[A. Pole]

"They have to follow the model or go out of business," Kumar said. That is precisely how Sprint explains its move toward an offshore vendor. When competitors began cutting information technology costs by turning to offshore programmers, company officials said, Sprint was forced to look at following suit. "We've got to stay on top of our competitive position," Forsee said. Offshoring "has become a significant trend that we hadn't participated in, so we looked at that as a strategy that was important...because of the competitive aspects." IBM, Microsoft and HP are among the U.S. companies that are sending information technology jobs overseas or reportedly plan to start. Sprint must lower its cost to keep pace, Forsee said. But he knows careers are at stake.

If the individual companies are being forced by the competition to eliminate American jobs, maybe the correct answer is to level the playing field by restoring the properly calibrated tariffs (and maybe reducing payroll tax in exchange)?

[JesseHousman]

They have to follow the model or go out of business," Kumar said.

And that model, like Japan's template for their economic miracle that has failed, is suicide for America.

[JustAnAmerican]

You have to wonder when and if this will stop without direct intervention from the people of these United States. Is it just me or has there been a rash of moving Jobs overseas since the Chile, Singapore vote? Between this and the support of illegals by our elected officials, one has to wonder how long it will be before a civil war or revolution errupts in this country. Because the Politicians we elect start screwing over Americans as soon as they know thay have been elected.

At this point I paint Politicians and Trial lawyers with the same brush. Guess they know that and it's one of the reasons they try to pass laws to disarm the American population.

[AdamSelene235]

If the individual companies are being forced by the competition to eliminate American jobs, maybe the correct answer is to level the playing field by restoring the properly calibrated tariffs (and maybe reducing payroll tax in exchange)?

Why not level the playing field by reducing America's fiscal burden of government to, say, Red Chinese levels i.e. a 2X reduction.

Or how about about a flat tax like Moscow?

Americans need to choose between a free market or a centrally planned one that provides free health care for Africa, free drugs for seniors, etc, etc.

[VadeRetro]

Arrrgghhh!

I'm starting to get really scared about this stuff. It's a 9-11 in the economic sphere.

What are Americans going to do? What do you tell a young kid to study?

[harpseal]

If the individual companies are being forced by the competition to eliminate American jobs, maybe the correct answer is to level the playing field by restoring the properly calibrated tariffs (and maybe reducing payroll tax in exchange)?

Which tax is reduced in return for the tariffs being raised is almost irrelevant. my personal choice is the Corporate income tax as that adds a benefit of reduced corporate costs that should then be passed on to the consumer in order to keep pace with competition. The payroll tax being offset by tariff revenues would put more money in people's pockets and pssibly also cut corporate expenses for labor here in the USA. Either way the tariff combined with other tax reductions is good for the American economy.

[Dr Warmoose]

If the individual companies are being forced by the competition to eliminate American jobs, maybe the correct answer is to level the playing field by restoring the properly calibrated tariffs (and maybe reducing payroll tax in exchange)?

First of all, it won't happen. The US would get hammered by international opinion if we jacked-up tarrifs. Besides, Libertarians and neo-cons would be in the front of the protest marches against any such action because they don't want to pay $10 more for a PDA but would rather see their neighbor laid off and begging for bread.

There is another problem with "tariffs". They really only apply to manufactured goods and not intellectual property, which is what IT jobs really are. Let's say that Microsoft laid off everyone of their developers in the united States and hired nothing but Russians and Indians. So this goofy-looking OS comes back, riddled with back-doors, security breaches and enough bugs to keep the Russians and Indians forever employed "correcting" the problems; they could still sell the shrink-wrapped software without tariffs. Actually, because of our stupid laws regarding the exportation of encryption technology, it would be in Microsoft's best interest to develop all of the crypto outside of the country so that the foreign made code would be exempt from the ban. Our government has placed too many laws and restrictions on domestic business to ever provide for a silver bullet solution to the outsourcing problem.

It is impossible to level the playing-field. The united States has too much infrastructure, too many dependant on entitlements, grants and aid, too many places for our military, too many economic demands around the world to ever be on the same level playing-field with nations whose idea of mutliple use technology is to use their dirt roads not only as transportation, but also as toilets and community recreation centers.

[ex-snook]

Thanks for the ping. This needs the same message.
========

OPEN ASSIGNMENT
MISSION TO SAVE AMERICAN JOBS

President Bush:

Mr. President your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to recover the 3+ million jobs lost on your watch. You are to find where they went, recover them, and prevent this from happening again.

You have until November 2004 to complete this mission.

If you choose not to accept this mission, or are incapable of performing, don't run in the GOP Primary so another Republican can accept this important mission for America.

American Citizen Voter

PS Ronald Reagan was the last Republican to understand. Ross Perot sent a warning to your Dad but since then all we hear is the mantra, 'Perot gave us Clinton'. Actually your Dad gave us Perot.

[UnBlinkingEye]

If the individual companies are being forced by the competition to eliminate American jobs, maybe the correct answer is to level the playing field by restoring the properly calibrated tariffs (and maybe reducing payroll tax in exchange)?

Hurray!

How about eliminating OPIC, H1B and L1 programs at the same time?

[AdamSelene235]

If the individual companies are being forced by the competition to eliminate American jobs, maybe the correct answer is to level the playing field by restoring the properly calibrated tariffs

Why don't we let the government "calibrate" the price of everything. Our labor, energy prices, etc. If only the government could control the allocation of resources we would truly have Social Justice at last, Comrade.

[Mears]

Something has to be done,and quickly.

I don't know how to go about it,but tariffs and tax advantages ,as you suggested,sound good.

Mt son has a job with a telecom company and he says there is talk of sending jobs to India. With two daughters having been laid off within the last two years I wonder why I bothered encouraging them to get a good education.

What a waste of time and money these degrees were!

[SouthParkRepublican]

"If the individual companies are being forced by the competition to eliminate American jobs, maybe the correct answer is to level the playing field by restoring the properly calibrated tariffs (and maybe reducing payroll tax in exchange)?"

Sorry. Too sensible... NEXT...