Jobs are hemorrhaging out of this country...

[kentuck]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/26/opinion/26HERB.html

<snip>
The company has not made any announcements, and the employees do not know who will be affected, or when. The uncertainty about whose jobs may be sent to India or China, the two main countries in the current plans, has raised workers' anxiety in some cases to an excruciating level.

"I understand that this is a lightning rod issue in the industry," an I.B.M. spokesman told me this week. "It's a lightning rod issue to people in our company, I suppose. But I don't think anybody expects us to issue blanket statements to the work force about projections."

<snip>
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that I.B.M. had told its managers to plan on moving as many as 4,730 jobs from the U.S. The I.B.M. spokesman told me he was sure that figure was too high, but added that no one had complained to The Journal about the number. He said he didn't know how many American jobs would be lost.

I.B.M. officials are skittish to the point of paranoia on this matter, which has powerful social and political implications. Pulling the plug on factory workers is one thing. A frontal assault on the livelihood of solidly middle-class Americans — some of whom may be required to train the foreign workers who will replace them — is something else.

[KharmaTrain]

1. January & February Could Be Brutal

If less-than-expected 4th quarter numbers start rolling in from a poor holiday season, the fall-out could be a real mess.

A lot of companies ran up inventories, after sitting on them for the two previous years, and if they're not moving, they're not going to keep the workforce around...especially if they see this as a great time to run for the border.

Lou Dobbs seems to be watching this situation developing as well in his excellent reports on the outsourcing of American jobs.

[Blue_Roses]

7. It's already starting to happen

with my spouse's job. They have halted any new work because they're "broke." Very frightening situation. It kind of snuckup on them you might say.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. The thing to do

is to boycott companies that outsource. I believe that when one of the computer companies outsourced their tech support, they had so many complaints that they brought jobs back to the US. I know that a boycott or threat of one won't help every time, but letters to companies, etc, can't hurt.

[MadHound]

3. And thus the "free trade" fallout continues

Thank you Bill Clinton. People wonder why I continue to call Clinton the best Republican president we've ever had, well it's shit like this, NAFTA, GATT, WTO etc.

[bearfan454]

4. Yes the big dog did

fuck us on those things. Also the communication bill where the corporations can own all the news stations.

[Yupster]

5. Wouldn't you think

that Ross Perot would be out there gloating about his "giant sucking sound"?

Gore made an idiot out of him on national tv, and now it looks pretty clear that Perot was right.

I'm assuming Perot must be in poor health or something for him not to be all over tv on this issue.

[Blue_Roses]

6. While I believe in keeping our jobs

here in the US I still think it was important for Clinton to keep the "lines of communication" open to other countries. I think a good President has the ability to do both and Clinton DID help to provide millions of jobs for us here during his term.

It's hard to know how to "govern" and do the right thing when the results are a long shot, but I DO think Clinton worked to provide both.

Bush has absolutely NO negotiating skills, therefore all we do is go to war with him, so this doesn't surprise me...and if he is elected to a 2nd term it will get alot worse, as we all know.

[Andy_Stephenson]

17. Let me add to that list

DOMA and don't ask don't tell. Clinton was not all that...He lost me on DOMA and never got me back.

[solinvictus]

8. Outsourcing

Between jobs being shipped abroad and El Presidente's push to liberalize immigration laws for resident aliens, the push to the bottom for wages has begun in earnest. If we don't get someone in the White House who will reverse this trend, we're screwed.

[Grover]

9. How do you reverse that trend?

All of the propsals I have seen so far from most of the candidates don't really address that issue. Do you keep companies from doing what is in their best interest to survive in a global economy? That won't work. We are facing a new economy that we will all have to adjust to. I hear talk from some candidates about infastructure initiatives to bring about new jobs. Well, those aren't typically high paying jobs, or even moderate paying jobs. On top of that they typically go to many illegal alien workers. Today when this country builds something it is built with a lot of illegal labor. Roads, homes, or construction of any sort. Lowest bidder equals the lowest paying jobs.

The only answer really is protectionism/ isolationism and I don't see how that benefits us in the long run.

The way I see it as we compete in an ever increasing global economy our wages here will take a hit, as they have been out of proportion with the rest of the world. I just don't see what the government is going to be able to do to stop that natural correction. The American consumer's demand for lower and lower prices forces every company to lower costs, and the biggest cost of doing business is labor. My best friends dad works for Ford as a leather tradesman. He installs leather seating and surfacing in vehicles and makes over $150K. That compensation is grossly out of whack with the worth of that job. Isn't it natural for Ford to take that job down to Mexico where the same work can be done for $15,000? We have priced ourselves out of the global labor market.

[kentuck]

10. But we can drive the value of the dollar down....

and not increase wages for another 10 years, and increase wages in the foreign markets, and once we reach equity, then we can say Nafta and GATT have succeeded.

[Grover]

11. The dollars situation is relatively short-term

Overall right now the explosion of the Euro is helping us. It makes out goods more affordable.

But back to the question. How do we keep companies from outsourcing, or should we?

[kentuck]

12. I am not so sure it is a short term situation...

It is always preferable to pay off debt with a cheaper dollar. With the debt we are accumulating, we will have no choice but to inflate its value. As for making our goods more affordable, how does that help most working Americans if those "goods" are produced elsewhere?

[Grover]

13. Not all of our good are produced elsewhere.

If an American compnay sells goods abroad that money comes back here, and that equals jobs. The more they sell the better it is for working Americans.

[kentuck]

14. But you are not talking about manufacturing jobs, are you?

Or manufacturing products? Because those have been hemorrhaging out of the country also....

[SaddenedDem]

18. Simple solution

If a company has less than 75% American citizen employees, they get no American corporate tax breaks. Treat them like a foreign coroporation and charge import taxes on their goods.

[kentuck]

19. I think I would change that to less than 51%...

Because if they have less than 51%, they are not an American company.

[newyawker99]

15. Hi Grover!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[wanderingbear]

16. Their International Corperations..

Many of them are not even based in the U.S. any more. So what do you expect? Many of them are even owned from outside the U.S. Mostly Japan. They just pretend to be U.S. companies for PR sake. While on the other hand U.S. Native companies are falling into a sad state of disrepair and coruption.NOt to mention the fact that U.S. workers cant compeate in a world market.Their to soft and they want to much.Were in big troubble...20 years of comfort and ease has left Americans soft and flabby and unable to compeate in a world market..You can blame the E.U. for your haveing to get up off the couch.Thats where the Jobs are all going..They work harder for less..They are under bidding us on the world market.And we are totally unprepared to compeate on the global scale.

[Liberal Veteran]

20. How does a educated US worker compete with a 2 dollar an hour worker?

Simply put our economies are not equal and trying to pretend they are is ridiculous.

[kentuck]

21. But the sad truth is that the workers built these corporations up...

and now, because of excessive profits and a longtime lag in wages and slump in union organizing, these corporations are wealthy enough to leave this country and tell the workers that built them up to go to hell.

[wanderingbear]

22. Thats why they call them wage slaves..