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'Exporting America: Why Corporate Greed Is Shipping American Jobs Overseas' by CNN's Lou Dobbs
tallahassee.com ^ | Sun, Aug. 22, 2004 | Cecil Johnson

Posted on 09/08/2004 3:36:00 PM PDT by Destro

Posted on Sun, Aug. 22, 2004

Business books: 'Exporting America: Why Corporate Greed Is Shipping American Jobs Overseas'

"Exporting America: Why Corporate Greed Is Shipping American Jobs Overseas," by Lou Dobbs (Warner Business Books, 208 pages, $19.95)

Look out, Silicon Valley! Bangalore, India, is gaining on you. Some folks in India even believe that their country's version of Silicon Valley has already surpassed its California counterpart as a center for high-tech employment.

In his new book, "Exporting America," CNN's Lou Dobbs shows how strongly that belief is held in India with a headline from the Jan. 6, 2004, issue of The Times of India: "Silicon Valley Falls to Bangalore."

The story under that headline, Dobbs writes, bragged that Bangalore has 150,000 information-technology engineers compared with 130,000 in Silicon Valley. Dobbs believes that that story can't be written off as merely nationalistic exaggeration.

"India is only one of the many countries benefiting from the exporting of American jobs. But it has also been one of the most aggressive in pursuing professional-level jobs, from medical technicians to software programs. American companies have been all too happy to answer India's siren call of educated English-speakers willing to work at some of the world's lowest wages," Dobbs writes.

General Electric's Capital International Services, Dobbs points out, was one of the pioneers of outsourcing domestic operations to India. The company, Dobbs writes, employs 1,300 at its four centers in India and says it saves about $400million annually by not having Americans do those jobs.

"The people there write software; they review invoices and insurance claims; they do market analysis. CIS also offers its services to other American companies looking for outsourced resources," Dobbs writes.

Although India lags behind other Asian countries in manufacturing, it has a leg up, according to Dobbs, in the service sector and is a magnet for some of America's highest-paying jobs.

"There are programmers all over the world, but the Indian Institutes of Technology (known as IITs) are turning out thousands of these programmers a year. They are men and women who are well-educated, speak impeccable English, and are thrilled to make $10,000 a year," Dobbs writes.

GE, as Dobbs makes clear in abundant detail, is only one of many companies outsourcing high-tech and professional jobs to India and other parts of the world where wage expectations are lower. Among the others spotlighted by Dobbs for outsourcing jobs to India, the Philippines, Romania, Ireland, Poland and other countries are IBM, SAS Institute, Intel, Microsoft, Perot Systems, Apple, Computer Associates, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle and Sun Microsystems.

Early in the book Dobbs delivers a broadside against the general trend of shipping jobs offshore. He says it is undermining the American middle class, putting Americans out of work, forcing Americans to work harder and longer for less pay, devastating some communities and depriving governments at all levels of the tax revenue for upgrading public education and providing other essential goods and services.

Dobbs, whose views on shipping jobs offshore have been under continual attack by advocacy groups and consultants for multinational corporations, takes the view that corporations who send jobs offshore are firing their own customers, because American workers will eventually find themselves unable to purchase the goods and services being exported back to America by American companies.

"India can provide our software; China can provide our toys; Sri Lanka can make our clothes; Japan make our cars. But at some point we have to ask, what will we export? At what will Americans work? And for what kind of wages? No one I've asked in government, business or academia has been able to answer those questions," Dobbs writes.

- Cecil Johnson,

Knight Ridder Tribune


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: doom; freetrade; loudobbs; outsourcing; trade
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To: Nice50BMG
Dobbs doesn't seem to understand that its the total failure of the US education system that has lead to Indian outsourcing.

I think it's the education system and also NAFTA. In my area, NW PA, labor and manufacturing jobs have left in droves since NAFTA was enacted, leaving unemployment and other local business closings and a population and brain drain in it's wake. Many people I know, both with and without higher education, now work 2 or 3 lower paying jobs, still earning less than before and no more benefits. NAFTA has made it just plain less expensive for some labor employers to ship work to places like Mexico and others.

