Is Foreign Outsourcing the Real Problem?

[MrPrax]

Over the past week I have found two interesting, but related stories concerning jobs in America.
It struck me that in both cases the 'jobs' exist, but not counted in the overall stats and off limits to most due to the steep qualifications.
There is work to be done--but ...

The Prisoners of War
By Ian Urbina, AlterNet
October 27, 2003

One week prior to Bush's visit, the St. Louis plant announced layoffs for about 250 people. Already in 2003, Boeing had eliminated 5,000 positions nationwide, in addition to the 30,000 jobs the company cut in 2002. Bush's so-called "Hardware in the Heartland" tour, which included stops across the industrial Midwest, was part of a post-war campaign strategy to capitalize on the US military prowess demonstrated in Iraq. "Sure, he talked about his domestic agenda," a White House official told Time magazine concerning the Boeing appearance, "but there were F-18s in the background."

But the "Hardware in the Heartland" tour skipped a number of locales where thousands of hard-working men and women were contributing more than their share to the war effort. While the Boeing employees sat listening to Bush's remarks, just 50 miles to the northeast 265 workers in the apparel factory in Greenville, Illinois were far from idle. Averaging more than 1,000 desert-tan camouflage shirts per day, 194,950 of which were bought in 2002 by the Department of Defense and worn by the US infantry in the Middle East, these workers were not allowed many breaks. Equally harried were the 300 workers at the Kevlar helmet factory in Beaumont, Texas, who fill 100 percent of the US military's demand for battlefield headgear. A factory in Marion, Illinois also kept in rapid motion, soldering millions of dollars worth of cables for the Pentagon's TOW and Patriot missiles. Presidential plaudits were not forthcoming for these workers – all of whom are inmates in federal prisons. <...>
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17042
from a NT Times Story

AND...
from Body and Soul

Wal-Mart's agenda

Some of the undocumented workers who were arrested in the raid on Wal-Mart yesterday were making $2 a day. Not an hour -- a day. As my husband said this morning, "Where did they arrest them -- Bangladesh?"
http://bodyandsoul.typepad.com/blog/2003/10/walmarts_agenda.html
<...>
Their links...
Immigrant Wal-Mart Janitors Arrested

By Richard Alonso-Zaldivar, Abigail Goldman and Nancy Cleeland, Times Staff Writers

WASHINGTON — Federal agents investigating Wal-Mart seized documents from an executive's office Thursday and raided 61 stores across the country, arresting about 250 illegal immigrants working on cleaning crews, authorities said.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-walmart24oct24,1,3894166.story?coll=la-home-leftrail

and from USAToday...
Wal-Mart uses more than 100 third-party contractors to perform cleaning services in more than 700 stores, Williams said, and those contractors are required to use only legal workers.

The arrests stem from a November 1998 investigation done with the Pennsylvania attorney general's office. That inquiry also targeted store-cleaning contractors and subcontractors used by Wal-Mart.

The cleaning crews did not receive health insurance and were paid below the minimum wage, sometimes as little as $2 a day, a federal official said.

The workers arrested Thursday were released if they had no criminal records, but they must appear later before immigration judges.

Arrests were made in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia, ICE officials said.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2003-10-23-walmart-arrests_x.htm

There would appear to be jobs in America.

If the Democrats want to take back the White House and Congress should they start focusing on these 'bread and butter' issues of jobs rather than defend against meaningless 'indicators' showing economic success?

Meaningless indicators like this:
WASHINGTON - The economy grew at a blistering 7.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter in the strongest pace in nearly two decades. Consumers spent with abandon and businesses ramped up investment, compelling new evidence of an economic resurgence.
from Yahoo News et. al.

[Armstead]

1. The Democrats should start talking about it

>>>>If the Democrats want to take back the White House and Congress should they start focusing on these 'bread and butter' issues of jobs rather than defend against meaningless 'indicators' showing economic success?<<<<

I agree with that. It's not only what the country needs -- it's also politically pragmatic.

The economy works in cycles. It's also very complicated. We're in the "recovery" part of thar cycle now. Those indicators will likely continue to look "optimistic" through the coming election cycle -- at least enough to benefit Bush with the help of the media spin machine.

If the Democrats continue on a simply "Bush bashing" course of saying "The economy stinks because the GOP is in power" they are going to lose.

However, Democrats can provide a strong challenge if our politicians start talking about the core economic problems like who benefits and loses in the economy, how the gap between rich and poor has been growing, how the middle class is shrinking -- AND how corporate policies and the Markets Over All philosophy have cause underlying problems.

[MrPrax]

2. Agree...

I have used extreme points to illustrate that job creation and 'economic growth' are not synomous in this current global environment. To be crude, bookkeepers counting the King's gold coins and proclaiming the results, don't feed peasants.

The labor must be re-structured in a much more responsible way other than relying on the vagaries of 'supply and demand'--it should be 'regulated' and I think that the Democrats should be taking the lead in focussing more sincerely on this issue and it's long-term implications.

Remeber the 'peace dividend' slogan? That was an optimistic sign of the times and sure helped the Democrats focus people's imagination of the macro-aspects of the economy by subtlely challenging notions of what the 'priorities' are for the most part.

[mhr]

4. An Economy Can Post Great Growth Numbers Despite Problems

With Respect to unemployment, one needs to remember that most of the unemployed are not counted anymore because their benefits have expired.

The only people that are counted are those receiving employment insurance. This lasts for 6 months. Once this runs out your are no longer counted.

The bulk of the unemployed have long ago exhausted their unemployment insurance.

I have been unemployed for 39 months. I know many others with similar stories.

So the economy may be working great for those employed but those unemployed are treated as if we do not exist.

[DuctapeFatwa]

3. the Wal-Mart employees were Europeans, so their pay was a little higher

If they had been from Bangladesh, or Mexico, they would have received a more globally competitive wage.