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.

Bush stole my job.... garbage.

I sincerely do hope he finds another job, but don't expect someone to hire him just because he lives in America.

That's right! Don't expect me to care about someone simply because they live in the same country as me. Or even if they live next door to me. My portfolio is all that matters! < / sarcasm >

Do you even wonder why the polls are even right now?! I have a job, and yet I fear for it, I'm in IT. The playing field isn't level, but you free traitors don't address that. Keep running off the middle of the roaders. Push us all to the dark side. Then in December you can whine and wonder what's going to happen to your portfolio under Kerry.

I've been in IT for 12 years now. A couple of observations, all IMHO:

1) If you don't have a degree, don't expect to have a career in IT anytime soon. The entry-level jobs have been automated largely out of existance. A degree doesn't even get you in the door.

2) IT boomed during the dotcom bubble and also during the runup to Y2K. Those two booms are never coming back. We may see some moderate IT growth, but if you aren't working now, or don't expect to be soon, I'd bet against ever working in IT again.

3) There is a constant flow of kids getting out of college, trained in the latest hardware and software, and able "out of the box" to do things that it took dozens of IT people to do years ago, for a variety of reasons. Experience is valuable, but in IT, it is also often obsolete. If you haven't already specialized in an area that a kid out of college can't do, even if you can keep a job, it will be at an entry-level salary.

4) You can't, for all intents and purposes, constrain knowledge. People in India, or China, or wherever are going to learn technology soon after it spreads in the U.S. Outsourcing is one possible result. Another is importing workers with visas. Still others are the companies leaving the U.S. completely and moving to other countries. Finally, if none of that happens, new companies will form in the other countries and the products will infiltrate the U.S. market. As long as different countries have different regulations and tax structures, business will move to the companies with the lowest overall cost through one of the methods above. The process is a little slower with manufacturing, as moving the materials around incurs a significant cost. With many aspects of technology, that is not a consideration and knowledge and capital can freely move to the low-cost labor market, as long as that market has individuals with the necessary qualifications.

Yeah you're right ... just bend over and take it. Don't complain or you're a whiner ...

Gee, you're right. Why, instead have expecting people to take personal responsibility of their own lives and not expecting the government to be the all-powerful nanny protecting us, I suppose I should just tell the guy that pointing fingers of blame will solve everything!

I know it'll just be another one of your silly "checklist" points, but the simple truth is that nobody owes anyone else a job. To pretend anything else is to subscribe to a theory of a government-controlled economy -- i.e., socialism or fascism. Expecting the government to "save" your job is clearly not a conservative position.

I swear, some of you guys really need to take a few minutes and read some Walter Williams or Thomas Sowell.

I work in IT, I'll give you some facts: Fact: During the Clinton years jobs were plentiful in IT, salaries were high

OPINION: Facts without context are absolutely useless.

Everyone and his brother was scrambling to join the IT boom in the '90s. It made sense: the pending Y2K uncertainty increased demand; burgeoning internet enterprises needed techies; there was a general feeling that IT was indeed "the future" (tragically funny if contrasted with the great line from The Graduate): "Plastics"!

Well, Y2K came and went. The dot.coms went dot.kaboom. And suddenly we got a lot of folks screaming about getting screwed out of a lucrative career.

It happens in other occupations, but on a smaller scale. The prospect of an aging population sent kids to Physical Therapy programs in droves; by 2001, grads with perfect grades and outstanding skills couldn't find unpaid internships. That field is rebounding now.

Outsourcing, while clearly impacting individuals, is not the cause of a deteriorating IT jobs base. It's a component, but not a large one.

One thing Bush could do about it (and other occupations) is reduce the regulatory cost of employment fueled by tort lawyers, payroll taxes, and other burdensome regulations.

No offense, but now that you've got this off your chest, what exactly do you want President Bush to do about it?

At least you aren't telling him to run to the DU and join the Democrats. Ok, how about this? How about penalties/tarriffs on businesses that do the endrun. Sure, I agree some 3rd world development is necessary, but wholesale offshoring isn't. Maybe the penalty/tarriff would be in proportion to the pollution/worker safety laws the company is trying to avoid. I'm sure that could be refined. The point is, if Mr. Bush continues to deal with this issue as he is now, he will look more and more like Bush Sr. That is what sunk Bush Sr. The economy. The heirarchy of needs comes into play. Sure we need to be safe, but we need to eat and have shelter more.

People that cal others traitors are the ones that run off the middle of the roaders. you turn these discussions into screaming flamefests where facts and reason are not welcome. Deal with reality dude, it is NOT now nor has it EVER BEEN the President of the United States job to make sure you or any other American has a job. Corporations exist ENTIRELY to make profit, they are not now nor have they ever been in the business of worrying about the country. If a company can't make a profit in America then it is their DUTY to find someplace else to make a profit. Those are the plain and simple facts. And yes I work in IT and no I don't fear for my job because I know the truth of outsourcing and know it's just a passing fad that comes around periodically and is already fading.

Now if you can muster up an answer to that doesn't use the word "traitor" or other insults that have no place in a reasonable discussion I'll be shocked to the point of needing medical help.

God Bless you. A sincere reply, more on the order of what this gentleman needs, as opposed to a flame. I do worry about the dogmatic soles here. And it makes me think that this election will be much closer than any of us would imagine. But, I, like so many others in IT and manufacturing, am looking for Mr. Bush to say something that would convince me that he knows there is a problem with jobs. And that he has a plan to deal with it.

