Posted on 03/17/2004 6:48:09 PM PST by MannyP
Powell Reassures India on Technology Jobs By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
Published: March 17, 2004
EW DELHI, March 16 — Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, encountering the other side of a tempestuous debate in the United States, sought to assure Indians on Tuesday that the Bush administration would not try to halt the outsourcing of high-technology jobs to their country.
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In discussions with Indian leaders and college students, Mr. Powell found that the issue of the transfer of American jobs to India by leading technology companies was as emotional in India as in the United States.
But whereas American politicians have deplored the loss of such jobs, it was clear that the anxiety in India focuses on threats by some members of Congress to try to stop the transfer by legislation.
Responding to a questioner in a session with students who asked if he supported or opposed outsourcing, Mr. Powell said: "Outsourcing is a natural effect of the global economic system and the rise of the Internet and broadband communications. You're not going to eliminate outsourcing; but, at the same time, when you outsource jobs it becomes a political issue in anybody's country."
Mr. Powell told the students what he had said to reporters earlier in the day after a meeting with Foreign Minister Yaswant Sinha: an appropriate American response to outsourcing was to press India to open up to imports of American investments, goods and services.
He said one purpose of his trip was to explain to India that because outsourcing had created a political problem in the United States, India could help by lowering its trade barriers. He said he was making that request, not as a condition for the United States allowing outsourcing to continue, but because it was in India's interest to be more open.
In February, Gregory Mankiw, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, stirred a political outcry when he called the outsourcing of jobs a long-term "plus" for the economy. While Mr. Powell said Tuesday that "it is the reality of 21st century economics that these kinds of dislocations will take place," he was quick to add that the Bush administration would work to train people for new jobs.
In Washington, the White House endorsed Mr. Powell's comments.
"The secretary made clear in his remarks that we are concerned when Americans lose jobs, and we are focused on creating jobs for American workers, and the best way to do that is to open markets around the world, including in India," said Claire Buchan, a spokeswoman for the White House.
But David Wade, a spokesman for Senator John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said Mr. Powell's comments demonstrated how the Bush administration has "failed to fight for American workers."
The article (#136) I commented on reaffirms what I have googled time and time again. To wit, the price of doing business in China is your technology and intellectual property. Those items are then used against you, first in domestic competition in Red China and finally in global competition.
The article also reports that the Bush administration has acted to stop WTO violations by the Chi-coms. Earlier efforts to get the Chi-coms to allow their currency to seek its true level failed.
Could you or your talk radio buddies puleeze(!) provide sources to back up your rosy assessment of "free" trade with the government of China? Like, when will all areas of China be allowed to benefit?
"banking services?" China has banking service already -- almost half their value is consumed by nonperforming loans to keep state owned people's "factories" open in areas outside the "capitalist" zones and to fund surplus construction projects. The nonperforming loans are estimated by some to be 40 percent of GDP.
India is homogenous? That's probably news to them.
Your post is a great description of matters. "The Chinese government and those with a vested interest in maintaining its power base. . . ."
IMO it's Lenin's New Economic Plan (NEP) at work here, the Chi-com version. The 1920s Russia allowed individual Russians freedom to earn (nepmen). When they started to outperform the Communist system, within hours :>), they were stopped and executed, I believe.
Meanwhile Armand Hammer, et al. set up Bank of the Useful Idiots and Useful Idiots Shipping to accommodate American corporations' lust to transfer wealth to Russia and have a shot at Russia's emerging "middle class."
The Chi-coms did it right, they are the "capitalists."
Something new: the best of both worlds, personal wealth from capitalism and absolute power from Communism.
Something old: useful idiots.
They stand for Indians. They're (expletive deleted) "Indian-Americans" like me right up the (expletive deleted).
And real "Indian-Americans" realize this. It's the "Indian-American" business folk who own companies that are profiting from outsourcing who fund this PAC. Not IT grunts like me. (Expletive deleted) them.
The strongest advantage Bush has going for him this election year is Kerry. It's going to be really hard to offset that, no matter what he does.
You are capable of making a statement without insults! That's good.
Now if only we could get you to read and respond to what we actually said.
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