[ggekko]

I wish Mr. Dobbs would adrress himself to the tangible benefits of insourcing: the Nissan plants in Kentucky, the Hitachi and Samsung R&D facilities in California and Texas, the BMW plant in South Carolina, the Honda plants in Alabama.

By any accepted economic metric the US has benefited in terms of jobs from free trade agreements and insourcing more than we have host jobs through outsourcing or off-shoring. The ability of US firms to globally source supply and and production has been a source of competitive strength which has partially offset our lawsuit culture and completely ridiculous, anti-competitive corporate tax code.

If a protectionist regime in the US were imposed tomorrow it would do nothing to solve problems realted to out of control lawsuits and a coporate tax code that has twice the marginal rate of many of our economic competitors. Protectionism is economic snake oil and it will not increase employment as our economic rivals will build their plants in more hospitable climes.

[Enduring Freedom]

Pardon my style (I like smashing things) but I believe you are quite correct.

It is painfully obvious to anyone that has ever done anything that delegating work has enormous advantages.

Rather than sitting on a computer revising floorplans or modifying databases for old tired businesses, the opportunity to outsource at a bargain price lets me do something entirely different.

It lets me instead concentrate on creating a brand new business, requiring even more personnel in my universe.

And since most startups don't even think about outsourcing, new businesses create enormous jobs.

And since most startups require flexibility and creativity, the quality of job I create is far more interesting and potentially rewarding than database manipulation.

When people are stupid, they are stupid to the bone.

(time to start smashing heads again)

[GOP_1900AD]

Therefore, embrace an updated version of the Republican Party Platform of 1900, which would include both properly managed trade and the ending of stiffling regulations.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

RE: "I wish Mr. Dobbs would adrress himself to the tangible benefits of insourcing. . .By any accepted economic metric the US has benefited in terms of jobs from free trade agreements and insourcing more than we have host jobs through outsourcing or off-shoring."

I do not believe that Mr. Dobbs' article argued against "insourcing." I believe that one of his points in the posted article was that many jobs classified as being created by insourcing were existing jobs; i.e., the foreign entity bought an existing company with an existing payroll. You used the phrase "by any accepted economic metric." Does that mean that you reject the source of his information?

I am seriously interested in this debate over insourcing vis-a-vis losses due to offshoring. If you have sources that dispute the "existing jobs" argument please list them. Thanks.

[ninenot]

By any accepted economic metric the US has benefited in terms of jobs from free trade agreements and insourcing more than we have host jobs through outsourcing or off-shoring.

Really?

WashTimes/Insight reports that the average salary in US has gone from $45K approx to $39K approx in last 2 years.

2 million manufacturing jobs are gone, poof, nevermore.

By some estimates, about 14 million IT jobs will do same by 2010 (I think that's high--let's make it 3 million.)

Against this you state that "insourcing" is a benefit?

You'd best come up with some figures to prove this contention.