An Open letter to President Bush (End run vs. Outsourcing)

You don't know me, nor do I expect you to. But I'm one of those voices out here in the ether that actually did vote for you. I'm not one of those seminar caller types nor a Democrat pretending at being a republican to subvert the party faithful in dishonest fashion because their ideas aren't popular enough to win them anything. No, I'm a life-long republican who cherishes the memory of Ronald Reagan and who thought highly of you right up to the time you sunk a knife in my back economically.

Sir I understand it's a hard job being president. I also understand that in IT my job causes me to have to think on my feet and respond to an everchanging environment just to keep it. And while I was busting my behind for a company I happened to love doing a job I happened to love, you decided it's a good thing to do an endrun around equal protection and hand my job to a Mexican worker at 1/3 of the rate I'm being paid. Sir, Retail employees get paid more than that Full time and they're earning below the poverty level. The Job I hold for the moment requires a lot of hard work and problem solving skills, it requires good customer care skills, and it requires a long knowledge of Computers and software I didn't get from a degree but from practical experience.

I worked long and hard for years looking for the break that would get me in the door with my current employer. And I currently have a carreer with them. Or had, rather. I've worked for EDS for nearly 4 years. I will lose my job just short of that anniversary or just after it depending on how the breakdown happens.

I have a handicap that keeps me from driving a car. Not an official handicap, because it's so rare a problem that 1/2 of 1% of Americans have the condition so it doesn't rate being called what it is. I'm a blip on the screen. But, it means I have to live close to my employer and sometimes rely on others to help me get things done. I've lost everything and put my life back together 3 times in 15 years sir. And having just accomplished it again after 4 years with my employer, your policy has killed any protection I might have otherwise enjoyed from having my job destroyed by foriegn competition. And it puts me right back on the brink again. Sir, if I don't stand a chance of winning, it isn't competition - it's fish in a barrel. Where is my equal protection under the law?

The "competition" didn't get hired because of race or creed; but, because of national origin. They got hired because their cost of living is low enough that they can be paid sub-poverty wages to do my job. They are taking my job because they aren't constrained by the laws we have in this country to protect us and preserve our liberties. Lower cost of living, and no laws to constrain them. See, we used to have what was called ANTI-DUMPING laws on the books before Nafta to prevent the subversion of our economy by those who would attempt to compete on an unfair basis and put American firms out of business. We aren't a global economy, the globe is not the United States of America. They don't respect our rights, our Constitution, our laws or ourselves. The average citizen of the world might; but, we aren't dealing with them, we're dealing with the leaders who have their boots on the neck of the citizen of the world.

It seems today that I have to be a Mexican to get a fair shake in America. There are some 8 million of them here illegally as a tax on our system and working here taking jobs that Americans can do; but, which apparently, nobody wants to offer a fair wage for as long as they can get slave labor off the books. That isn't enough though. We need to employ More workers from Mexico, India, China.. As long as we're doing it, sire, why not be obvious and lets put Sally Struthers on the TV to advertise IT Jobs for the people under repressive regimes in africa who can live on 52 cents a day, "the price of a cup of coffee." I don't care what color their skin is, No citizen of the United states could live on that and shouldn't be asked to compete with it. It's too blatently obvious that it's unfair. And that seems to be why it's "good for us all".

Your policy sir. It's you on the tube telling me it's good for me to lose my job to a Mexican worker outside of our system and in a manner with which I cannot compete. There isn't a job comparable to it here that I can take to make up the difference cause those are being outsourced too. Outsourced. How about endran. Because sir, that is what is happening - it's an end run around our system - around our rights, our laws, our constitutional provisions and protections. Your policy has relieved me of my job without due process. It tied my hands before I had a chance to respond. And so many businesses are being forced to do the same thing, that I don't stand a chance any more than those earning 3 times what I do in the same field who have lost their jobs already and have had to take 11k a year Retail jobs just to eat while their houses go up for sale.

