The "Outsourcing Jobs" myth

Human Events On line ^ | 3/23/04 | Thomas Sowell

[MNJohnnie]

Every political campaign seems to have some buzzword, and this year's buzzword is "outsourcing." Since the economic recovery has not yet reached the stage when new jobs are being created to the extent expected and hoped, the idea that American jobs are being sent overseas has political mileage, whether or not it has much economic substance.

A recent poll of economists by the Wall Street Journal found that only 16 percent of them saw outsourcing as having a significant impact on the over-all job picture. More important, the political remedies being suggested to stop outsourcing are virtually guaranteed to make things worse.

[gedeon3]

Self employment is a good way to go; at least for me of course. Some people who think they have jobs that will never be outsourced, will pass on judgement without knowing all the facts. I have been back to school; but even so, the only thing I was able to find was a job in a warehouse making 25% of what I used to make. I look for something else every day.

[gedeon3]

Still, my point was that offshoring is not a myth. Can't you people read a damm thing?

[Glenn]

Maybe if you and your coworkers were more productive, they wouldn't have outsourced?

What do you do for a living, mate?

[taxed2death]

No. What is really troubleing about this "outsourcing" is people like you who can not understand that the government is doing absolutely nothing to even the playing field.......thus effectively putting hundreds of thousands of Americans out of work.

It really is that simple. We can not compete with overseas labor because of our own government regulations.

We won't even get into the slave labor aspect of the matter, surely your head would explode.

As a small business owner, I have a slew of useless gub-mint rules and regulations to contend with, thus raising the cost of business to a level to where I simply can not compete.

[Glenn]

Companies have every right to outsource. It should not be the governments place to tell them otherwise.

To stop outsourcing, our government should take steps like lowering taxes and lifting the appropriate restrictions so those companies will be less inclined to do it.

Make up your mind. Which is it? Is the government both the cause and the cure?

[SB00]

I already did. If they really want to stop outsourcing, they can make it more attractive for companies not to outsource.

That's not the same as government telling a company how to run their business.

Sometimes I wonder how "conservative" freepers really are when I see posts advocating protectionism.

[Mears]

Both of my daughters got hit,so this is a very sensitive subject for me. Both changed careers and are earning 1/3 of their previous salaries,but they are working and when unemployment stats come out things look good.

[Glenn]

Sometimes I wonder how "conservative" freepers really are when I see posts advocating protectionism.

That's because you don't understand there is no such thing as "free" trade.

[Poohbah]

Sometimes I wonder how "conservative" freepers really are when I see posts advocating protectionism.

"Limited government for thee, unlimited government largess for me."

[Bikers4Bush]

So are you for or against your personal, financial and medical info winding up in the hands of foreign nationals?

[.cnI redruM]

Outsourcing delivers three messages.

1) Workers somewhere outside the US are so much more productive per dollar expended that US Companies will put with A) Bad Publicity. B) Currency Risk. C) Political Risk. D) Threats of having their international assets nationalized. That means that every unit of production gained from using American labor is colossally expensive. People who charge top dollar for their services had better vastly exceed every logical standard, or they shouldn't expect to see a steady diet of work.

2) The US political system makes operating in the US difficult. If it's regulatory policies are so constrictive that the Vietnamese Communists are a nicer bunch of guys to business with than the US Government, we shouldn't get too bent out of shape when jobs go bye-bye. These same politicians, like John Kerry, who gripe about jobs leaving America, insist on knifing the corporations and proprietorships that create them. Governments cannot create jobs. They can only encourage or discourage employment.

3) Capital is never patriotic. Individuals who remain patriotic in spite of economic reality, will soon have a very small reservoir of capital to draw on. People don't move to Bermuda to emulate Benedict Arnold any more than Benedict Arnold took a walk on General Gates so that he could have more in common with Aaron Burr. Our corporations are leaving because we make it very stupid for them to stick around.

It's disgusting to imagine that major corporations actually save money by moving their corporate headquarters offshore. Nobody stops to ask the logical question here. Namely, what in the hell is happening here to make it financially beneficial for a corporation to spew money out of its butt to pack up hundreds of people, sell piles of real estate and eat the capital gains taxes accordingly, and then buy a whole new set of real estate out of pocket.

Why is it so expensive for company to do business in the US? Unless we get off on 5% structural unemployment, that problem needs to be fixed before we even discuss the rest of the issue. If we are unfriendly to our employers, they won't argue, they'll just take a walk.

[Poohbah]

Bravo, bravo! Well spoken, good sir!

Why is it so hard for some folks to grasp these simple truths?

[SB00]

So are you for or against your personal, financial and medical info winding up in the hands of foreign nationals?

That sounds an awful lot like a red herring argument. Bottom line - I'm against any government policy which interferes with how companies run their business. And ipso facto, nothing is forcing me to patronize a company in particular - I have a choice. If I don't like a company or what they do then I won't give them my business.

[Poohbah]

So are you for or against your personal, financial and medical info winding up in the hands of foreign nationals?

I'd be a lot more worried about my personal, financial and medical info winding up in the hands of Hillary Clinton as opposed to Apu in Bangalore.

[SB00]

Agreed. Good post.

[shuckmaster]

Let me guess. Putting 2 million+ American citizens who've recently lost their jobs to outsourcing on unemployment & welfare is your way of fighting socializm?

[Bikers4Bush]

Red Herring? Last year a woman in India took home medical records from patients in Southern California and threatened to release them unless she was paid a ransom.

On this very site a freeper posted about how a bank account of his fathers was robbed of more than $30,000 dollars by someone working for USBank in India who had access to his banking information.

Considering that the only reason these two things occurred was due to outsourcing I would hardly call them red herrings.

[Bikers4Bush]

The thought of either having access causes me to lose sleep.

[Protagoras]

I thought we were the LIMITED GOVERNMENT movement.

Republicans are no longer, if they ever were, the limited government movement. Unless of course you think the limits should be much larger.

[Phantom Lord]

On this very site a freeper posted about how a bank account of his fathers was robbed of more than $30,000 dollars by someone working for USBank in India who had access to his banking information.

And Americans are never robbed by fellow Americans in a similar fashion.