Bobbing on waves of Gubbermint (state and federal) debt and external debt (cumulative trade deficits). Not to mention consumer debt and unfunded liabilities. Same as Barry Bonds beefing up on steroids when his body was running down on him.
Posted on 02/15/2005 6:44:11 AM PST by dennisw
"The Great American Job Sellout By Paul Craig Roberts
Americans are being sold out on the jobs front. Americans' employment opportunities are declining as a result of corporate outsourcing of US jobs, H-1B visas that import foreigners to displace Americans in their own country, and federal guest worker programs
President Bush and his Republican majority intend to legalize the aliens who hold down wages for construction companies and cleaning services. In order to stretch budgets, state and local governments bring in lower paid foreign nurses and school teachers. To reduce costs, US corporations outsource jobs abroad and use work visa programs to import foreign engineers and programmers. The American job give away is explained by a "shortage" of Americans to take the jobs.
There are not too many Americans willing to accept the pay and working conditions of migrant farm workers. However, the US is bursting at the seams with unemployed computer engineers and well-educated professionals who are displaced by outsourcing and H-1B visas. During Bush's entire first term, there was a net loss of American private sector jobs. Today there are 760,000 fewer private sector jobs in the US economy than when Bush was first inaugurated in January 2001.
For years the hallmark of the European economy was its inability to create any jobs other than government jobs. America has caught up with Europe. During Bush's first term, state and local government created 879,000 new government jobs. Offsetting these government jobs against the net loss in private sector jobs gives Bush a four-year jobs growth of 119,000 government jobs. Comparing this pathetic result to normal performance produces a shortage of 8 million US jobs. What happened to these jobs?
Over these same four years the composition of US jobs has changed from higher-paid manufacturing and information technology jobs to lower-paid domestic services. Why?
During this extraordinary breakdown in the American employment machine, politicians, government officials, corporate spokespersons, and "free trade" economists gave assurances that America was benefitting greatly from the work visa programs and outsourcing.
The mindless chatter continues. Just the other day Ambassador David Gross, US Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy in the State Department, declared outsourcing to be an economic efficiency that works to America's benefit. There is no sign of this alleged benefit in US jobs statistics or the US balance of trade.
Repeatedly and incorrectly, US corporations state that outsourcing creates more US jobs. They even convinced a New York Times columnist that this was the case.
The problem is, no one can identify where the US jobs are that outsourcing allegedly creates. They are certainly not to be found in the BLS jobs statistics. However, the Indian and Chinese jobs created by US outsourcing are highly visible.
On February 13, the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News reported that jobs outsourcing is transforming Indian "cities like Bangalore from sleepy little backwaters into the New York Cities of Asia." In a very short period outsourcing has helped to raise India from one of the world's poorest countries to its seventh largest economy.
Outsourcing proponents claim that US job loss is being exaggerated, that outsourcing is really just a small thing involving a few call centers. If that is the case, how is it transforming sleepy Indian cities into "the New York Cities of Asia"? If outsourcing is no big deal, why are Bangalore hotel rooms "packed with foreigners paying rates higher than in Tokyo or London," as the Dayton Daily News reports?
If outsourcing is of no real consequence, why are American lawyers or their clients paying $2,900 in fees plus hotel and travel expenses and two days' billings to attend the Fourth National Conference on Outsourcing in Financial Services in Washington DC (April 20-21)?
On the jobs front, as on the war front, the social security front and every other front, Americans are not being given the truth. Americans' news comes from people allied with the Bush administration or dependent on revenues from corporate advertisers. Displease the government or advertisers and your media empire is in trouble. The news most Americans get is filtered. It is the permitted news. Many "free trade" advocates also are dependent on the corporate money that funds their salaries, research and think tanks.
Another clear indication that outsourcing of US jobs is no small thing comes from the reported earnings of the leading Indian corporations that provide American firms with outsourced IT employees and engineers. During the recent quarter, Infosys' revenues increased by 53%, TCS grew by 38%, and Wipro was up 34%.
On January 1, 2001, Cincinnati-based Convergys Corp had one Indian employee. Today it has 10,000. Why? Because it can hire Indian university graduates for $240 a month, a sum that is a small fraction of the US poverty level income.