I don't have a degree. I don't get retraining. I just get to lose my job at the whim of your policies and will likely lose more than that in the end. You see, I bought a new home too - a year ago. This job made it possible for me to do that. And as with my Job, I had to get a huge break to be able to pull it off. I've been behind you and a cheerleader of yours since I first heard you speak. I understand that the tanking economy isn't your fault. I understand it isn't your fault we were attacked. I understand and agree with pretty much everything you've done to date, sir. This however is in my mind beyond sickening. It is a betrayal of myself, my coworkers and every other hard working IT worker, Auto worker, etc that has lost their job due to this. It is a betrayal by their government and their employer. And it's a distrust you've earned by subverting them and me. For me, it's not just my Government, it's my own party.

Now I've heard all the arguments for outsourcing and all the copout phrases about what we do about companies that have outsourced to the US. Tell me, sir, how many of them outsourced to do an endrun around their system of government, their constitution, their laws and their workers. How many of them outsourced to us to produce goods for their home market. That isn't an argument that flies with me in the face of doing an endrun around us. They've built plants in our land and are working within our market, within it's rules, within our laws, within the constraints of our constitution and are paying a competative wage. Our companies are doing the opposite. And any way you cut it, it is economic and constitutional tyranny. I'm not a single issue voter sir, until that single issue is my life and livelihood.. until members of my own party call me a robber and a thief for expecting to keep my job when I've worked my behind off to do so.

I did it right. I've busted my backside under an ever increasing workload, kept my promise to my employer and my client. Never missed a metric, never dropped the ball for either of them and have always exceeded expectation as a member of one of the best teams on this planet in my humble opinion. My job is gone not because we didn't produce and not because either couldn't afford it; but, because Mexicans work cheaper and don't have our protections, laws, rights or constitution. I have a strong work ethic and a loyalty to my company that even now makes me shudder to say a bad word about them. I have no illusions; but, I was raised that if you do your best it pays off. I know now that if you do your best, you get kicked in the teeth just as hard, and if you get ahead a little bit, the government will be there to kick you back down. I appreciate how hard your job is. Mine is pretty dang hard too. But how about you and everyone in government work for $600 a month from now on like the Mexican workers replacing us. How about you all work for the income you're forcing me into. If it's good for us, it should be good for you too. You, and all the ivory tower types in our party that hiss at me for being upset over losing my job and wanting to defend myself. How would that be, sir? I'd just as soon see little Tommy Daschle and Ted Kennedy go fly a kite as hear them spout one more offensive evil lie about you. But I'd just as soon, too, see you join them holding the string if you're gonna ruin me and tell me it's good for me. How about if we just outsource your jobs too - oh, wait, that would be unconstitutional too, wouldn't it.

Make what? Our factories are moving to china - we export nothing to them. The trade deficit is now $500 billion per year. We don't export enough to make any money, because we don't make anything anymore, for use here or for export.

Yeah, those wacky Chinese. Sending us computers and stuff at WalMart and never buying anything with the green paper we send them. They must be below the median IQ.

The government will do what it will but the corporation exists to make a profit, not to make you or government happy.

dear clueless - for the umpteenth time, corporations only exist to make a profit within the rules that the government sets.

Yes comrade, I understand. So if the government makes it impossible to make a profit, the corporation should just take it?

336 - I just bought a new pair of glasses. I tried to get some American made frames. Apparently we no longer make glasses in this country.
At 5 places I went, they only had Japanese, Chinese and Korean frames. No one had seen any american frames in years.
So - if we have a war with the orient, we go blind, as we have no glasses factories in this country.

Well, if it's a matter of national security we must immediately restrict imports of foreign eyeglass frames.

The damn Chinese probably bug the frames they sell us now. We need an immediate government program to reduce our dependence on Chinese frames.

I have to go to sleep now. All this laughing is really wearing me out.

Happy Easter.

343 - "Yeah, those wacky Chinese. Sending us computers and stuff at WalMart and never buying anything with the green paper we send them."

they are buying our corporations and lots of other stuff, here in the US. do a search for China america chamber of commerce and find out how many hundreds of billions of our property they already own in the US.

They are buying your bosses. And buying you.

Yes comrade, I understand. So if the government makes it impossible to make a profit, the corporation should just take it?

