what is your method to measure domestic productivity (pick one, since I never know what you are going to do to work the numbers)?
Again, let's deal with reality: GM sends manufacture of a major subassembly to China (which they are doing), and the remaining workers on the US assembly line are now able to build more cars per hour by slapping that subassembled component into the chassis as it moves down the assembly line. All other things being equal, did GM's domestic productivity go up or down as a result of this?
So again, tell me that offshoring can't affect US domestic productivity.
What is amazing to me (just sticking with this example) - is that we know GM is doing this? Why are they doing it? Are they doing it because its costing them MORE money, and giving them LOWER productivity? Of course not, why would they do that.
Nice. From someone who is unwilling, or unable, to post any sort of numbers whatsover, I "work" numbers by merely posting them. As for your sub-assembly canard, if the remaining workers can build a vehicle more quickly by assembling sub-assemblies, what about the workers who built the sub-assemblies in the first place? Their jobs are off-shored, remember? In other words, they lost their jobs. In other words, their productivity fell to zero.
Bastards!! Unamerican ingrates. Trying to save money and raise productivity? Don't they know it's their American duty to lose money and go out of business so that all 323,000 employees lose their jobs?