Many Americans think that an outsourced job is an existing job that is moved offshore. But many outsourced jobs are created offshore in the first place. On February 11, USA Today told the story of OfficeTiger, "the sort of young technology company that once created thousands of high-paying jobs in the USA, fueling sizzling economic growth." The five-year old startup business employs 200 Americans and ten times that number of Indians. The company has plans for hiring many more Indians to perform "tech-heavy financial services."
Under pressure from venture capitalists who fund new companies, American startup firms are starting up abroad. Thus, the new ventures, which "free trade" economists assured us would create new jobs to take the place of the ones moved offshore by mature firms, are in fact creating jobs for foreigners.
As a consequence, tech jobs in the US are falling as a percentage of the total. Clearly, tax breaks for venture capitalists are self-defeating when the result is to create jobs for foreigners, not for Americans. Why should the American taxpayer subsidize employment in India and China?
These developments have obvious adverse implications for engineering and professional education in America. The BLS jobs forecast for the next ten years says the vast majority of US jobs will not require a college education. University enrollments will decline and so will the production of PhDs as fewer professors are needed.
As India and China rise to first world status, the US falls to third world status where the only jobs are in domestic services.
This has enormous implications for the US balance of payments. Americans' consumption of manufactured goods is heavily dependent on foreign manufacture, whether that of foreign firms or that of US multinational firms that supply their American customers from offshore. How does an economy in which employment growth is concentrated in nontradable domestic services pay for its imports with exports?
Since 1990 the US has been paying for its imports by giving foreigners ownership of its assets. In the last 15 years foreigners have accumulated $3.6 trillion of America's wealth.
America has been able to pay for its consumption by giving up its wealth because the dollar is the world's reserve currency. As America's high-tech and manufacturing capabilities decline and its red ink rises, the dollar's role as reserve currency must end.
When the dollar loses its reserve currency role, America will not be able to pay for the imports on which it has become dependent. Shopping in Wal-Mart will be like shopping at Neiman Marcus.
Until recent years, US companies employed Americans to produce the goods that Americans consumed. Employment supported sales, and sales supported employment. No more. By their shortsighted policy of moving US jobs abroad, our corporations are destroying their American markets.
Economists give assurances that the dollar's decline and fall will bring jobs and industry back to the US. Once Americans are as poor as Indians and Chinese are today, the process will reverse. Multinational corporations will locate in America to take advantage of cheap labor and unserved markets. By becoming poor, the US can become rich again.
You might want to ask the economists and our "leaders" in Washington why we should put ourselves and our descendants through such a wrenching process."
--Jerry Leslie Note: les...@jrlvax.houston.rr.com is invalid for email
Yes, which rules out protection, socialism, communism, and the rest of the government programs. But it is nearly impossible to find a business or firm that does not have to cowtow to some government regs just to do business here. But the less government the better is always a good rule.
Agreed. Or in requiring a college degree for filling the entry-level counter job at Hertz when all they really need is well-spoken customer-oriented people who can read, write, do arithmetic and file papers.
No doubt, the Free Market can be a ruthless bitch but she does so on the basis of culling the weak and rewarding the strong, thus making things better in the long run.
However, Keynesian economic principles are the mirror imagine of the Free Market. That is why Socialism always in the end fails miserably.
America's future in a nutshell.
We're in Alabama. I'm overqualified and always will be so I don't have a problem with that. We over very competitive pay for this area, and starting pay would depend on the job and qualifications. Doubt you'd leave AZ for AL.
Protagoras
You say unemployment is low. O.k. I sell employee benefits(health insurance etc). In the last 25 years I have never seen so many people that have to work 2-3 jobs because their wages are so low.
I used to see it in the low skilled blue collar jobs but have started to see it in white collar jobs as well.. Something needs o be done about the rampant wage lowering that is going on in this country throug illegal immigration and outsourcing and HB-1 visas.
No outsourcing in my field. It is telecom/data equipment sales and service. The Telecom/Data Service providers. Bell and their competitors are outsourcing a lot. But not the equipment side since we need feet on the ground.
We're in Alabama. The job descriptions are further in the thread.