My company did just fine making a profit before all this free trade crap. That's flat nonsense - it's a strawman argument made up for use in handwringing. Outsourcing is the present cause of what you protest. Corporations can't compete with companies overseas paying 1/3 - 1/10th the rate in wages paid here. You free traitor types created that environment. And has been pointed out countless times on this thread, Japanese companies competing under our rules, regs, laws, constituional rights & protections with a competitive wage have had ZERO problem making a profit here. I'd suggest, perhaps, changing your strategy to not include bs that insults the intelligence of everyone here.

So - I've been through it, training, and training, and retraining and retraining.
Indeed. [You have had | are having] a really cool, interesting life. A challenging life, yes, but I admire your ability to grow and change and adapt.

The government will do what it will but the corporation exists to make a profit, not to make you or government happy.

WRONG! Corporations are CREATED by the legal system in order to BENEFIT the whole society. Otherwise, why not to require the PERSONAL and CONCRETE responsibility for all business and non business operations in the uniform manner? Then the legal fiction/cover of the corporations could be removed from the real individuals.

And if you think that the main objective of the corporations is to profit then another question arises - whose profit? Of the owners/shareholders or personal gain of the decision makers (like CEOs)?

Read a lot of [M]arx do you?

That's so funny. Let me summarize the argument:

A: Marx was in favor of free-trade!
B: Because he felt it would antagonize the proletariat.
A: Yes it is! You're a Marxist!
B: But the only one agreeing with Marx is you.
A: Read a lot of Marx, haven't you?

they are buying our corporations and lots of other stuff, here in the US. do a search for China america chamber of commerce and find out how many hundreds of billions of our property they already own in the US.

Oh no!! How long before they own the whole country???

WRONG! Corporations are CREATED by the legal system in order to BENEFIT the whole society.

And government gets to decide what benefits society?

I just got a socialist chill up my spine.

Corporations can't compete with companies overseas paying 1/3 - 1/10th the rate in wages paid here.

So, we should seal the borders? Allow no foreign goods?

Sorry you're losing your job. Good luck finding another, but if your search depends on your understanding of economics or foreign exchange, you're in for a long disappointing time.

So if the government makes it impossible to make a profit, the corporation should just take it?

These guys sound like somebody is asking them to produce results in solitary confinement. A company that fails to produce results within a market spanning 3.6 million square miles, 290,000,000 highly educated people, rich in natural resources, with good infrastructure, and a stable government; is a company that should go out of business. I would say to them the same that they would say to us: adapt or die.

[A. Pole:] WRONG! Corporations are CREATED by the legal system in order to BENEFIT the whole society.

[Toddsterpatriot:] And government gets to decide what benefits society? I just got a socialist chill up my spine.

Red herring. It is a simple FACT that corporation is a legal construct and not the living actual persons who get benefits from hiding behind the curtain. Are you against personal responsibility? :)

You do not want government/legal intervention, fine - then get rid of the corporations altogether. But you want privileges without obligations.

I didn't say corporations have rights, I said they have a duty, and only one duty. The duty to make PROFIT, and where ever they need to go to make profit that's where they should go. And if they can't make profit in America then WE need to fix that situation and make America a profitable place for corporations again. The main problem with protectionism is that it assumes that if you make going someplace other than America non-profitable that will magically make being in America profitable again. That's not how it works, if America isn't a profitable place for a company to be, and America makes it unprofitable to be someplace else, you now have no place a company can be profitable, and that company goes away.

No, if we go to war with the orient we retool some metal shops to make glasses frames. The actual lenses get made in America (often times right in the place where you got the exam... ever actually look around a LensCrafters), it's just the frames (the least expensive, least technical part of a pair of glasses) that we don't bother to make here because there's no reason. Or we switch to contacts (made in the same place as the lenses generally). Or eye surgery (hard to offshore that).

The problem with all the "if we go to war" scenarios is they all assume we can't retool existing factories. That is a silly assumption that completely ignores how America behaved in every previous war.

Well they'll have to buy it from the Japanese. By figures much touted in the mid-80s the Japanese bought all of America like 6 years ago... but wait the Japanese don't own all of America... you mean the doom and gloomers were WRONG?!

Shocked, I'm simply shocked.

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