title: "US Firms That Outsource are Traitors: Kerry"

Outsourcing of hi-tech jobs to India, China, Russia, the Philippines, and elsewhere has become an issue which is being debated in the Democratic primaries and in the US Congress, with current Democratic frontrunner in the presidential race, Senator John Kerry, calling companies which outsource 'Benedict Arnolds.' The name refers to an American 'traitor' who defected from the ranks of American revolutionaires to join the British colonists. Kerry was quoted by Contra Costa Times on the West Coast as denouncing the Bush Administration for 'rewarding Benedict Arnold CEOs who move profits and jobs overseas.'

Kerry had also introduced a bill in November that would require call centre operators to disclose their physical locations to consumers with the aim of discouraging the practice.

Howard Dean, the former Vermont Governor who is fighting to continue in the Presidential race has told audiences that America needs a President 'who doesn't think that big corporations who get tax cuts ought to be able to move their headquarters to Bermuda.'

Income can be transferred by American corporations to Bermuda without being subjected to higher American taxes.

The Contra Costa Times, which credited Bush for an economic recovery, however, questioned job growth, claiming only 1,000 jobs were created in December, a fraction of the 300,000 new jobs projected by the Bush Administration. "As the temperature rises over disappointing job growth, the controversial practice of 'offshoring' has worked its way into the rhetoric of the presidential campaign trail," it wrote.

Kerry's criticism has to be taken seriously, analysts note, because he is not only a frontrunner currently in the Democratic Party but as polls also say he may beat Bush to the White House.

However, statistics on outsourcing are fuzzy, with different reports disagreeing over the exact number of jobs lost. A University of California-Berkeley report estimates 14 million US jobs at risk.

Congress has also got into the act. At a hearing this week, both Republican and Democratic Congressmen denounced offshoring while a rider attached to the 2004 budget bars US Government contracts from being awarded to companies which outsource their work. "I think the issue is going to be exaggerated and manipulated by both sides in the political debate," said Dean Davison, an analyst at the Meta Group, a technology research and advisory firm in Stanford Connecticut.

The Federal contract provision, added to the budget by Senator Craig Thomas, a Republican from Wyoming, raised a storm in New Delhi.

John Palatiello, a Washington-based lobbyist representing domestic companies bidding for privatisation contracts, said the Congressional ban would only affect certain services such as architectural design work, as the rest of the work is being done in the US.

He said the aim of the amendment, which expires on September 30 -- the end of the financial year, was to prevent federal unions from claiming their jobs were being sent overseas. India-born Rafiq Dossani, a consulting professor at Stanford University's Asia/Pacific Research Centre, a proponent of the efficacy of outsourcing, however, was concerned about its political consequences.

"This," he said, "may be a problem in the minds of some politicians now, even before there has been sufficient analysis of what is going on. But I think over the next five years this is going to have a huge impact. The range of jobs that can be offshored is mind-boggling." Some US departments are reversing outsourcing. The Department of Labour has given a $3 million grant to Solano County on the West Coast to bring trainers from offshore to teach locals jobs which would normally have gone offshore.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

How many jobs does Heinz have overseas.

[Guillermo]

Is the purpose of a company to make profits for its owners, or provide jobs in the US?

[anniegetyourgun]

Well, dang....we just lost half of FR to Kerry!

[Leatherneck_MT]

I would rather see Bush, Kerry, whoever, take the lead to start cutting out the miles and miles and miles of bullshit regulation that causes the increase in costs to a business.

Then maybe things will start coming back down and these companies will hire US workers again.

[Rutles4Ever]

"Follow up question, Senator Kerry -- What are your thoughts on Senator Jim McDermott?"

[dfwgator]

Any law that attempted to seriously curtail outsourcing would have so many holes in it, you could drive a truck through them.

[hchutch]

Last I heard, it was to make a profit for the owners.

However, a bunch of folks seem to think it is just a private -sector jobs program for their "constituents." My message to any of that ilk, be it Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton OR Lou Dobbs and Paul Craig Roberts is the same, though: "You have no right to tell me how to run my company and who I should hire. Go to hell."

[Condor51]

I think Mr Hanoi John Kerry better be careful in throwing the words Traitor and Benedict Arnold around. Or maybe this was just a Freudian slip pertaining to his own actions in the 1970's?

[AmericanInTokyo]

Here were some:

Heinz UFC (Philippines) will employ more than 200 people currently working at Nutri Asia. Existing company manufacturing facilities - located in Tarlac, Alabang and Davao - will become part of the joint venture.

[neutrino]

Kerry had also introduced a bill in November that would require call centre operators to disclose their physical locations to consumers with the aim of discouraging the practice.

Great idea! Let's take it and run with it!

[AmericanInTokyo]

Here is another one:

The announcement comes after Heinz in November said quarterly earnings fell nearly 10 percent as the company lost income from underperforming units it spun off late in 2002. Earnings from the remaining businesses, however, rose, on strong performance in U.S. ketchup and sauces and wider operating margins in the Asia Pacific region, where the company has been expanding.

[TXBSAFH]

I hate and do mean hate to say it but I do agree with him on this ONE point. If a company shows no loyalty to this country then I will show no loyalty to its brands.

[AmericanInTokyo]

The idea itself is not bad. In the 'hypocracy' department, someone might want to see if H.J. Heinz uses any international call centers for consumer complaints or inquiries on products sold in the United States. I'd wager there is a boiler room operating in Bangalore, or Chennai, or Hyderabad, or Kuala Lumpur or somewhere else for the Heinz company...that would be an embarrassment for Kerry....regardless if the general idea of this movement has merit or not.

[liberallarry]

Well, if these companies don't want to pay taxes and don't want to hire U.S. citizens...are they U.S. companies? Do they deserve the protection of U.S. laws...since their primary loyalty is to the welfare of their owners, not the United States?

[AmericanInTokyo]

Kerry is just another cheap, enterprising politician IMHO...but he is wise in one sense that he sees the rising frustration on this Global BPO issue, and sees that it could have a nominal or significant vote pull for him in November if he plays it right...since Bush would probably not "match him" on the issue.

[Guillermo]

Exactly.

If you think Companies exist to provide jobs and benefits to its employees, then YOU start one and hire as many people as you like.

[Guillermo]

Is the purpose of a company to be "loyal" to the USA, or to maximize its profits for the benefit of its owners?

Is the "USA" loyal to companies, when it imposes high tax rates, massive regulations, employment, environmental and otherwise? How about the labor unions? Are they "loyal" to companies?

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

No amount of DE-regulation will bring back a job that reduces labor costs by 90%.

America's corporations are receiving BILLIONS of our tax money to enable our jobs to be offshored:
"(8) Since 1999 our Government has provided more than $1,800,000,000 in financing and insurance for these foreign countries through the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and our Government’s current exposure relative to these countries through our Export-Import Bank totals some $14,800,000,000, bringing the total subsidy of these countries by the United States to over $16,500,000,000."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1071428/posts

Do we have borders? Are we a sovereign nation? Do we still adhere to the principles of the Constitution? These are the questions at stake.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

[hchutch]

If I form a company, it is so that I can make a profit by providing a good or service to others.

Any tax revenue or jobs provided for other is a positive side effect of a profitable company existing in the first place.