241 posted on 09/09/2004 6:38:41 AM PDT by fortunecookie (My grandparents didn't flee communism so that I could live in Kerry's Kommune.)
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To: aft_lizard
Which means companies like Toyota and Honda wont build plants or other companies wont invest here because of rules setup to punish America for protectionism.

And since the US market accounts for about HALF their sales--that's the smart thing to do, right?

242 posted on 09/09/2004 6:47:37 AM PDT by ninenot (Minister of Membership, TomasTorquemadaGentlemen'sClub)
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To: uncitizen; oceanview; Age of Reason

Actually, most of the bargaining agreements I've seen in the last few years have involved MINIMAL pay increases--maybe 3-4% max.

The smart unions are negotiating job security. That's where the action is. Surprise, surprise!


243 posted on 09/09/2004 6:55:47 AM PDT by ninenot (Minister of Membership, TomasTorquemadaGentlemen'sClub)
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To: Texasforever
Corporate fiduciary responsibility to maximize ROI for its stockholders.

In that case, compressing CEO pay from current 300x lowest-worker to say, 10x lowest worker would be a BIG help in "maximizing ROI."

But of course, ROI maximization is a short-term-thinking mandate--you knew that, right?

244 posted on 09/09/2004 7:00:11 AM PDT by ninenot (Minister of Membership, TomasTorquemadaGentlemen'sClub)
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To: groanup
GM

After all, as Mr Sloan said: "What's good for GM is good for the Country."

Who could argue with him--he must be smart because he's rich!! (and dead at this time.)

245 posted on 09/09/2004 7:02:11 AM PDT by ninenot (Minister of Membership, TomasTorquemadaGentlemen'sClub)
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To: searchandrecovery

When and if you get over your case of terminal consumerism, call home. Your Dad will be unemployed and will be grateful for the chance to talk.


246 posted on 09/09/2004 7:05:08 AM PDT by ninenot (Minister of Membership, TomasTorquemadaGentlemen'sClub)
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To: oceanview

The slump in Big Two sales has been happening since June. Only the gas-efficient foreign nameplates are selling--and the high-end stuff like BMW Lexus, Benz


247 posted on 09/09/2004 7:08:18 AM PDT by ninenot (Minister of Membership, TomasTorquemadaGentlemen'sClub)
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To: oceanview

MANY of those IIT grads cheated like hell--just as MANY of the PRChina "engineering" degrees are Xerox copies with rather poor forging.

Keep up with the news.


248 posted on 09/09/2004 7:09:48 AM PDT by ninenot (Minister of Membership, TomasTorquemadaGentlemen'sClub)
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To: oceanview
Mercedes and Nissan build theirs in Alabama and Texas

It was Ron Reagan who forced the Japanese to build their cars here--e.g., Honda and Toyota.

No accident. Reagan understood the National Interest--which Carly Fiorina couldn't SPELL.

249 posted on 09/09/2004 7:11:59 AM PDT by ninenot (Minister of Membership, TomasTorquemadaGentlemen'sClub)
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To: 1rudeboy

Odd. Harley's "overpriced crap" outsells their capacity every year--here AND overseas.


250 posted on 09/09/2004 7:13:39 AM PDT by ninenot (Minister of Membership, TomasTorquemadaGentlemen'sClub)
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To: groanup

The outsourcing/offshoring mania was triggered by a bi-partisan agreement--Newtie and Clintoon.

Same bunch went from NAFTA to PNTR/Red China.

The fact that Clintoon was on Red China's payroll should raise suspicions--but it doesn't, even from FR posters who should know better.


251 posted on 09/09/2004 7:18:24 AM PDT by ninenot (Minister of Membership, TomasTorquemadaGentlemen'sClub)
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To: fortunecookie
Dobbs doesn't seem to understand that its the total failure of the US education system that has lead to Indian outsourcing.

