Posted on 02/09/2004 7:12:02 PM PST by ETERNAL WARMING
Report: Exporting Jobs Overseas Will Help U.S
WASHINGTON — The movement of American factory jobs and white-collar work to other countries is part of a positive transformation that will enrich the U.S. economy over time, even if it causes short-term pain and dislocation, the Bush administration said today.
The embrace of foreign "outsourcing," an accelerating trend that has contributed to U.S. job losses in recent years and has become an issue in the 2004 elections, is contained in the president's annual report to Congress on the health of the U.S. economy.
"Outsourcing is just a new way of doing international trade," said Gregory Mankiw, chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisors, which prepared the report. "More things are tradable than were tradable in the past. And that's a good thing."
The report, which predicts that the nation will reverse a three-year employment slide by creating 2.6 million jobs in 2004, is part of a weeklong effort by the administration to highlight signs that the recovery is picking up speed. Bush's economic stewardship has become a central issue in the presidential campaign, and the White House is eager to demonstrate that his policies are producing positive results.
In his message to Congress, Bush said the economy "was strong and getting stronger," thanks in part to the administration's tax cuts and other economic policies. He said the nation had survived a stock market meltdown, terrorist attacks, corporate scandals and a global economic slump, and was finally beginning to enjoy "a mounting prosperity that will reach every corner of America."
The president repeated that message during a "conversation" on the economy with workers at SRC Automotive in Springfield, Mo., an employee-owned firm that rebuilds car engines. In one of his most fervent appeals yet to make his tax cuts permanent, he said congressional opponents are seeking to impose a broad new tax hike. "Make no mistake about it," he said.
The president's 411-page report contains a detailed diagnosis of the forces contributing to the economic slowdown that began about the time Bush occupied the White House, and a wide-ranging defense of the policies he has pursued to combat it.
It asserts that the last recession actually began in late 2000, before Bush took office, instead of in March, 2001, as certified by the official recession dating panel of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Much of the report repeats the administration's previous economic prescriptions. The Bush tax cuts must be made permanent, it says, to have their full beneficial effect on the economy. Social Security must be restructured to let workers put part of their retirement funds in private accounts, it argues, to address a long-term funding shortfall.
But the report devotes considerable attention to an issue that has become increasingly troublesome for the administration: the loss of 2.8 million manufacturing jobs since Bush took office, and critics' claims that the administration's trade policies are partly to blame.
The report acknowledges that international trade and foreign outsourcing have contributed to the job slump. But it argues that technological progress and rising productivity — the ability to produce more goods with fewer workers — have played a bigger role than trade.
Although trade expansion inevitably hurts some workers, it says, the benefits will eventually outweigh the costs as Americans are able to buy goods and services at lower costs and as jobs are created in growing sectors of the economy.
The report endorses the relatively new phenomenon of outsourcing high-end white-collar work to India and other countries, a trend that has created concern within affected professions such as computer programming and medical diagnostics.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
In terms of software, the stuff I've seen coming out of India is the second worst on the planet. The only thing worse than Indian code is Chinese code.
They may be able to assemble a widget, but they can't write software worth anything....yet.
So far, cultural attitudes seem to be holding them back. When filing bugs, I get engineers complaining at me that their code couldn't POSSIBLY have any problems and they close out the bug. Yeah, that's why it coredumps instantly. Not a problem with the code....yeah, right!
Do we really want to enable them to do that too?
Actually even though much of my work cannot be outsourced, I am still replacable so I don't feel "safe" or take it for granted.
Besides I worked many years in the clothing industry until those jobs were exported, so I have a clearer perspective on this issue than you might think.
I'm sorry. Maybe I'm not being clear enough. Nothing you are saying has anything to do with QA in the industry I work in.
First of all Govt Defense contracts forbid the outsourcing of the manufacturing, processing and QA inspection of our products.
So legally, what you say above will not, cannot happen.
What I do is so tightly controlled and regulated by the Govt and Govt contractors like Lockheed Martin, Boeing etc that you have absolutely no idea what is involved.
Secondly I'm not talking about "hardware" testing that can simply be plugged into a USB port so some sort of QA software can test it.
I'm talking about every single freakin component, procedure and process from the ground up that goes into Aerospace, avionic and sophisiticated US military defense systems.
When I say from the ground up I mean down to the raw materials.
From chemical analysis, to hardness testing, to certs of conformance regarding all processes and treatments, auditing that materials meet military and aerospace standards and specifications called out in contracts, to tracability of all documentation. (in case there is a crash or failure that need to be investigated).
This job cannot just be plugged into into a computer and and handled by any existing QA software.
And this is just on the raw material level. It gets far more complicated as you go up the ladder to parts produced as components to sub-assemblies and modules all the way up to the completed product.
Another area of my QA job that cannot be reduced to a simple software program or outsourced is auditing the manufacturing processes within a company.
I not only inspect the raw materials that come in, I audit the machine shop workers who manufacture parts from these materials. I audit the work orders to confirm they are performing the processes required, that they are using the most current drawings and schematics that conform with the contract, including any new engineering change orders, that they are using measurement equipment that is under current calibration etc. etc. etc.
Don't tell me that this work can be programed and plugged into a computer and outsourced.
I can't and won't happen.
Yes, I've heard many of those outsourcing to $20,000/year Indian engineers opposed to $60,000/year Americans are having some regrets.
The work they are getting is not up to par with what Americans produce.
And when it comes to the capitalist competition on a global scale, having a product that is inferior will cost you a far greater share of the market than the $$$ you save by outsourcing.
But you made one major mistake in your argument: you assume that I majored in Education. Actually, I majored in Computational Mathematics. Worked in computers for fifteen years.
My company didn't get outsourced, they just got really, really stupid. Three years (and one sale) later, I think they're still firing people. Me, I've moved on.
TS
Union, hell. I'm in NYC public schools. Distance learning? Right. And who is going to maintain all that equipment that the students will be ripping off and tearing to pieces while the students gladly ignore some guy 5-10 thousand miles away.
They could give these kids headphones and books-on-tape, not that it'll do any good. Most of them will listen to their own mp3 players.
Distance learning in most schools just isn't going to cut it. Maybe in some elite places where students actually have to worry about being tossed out, but not in the public schools.
ts
You do realize how incredibly silly that sounds. What will the differential be? Let's call it half my salary. Are you going to get a cop for $20,000? Oh, wait, I know. We'll outsource the police dept, too, so we get cops to sit in the classroom on the cheap instead of patroling the streets. And if you could get one for that salary, then you aren't saving a thing and you have more personnel headaches instead of fewer.
Not that I wouldn't mind more cops in the building.
TS
True, I can see a ripple effect, but I don't see it effecting the school system, except maybe to improve it by ending some shortages. Folks working private schools may have more problems -- I don't know what the requirements are or how secure the jobs are, but the public school system will put all those highly-trained people at the bottom of the pile. And they'll still have to get certified as a teacher -- pedagogal and other education stuff. Anyone used to running a boardroom (or even participating in one) or used to average, everyday business ettiquette will be fried the first day in Junior High if they expect to run the show that way (and I've met many who originally thought that they could!).
TS
Already done. Raytheon sent their JDAM guidance system assemblies to China last year. This from an engineer who works there.
You've got to be kidding. Please tell me Raytheon and the DOD are not that stupid. How could they do this without compromising national security?
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