Bills to keep jobs in USA create uproar

USA TODAY ^

[Mick2000]

Just three years ago, Congress voted to allow more foreign workers into the United States. Times have changed.

Politicians are proposing tough — opponents say misguided — steps to keep jobs at home in the face of rising unemployment, a growing number of white-collar jobs being transferred to India and other countries and lingering anger over some U.S. allies' opposition to the war in Iraq.

The House has passed measures to require the Defense and State departments to buy a larger share of equipment from U.S. firms. The measure, which has provoked a corporate and political uproar, has not been approved by the Senate.

Legislators in several states are trying to bar the export of government jobs to foreign companies.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., chair of a Judiciary subcommittee, plans a hearing today on possible problems in the L-1 visa program, which allows companies to bring workers to the USA from their foreign operations. Workers complain that firms are using the program as a backdoor way to replace domestic employees with cheaper labor.

[dfwgator]

Why do you think Bush is going to Africa? When India gets too expensive, Africa is the next low-cost frontier. Don't forget, much of that continent speaks English as well.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

Maybe too late. I heard Chris Dodd talking to Imus this morning. He was talking about the damage done by outsourcing and H1B visas.

A smart dem would run on this issue.
Guaranteed their solution will end up being the worst possible, probably the last nail in America's coffin, but it will resonate with the mass of uninformed panicked sheeple.

[RockyMtnMan]

I'm ok with buying products from 1st world countries like Japan because we can compete with them in emerging markets. Those markets are stable and generally are our allies. In most cases we negotiate a reasonably fair-trade agreement with them as well.

We need to separate the issue of labor from trade because the two are not compatible. Government represents the people; therefore the government must act in our best interests if corporations fail to do so. If they both fail to represent us then we have a serious social upheaval headed our way.

[Dead Dog]

And should be denied any DOD related contracts.

[goldstategop]

Which is corporate welfare for the corporations.

[Lunatic Fringe]

I have the solution. For every job that is exported to another country, or for every job that is filled with an H1B applicant, the company should be required to pay a Foreign Worker Tax equivalent to the money "saved" by exporting the job.

[dogbyte12]

The democrats and the republicans are both in bed to whoever can write the fattest checks. Everybody else is screwed.

Take my wonderful governor Gray Davis for example. He will allow big business to dump dioxin into the San Francisco Bay if they write him a big enough check. He will give a 7% pay raise to prison guards, once they hand him $1,000,000.

If any of you think that your representative will take a call from you in their district, or a big money splurger from out of state, think again. It's all about the benjamins.

[Mears]

Boy,you said it. We are all guilty because of our constant search for the lowest prices,but even that has changed.

I buy a lot of my clothes from fairly expensive stores and catalogues and even those pricy things are either made outside the country or the fabric comes from elsewhere.

[Rodney King]

It is true that it would cause some short term pain for the government if they had to buy from the US, and for US companies if we tried to stop the outsourcing.

The easy answer to this is to pass the bills now, but not have them kick in for two years. That way US investors can plan production facilities, and corporations can plan moving their operations back home.

[sam_paine]

This is such BS. Corporations outsource because shareholders demand to see its short term results in SEC filings.

CEO's and BoDs are held completely by the balls by short-term shareholders, and will be fired themselves if they don't do these popular outsourcing moves.

If congresscritters want to do something, try to restructure reporting requirements to focus investor atention on long-term corporate viability, and you will see less of these short-sighted moves.

[wcbtinman]

I know what you mean. I've tried to but American whenever possible. I just bought some Jensen audio equipment because they are addressed in Lake Mary, FL. Nowhere on the outside of the boxes is there anything to indicate that the product is actually made in Taiwan. I went to return the stuff to the store, and after asking lots of questions, I find that I cannot buy true American made car audio anymore, at any price.

[dfwgator]

Let's take software. A company technically purchases software from another company. They don't employ the workers that make the software, any more than a company that uses Windows employs Microsoft workers. So what is to stop a company from simply "purchasing" a custom software application from an Indian company? Isn't that in essence what they are already doing? My point is, companies can find easy workarounds for any legislation that gets thrown at them.

[Dead Dog]

Prostetuting themselves to the whims of ADHD shareholders is part of the problem. Commitment to long term profit and, more importantly, the creation of wealth is what most of the multinationals were built by. Most corporate leadership, especially those outsourcing, do not adhere to a philosophy that would have built the businesses they now run.

HP, Boeing, Lucent (bell labs)are great examples.

[Brian S]

This issue is also getting coverage in "non-polictical" formats also.

Last night "The Dolan's" had a discussion critical of the offshoring of jobs on their nationally syndicated talk radio program.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

When I call my rep, they just laugh at me and hang up. My senator doesn't even have a local office. He lives in Virginia full time. Probably (rightfully) afraid to show his face in the home state.

There is no difference between the parties, only competition among the individuals who are on the same team.

[sam_paine]

The fault lies with us

More than you know. Why do we get hourly updates on the radio that the stock market is "up .05" since opening, yet no relevant comparisons to a year or 5 years ago? Who cares? If you want CEOs to act in a long term mindset, you have to get shareholders to think beyond daily and quarterly stock moves.

[rmmcdaniell]

Memo to Bush: India will have zero electoral votes in 2004.

[OldFriend]

We should all ascribe to Kucinich's proposal and take the profit out of business as he wants it taken out of health care.

[Valin]

Don't hold your breath waiting for any of those to happen.

[dogbyte12]

Right on.

If a company has 10,000,000 outstanding shares and the company has a choice now between spending $10,000,000 for an exciting revolutionary upgrade in their production facilities, or giving the shareholders a $1 per share, these days, they dole out the dough.

There is no long term perspective. Day trading is a perfect example of this fact. It is not investing anymore. It is legalized gambling. Might as well just bet the ponies if ya want to just toss money in for 2 hours at a time for a quick return.