The average home here is selling for around $300,000.00. It is very hard to educate yourself out of that kind of overhead. It is our own bloated internal cost structure, coupled with excess predatory litigation, that is causing us to be less competitive. We are getting to the point where we can choose to either reinvigorate our job market, or collapse our property values. I doubt that the bubble between the two will hold for much longer.
252 posted on 09/09/2004 7:26:10 AM PDT by ARCADIA (Abuse of power comes as no surprise)
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To: tortoise
What is it that you think a CEO actually does?

Converts Board policy to strategy. Implements strategy through subordinates. Recommends strategic initiatives to Board for approval.

253 posted on 09/09/2004 7:27:13 AM PDT by ninenot (Minister of Membership, TomasTorquemadaGentlemen'sClub)
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To: ARCADIA
It is our own bloated internal cost structure, coupled with excess predatory litigation, that is causing us to be less competitive.

This says it all. It's so true. Housing around here isn't so high, but there is a glut of overpriced houses on the market with people desparate to sell because of relocation. That bubble is close to bursting. Thanks at least in part to the litigation issues bloated costs, cost of living increases are far outpacing any incomes and raises.

254 posted on 09/09/2004 7:34:49 AM PDT by fortunecookie (My grandparents didn't flee communism so that I could live in Kerry's Kommune.)
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To: eleni121

No, Eleni koritsi mou. You stated that the jobs are leaving because of America's anti-business quasi-socialist enviornment and my reply is that it does not seem to be a hinderance for these companies fleeing America to set up shop in the so called Socialist workers utopias of China and India.


255 posted on 09/09/2004 7:40:00 AM PDT by Destro (Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorism by visiting www.johnathangaltfilms.com)
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To: ninenot
Actually, most of the bargaining agreements I've seen in the last few years have involved MINIMAL pay increases--maybe 3-4% max.

This is true. The unions have lost entire industries due to their greed. Seems they've finally gotten the message that they can't be so greedy anymore.

The smart unions are negotiating job security. That's where the action is. Surprise, surprise!


The teachers (here in Calif i think) are fighting to get 2 teachers to each classroom. Enrollment is down, schools are closing. So they want 1 inexperienced teacher and 1 experienced teacher to work together "so the new teacher can benefit from an experience teachers methods". Yeah, right! Budgetary cuts to the schools, yet the teachers want that money for themselves and not the students.
256 posted on 09/09/2004 7:44:40 AM PDT by uncitizen (Beware of fertilizer salesmen and their lawyers. They'll both try to sell you a load of crap.)
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To: fortunecookie
This says it all. It's so true. Housing around here isn't so high, but there is a glut of overpriced houses on the market with people desparate to sell because of relocation. That bubble is close to bursting. Thanks at least in part to the litigation issues bloated costs, cost of living increases are far outpacing any incomes and raises.

It is also my sense is that the bubble is teetering. Anecdotally, I know a couple that have had a home on the market for 7 months, trying to get back what they paid so they can move up to another house.

However, the history of bubbles is that there are bobbles in the bubbles before the big burst -- John Law's Mississippi bubble, for instance, survived more crises than anyone reasonable person would have guessed.

257 posted on 09/09/2004 7:54:46 AM PDT by snowsislander
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To: ninenot
call home. Your Dad will be unemployed and will be grateful for the chance to talk.

Sorry bud, dad passed away a little over 2 years ago of cancer - he was 76. Let me save you the trouble - mom passed away as well, before dad. Thanks, though. Have a nice day.

258 posted on 09/09/2004 8:01:52 AM PDT by searchandrecovery (Socialist America - diseased and dysfunctional.)
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To: tortoise
RE: What is it that you think a CEO actually does?

Pump and dump? :>)

259 posted on 09/09/2004 8:14:42 AM PDT by WilliamofCarmichael (Benedict Arnold was a hero for both sides in the same war, too!)
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To: A. Pole
Once Dems discover what handicaps them and moderate their stand, they will stay in power for generations!

If the next four years are a bigger more comprehensive offshoring version of the last four, they may stay in power for generations anyway.

260 posted on 09/09/2004 8:15:56 AM PDT by Euro-American Scum (A poverty-stricken middle class must be a disarmed middle class)
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