That is what sunk Bush Sr. The economy

If by that you mean the steady drumbeat of lies coming out of the major media (at the time, the only media) regarding a tanking economy when it was in fact growing, you'd be absolutely right.

The economy didn't sink Bush Sr. Slick Willie, his submissive media whores, and H. Ross Perot's psychotic followers sunk Bush Sr.

How about penalties/tarriffs on businesses that do the endrun.

That will just encourage more companies to leave the US altogether, causing even more jobs to go away. Then the next step would have to be to add a protectionist tariff, which would then be immediately reacted to by all of the countries we export to.

In the end, we would get expensive, low-quality crap and no significant improvement in jobs.

I agree with the sitting on your backside part; that kind of isolation will have you thinking about putting a gun to your head in no time. But, the real issue is finding a way to become self supportive. Skills training for the sake of skills development is expensive, and until the market provides some indication perhaps wasteful.

Starting a small business sounds good, but most of them fail within a couple of years, and we haven't been doing much to provide breaks for small enterprise. Insurance requirements, license, permits and other fees, and ADA requirements are enough to choke the life out of many of them. It would be nice to provide some regulatory breaks for small startups; perhaps then it will catch on and we can do the same for larger businesses.

As far as unemployment benefits run; in my home state they will barely cover your COBRA fees. You are immediately reduced to savings, credit, and whatever you can beg off your familiy and friends.

The government is responsible for you over-extending yourself to the point you can't keep afloat with unemployment compensation long enough to stop whining and start doing something?

Who said I over extended myself? It took me four years to recover from a house fire in which I lost everything because I just couldn't for some reason afford the insurance after being on restricted work hours for 6 mountsh after having pneumonia. I just had a water line burst and it's going to cost me the worth of two months spare pay (spare, heh) to fix it. And the seperation pay I will get is going to be taxed at, ready for the amount - 45%. Yep, the money I would have to work with after my years of work, the government is taking half of it up front. Nothing like kicking a guy when he's down after kicking the guy down in the first place, huh.

And you act like I'm doing nothing. Nobody discussed what I'm doing about it right now did they. All of us are looking for jobs and none of us have found anything yet or we would likely have all bailed on EDS early. There is nothing here. And if you can't read, I can't just up and run off somewhere else. Tell you what, rip up your drivers license, go get yourself diagnosed with emphysema, and quit your job. Oh, that's right, you still don't know the whole story; but, you really don't care about the effects your ideas have on real people. Everything is simple in life, you just up and do things. I didn't take a dime of government money when my house burnt to the ground, I didn't go on disability when I was sick - I fought daily for six months working till I literally couldn't stand up because I refused to be kept down.

It just doesn't occur to some of you people who the hell you're talking to. I've never been on unemployment a day in my life and I've relied on myself to the point that it's made me ill because I wouldn't put myself off on others. And here I am being badmouthed as though I were some lazy punk by people who don't have a clue. This is why I'm so mad.

I wrote my weekly column today with a similar but comedic theme (Senator, Your Job Has Been Outsourced) but your story just about broke my heart. I work in IT, too and came out of the back breaking low paying resturant business. I don't know if any minute I might have to get back into it because of outsourcing. I started a part time business selling Tshirts on the web but I've only sold one so far. Hang in there, my brother. We need Bush to change his mind but also a lot of Democrats and Republicans. For my part I'm sending your letter to Bush and my Congress reps with the note that I also work in IT and and agree with everything you said.

You are blaming Bush for people not paying you what you think you are worth. The government does not owe you a job.

Maybe you're right. I'm going to write a letter to President Bush right now to demand that he tells my employer that I am worth $100k per year. Bush should also threaten my employer with economic ruin and maybe even jail time if he even thinks about firing me. Because it's MY JOB, MY SALARY, right? Please...

If you want a better paying job you have to earn it. Don't stomp your feet, throw a tantrum and hold your breath until you are blue in the face. Going back to school to get a better paying job is very difficult and it takes years of tightening the belt. You may need some help on the way and that's understandable. But having the government force others to change so that you can live how you want to is just plain wrong.

To be honest - you're right - I probably wouldn't give a damn if you made it or not. Because you sound like a bitter individual who projects his shortcomings on the 'evil Mexicans' or the 'evil Japanese'.

Now we're getting somewhere. Honesty. You know what, I'm going to make it just fine, no matter if the president is Kerry or Bush. It's people like you that make me want to vote Kerry, just so I can hear you cry when your portfolio tanks.

And the seperation pay I will get is going to be taxed at, ready for the amount - 45%. Yep, the money I would have to work with after my years of work, the government is taking half of it up front. Nothing like kicking a guy when he's down after kicking the guy down in the first place, huh.

Hey, I'm all in favor of tax reform -- I think that's one of the few things that government can actually do to help the situation. That 45% that they are taking is pretty much criminal -- you certainly have my sympathy on that.

I appreciate that you're in a tough situation. Where I do have a problem is that you are blaming the government for what a business had done and seem to be expecting the government to fix things for you. The US government just doesn't do that sort of thing -- when it has tried, it certainly hasn't done them well.

And while it is too late to change the past, in retrospect you really should have taken advantage of the government assistance when you had the chance (and by all means, take it now if you can get it) -- you've been taxed enough to pay for these programs, you should have no qualms about using them. Even unemployment insurance is a tax on your employer's payroll, which is really a hidden tax on you.

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