Posted on 04/09/2004 12:22:04 PM PDT by Havoc
Dear Mr. President,
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.
Good point. There was a Great Depression in Germany first.
He's not flip-flopping, he wants to nationalize industry.
See, you want socialism. Why not just admit it. Then we can both stop wasting bandwidth.
Especially in the banana republics.
Everywhere.
The government won vs. Arthur Anderson, right?
Good job, a handful of bad accountants and the government put 20,000+ employees out of work.
Well, you gave me the propaganda of theory as though it were reality because the public is less offended with textbook theory that real life practice. It isn't even questionable that GM tried to get it deemed illegal to own a car longer than 10 years. My whole family worked for GM till Delphi split from them. They all complained about it from top to bottom. And GM's policy going forward after the attempt failed was to build in obsolescence. Nothing is made to last anymore.. it's all cheaper cheaper cheaper and junk junk junk. The number one consumer complaint is that most of what they buy today is junk - not because it looks or acts shabby; but, because it breaks down or falls apart so readily. Ya'll seem to forget who you're trying to kid - I spent 10 years in sales. I speak from long direct and practical experience.
I complain about it myself. I spent $140 on a nice AT&T cordless phone outfit. Dropped the phone 2 1/2 feet off my desktop onto deep plush shag carpet with 1" pad underneath and it destroyed the phone's lcd. I bought a VCR three years ago for a little more than that to get some nice features - it's dead and has been for a year. I bought a 3 disk dvd changer for around $250 in the same time period. It became a doorstop 6 months ago. Computer tech - I started off with a nice high end HP cdrw package about 4 1/2 years ago. It lasted a year. I replaced it with another high end piece that was dead in the box from Phillips when I got it home. I replaced that the next day and six months later had to do a repeat. In the past 3 years I've been through 4 cdrw drives on two different machines that have both been upgraded. I bought a GE washer dryer pair with my first Trailor. In four years I put three new sets of coils in the dryer and had to replace the transmission on the washer. Both high capacity units and it was just me using them for the majority of that time. I mean, I don't have to go very far to pull endless examples right out of thin air. None of us have to. How many of us here own at least one piece of sawdust furniture with bowing shelves and or destroyed bases from moving them?
I know how the stuff is because I've had to sell it and I've had to sign off on the return of the product as well. Practical personal and business experience.
And I didn't say it was unethical to work for money. I do beg to differ that this is the only motive behind a business. It may be for you; but, when I go to work for someone, I look at their ethic and why they got into it. I also talk to their employees and people who know the business before I get myself involved nowdays. Right now, I'm looking for a non-corporate job if I can find one that isn't taken; because I'm sick to the gills of corporate greed. When I was asked my personal and professional opinion years ago at Walmart by a customer with regard to our computer lines, I was truthful to them and they came back to buy from me, though they didn't buy the Packard bell doorstops we were selling. Management was pretty ripped about that. But I had a clientel in a retail store because people trusted my judgement. And when I left, they left. Walmart wasn't concerned about the truth, they just wanted to sell the junk they put on the shelves. Packard bell went belly up within months after I left Walmart. I like to feel like I had some to do with that in convincing people not to drive themselves mad with that junk; but, they were getting sued to death because they were junk.
That's Reality. I don't know who you think you're shining; but, you perhaps need to reassess.
Per the sources already linked to on this very thread, China has lost 25 million manufacturing jobs, the U.S. has lost 2.5 million, and Europe, Japan, and every major industrialized economy has each lost manufacturing jobs since 1995.
One theory is that demand has declined (i.e. "innovation" isn't a factor).
My own opinion, however, is that painting robots have replaced painters on assembly lines, welding robots have likewise replaced welders, and similar technological enhancements have replaced manufacturing employees in other areas today just as the introduction of automated farming equipment (e.g. combines, tractors, trucks) caused the massive shift in American agricultural employment 70 years ago (i.e. "innovation" is a factor).
Because if the Bush administration admitted that they were letting the Dollar fall, our allies and our financial press would scream "Strong Dollar" and go into a 6 month long snit.
Nonetheless, look around. Look at the price of oil. Look at the rise of the Euro in price versus the Dollar. Look at Japan's Yen/Dollar intervention. Recall that India has $110 Billion worth of U.S. Dollars hoarded, and that China has hoarded even more.
All of those things can be explained by one thing: the U.S. is letting the Dollar fall (which means that other countries must intervene to keep their Strong Dollar party going).
NOTE: the common misperception is that the Dollar is fairly valued. It isn't. It is overvalued. This lets American consumers purchase more foreign goods than would ordinarily happen in a real "free market." In effect, it is a stealth subsidy of foreign industry. They get to sell more things to the U.S. because the Dollar is overvalued.
Letting the Dollar fall will remove that stealth subsidy eventually. By early next year the Dollar should once again be fairly valued (at about 40% less than where it stood in early 2003).
Leveling the playing field in this manner will have an enormously positive impact on the U.S. economy. We'll buy fewer total imported goods (though the Dollar amount of them may still be higher) and we'll make more domestic goods (services, too).
That must be because they're buying up all of America's companies. LOL
Exactly. As Adam Smith said, "IT IS NOT FROM THE BENEVOLENCE OF THE BUTCHER, THE BREWER, OR THE BAKER THAT WE EXPECT OUR DINNER, BUT FROM THEIR REGARD TO THEIR OWN SELF-INTEREST"
These merchants weren't benefitting society because they were nice, but because their greed produced goods which benefit society.
Countries where it is difficult or impossible to reduce costs, headcount or do other "mean" things have much higher unemployment and much lower standards of living. But at least those lucky job holders can feel more "secure" than Havoc.
And that is an overgeneralization of the argument. We're dealing with specifics. Nobody's saying companies have to stay in America to provide service to outside countries and businesses. But when you're competing with the US market, you have an ethical responsibility not to undercut the us market with foreign labor in an effort to scuttle the market. That is an attack on business, on individual workers and on the market at large - devaluing the economy, depressing wages and devaluing products. That is why Dumping was made illegal - for those very reasons. And it's been stated over and over again.
Lynching is illegal because it's murder. And you're arguing essentially that if you stab a man that it's ethical because you didn't lynch them. I't still murder when the guy dies. It doesn't matter how you got there, the result is the issue you're being judged on. Dumping was illegal because it devalues wages and products and puts business at risk of failure. It is a subversion of the market. Competing with low cost foreign labor against the American market does the EXACT SAME THING - produces the EXACT SAME RESULT and is therefore EXACTLY the same issue. It's unethical because it was deemed illegal and for good reason. It's so clear it isn't even debateable, yet here we sit after how many days right back at the same point and not a one of you able to get around it.
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