Yup and the current employment numbers point to the fact that right now in America the employment situtation is much better than average by nearly 3/4 of a percent. Or about 12% higer than the average employment figure for the last 40 years.
So what do you keep bitching about?
Capitalism and freedom aren't necessarily pretty. They just work better than government interference.
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And all too many forget that it IS NOT THE FUNCTION OF GOVERNMENT TO CREATE JOBS. Their job is to provide a decent economy that supports itself, THUS A GOOD ENVIRONMENT TO STIMULATE hiring by the companies THAT PRODUCE THE JOBS. The economy is GOOD! But it is up to companies (the evil corporations) to hire people, when they NEED TO HIRE PEOPLE. Jobs are not a constitutional right, as the left would have you believe.
I also DO NOT AGREE with Washington's attitude toward copping-out on the illegal immigration issue under the ruse that it is good for cheap labor. There is NO EXCUSE for not insisting and enforcing the proper immigration process for people who want to come here to work and live. Here I do agree that these ILLEGALS are taking low-end jobs that MANY AMERICANS WOULD TAKE if given the opportunity. This phrase the government throws about "JOBS AMERICANS DON'T WANT" is a bunch of bull-trash that informed people are not buying.
Bobbing on waves of Gubbermint (state and federal) debt and external debt (cumulative trade deficits). Not to mention consumer debt and unfunded liabilities. Same as Barry Bonds beefing up on steroids when his body was running down on him.
Great article. Now all the self-appointed bush-bot economists will descend on the thread and flame this guy...
It's not even a little bit about my situation. And I never said it was. In fact, I never addressed my personal situation except to answer the childish questions by posters like you.
It's about jobs and paychecks for Americans.
No it's not. It's about the freemarket and the problems that occur for our citizens when the government screws things up.
You should not lean on anecdotal evidence so much, even worse when it's your very own anecdotal "situation"
That never happened. I was talking about fundamental economics, you folks kept making it personal.
YOU were talking about when MY kids can't find a job or I can't find a job and I have to take a pay cut. All that BS.
Let me ask you this, if you have a job, and I come by and offer to do it at half your pay, is that a problem?
In many cases the root cause can be assigned to unreasonable union demands.
Quite low on a relative basis.
O.k. I sell employee benefits(health insurance etc).
In the last 25 years I have never seen so many people that have to work 2-3 jobs because their wages are so low.
The wages aren't too low, your insurance is too high.
I used to see it in the low skilled blue collar jobs but have started to see it in white collar jobs as well..
And these people take public transportation and don't have all the trappings of modern American life?
Something needs o be done about the rampant wage lowering that is going on in this country throug illegal immigration and outsourcing and HB-1 visas.
Illegal immigration is a problem. Talk to your President about it, but try to be careful, you could get the boot.
BTW, I have been excoriated for using anecdotal evidence, so beware.
That never happened. I was talking about fundamental economics, you folks kept making it personal.
Your first post implied that you are above and immune to such immigration impacting on you. This is in fact your "situation" is it not? But you are right that I brought the personal into it while you are 95% talking theory. Outmoded ones.
Questions for you:
1. Would you hire 50somethings who have been "early retired" against their wishes?
2. Have such candidates applied?
3. Where are you located (generally speaking)
4. Are you a stickler about degrees?
5. How would you characterize the candidates who have applied thus far.
Trust me, they will. Look for it to be milked for the mid term election and next presidential election.
I would rather hire good technical people with solid basic technical skills. They may not have the experience on the specific technology, but I would be confident that after a week or two of ramping up, they would probably be more productive than someone who has the specific experience, but poor general technical skills.
Unfortunately, employers with your common sense are outnumbered by those who are looking for ridiculous requirements. This forces people to lie about their qualifications. I've known people who have done it. They get hired. The employer realizes they did not get what they bargained for -- and sometimes lets the new employee go. Then the employer comes up with other ridiculous hoops, such as personality tests.
It has gotten bizarre. It doesn't even have to be poor technical skills. I applied recently for a position that required four previous implementations of Oracle Financials, including two of Project Accounting 11i. I have three previous implementations with two in Project Accounting, one of which was 11i. I never received a call.
Actually it is not a problem. If you can do my job for half what I get that's free enterprise.
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