How About A New Year's Resolution to Stop Outsourcing the American Dream?

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-white/how-about-a-new-years-res_b_803361.html

Last month a new political group called No Labels announced their intention to loosen the grip of both parties on the political process. The group's slogan is "Not left. Not right. Forward."
Yawn. As Christopher Beam put it in a recent Slate post, "The group's mission statement is so obvious... no one would ever disagree:" Beam offers an example: "`Americans are entitled to a government and a political system that works...' Unlike all those groups that prefer a political system that doesn't work?"

Why can't we go one better and agree on critical issues that are facing everybody: our job market is shriveling and our political system has been hijacked -- and it's not the Republican takeover of Congress but K Street's takeover of Capitol Hill.

When it comes to our economic malaise, as I've said before, neither party's approach to economic stimulus is working, whether it's Keynesian or libertarian. Let's face it, if trickle-down tax cuts could kick-start the economy it would be humming by now. As for the government stimulus favored by the Democrats, while highway restructuring may put construction workers back on the job, it's not going to replace the engineering jobs outsourced by Microsoft to China, where it now employs more people than it does in the U.S.

When I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s everything our family owned was made here and wages and benefits were generous. Now it's the opposite. As former Senator Byron Dorgan observed in his book, Take This Job and Ship It, in 1970 the largest US corporation was GM, which provided decent wages, pensions and health care. Now it's Wal-Mart, whose products are mostly made in China and their employees' average salary is reportedly $18,000. What's more, their benefits are not only puny but we taxpayers often subsidize them. A study by Congressman George Miller shows that a typical 200-employee Wal-Mart store is very likely getting a taxpayer subsidy of more than $420,000 a year, including free school lunches for their employees' kids along with housing assistance and healthcare subsidies.

As former Fed Vice Chairman Alan Blinder pointed out in a Dec. 17 Wall Street Journal op-ed, American companies are getting a big bang for their buck when it comes to the productivity of their workers but workers aren't getting a payback: while productivity is up 86% since 1978, real average hourly earnings are roughly at 1974 levels.

More at the link --

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. Preaching to the choir

Has been a cry for change such as this for years now.
But, with the corporates owning and outsourcing from our nation, seems to be more difficult all the time to have actual within US only, no middleman from outside our country, for actual making/creating and delivery of goods.
Cottage industries are more USA than most large chains that produce the gross of products for the US consumer.
Sad story...
Maybe we need to support more and more of our cottage industries. Solidarity.

[OHdem10]

2. Good idea.

[StreetKnowledge]

3. Can't disagree. In the slightest.

And when energy prices and geopolitics makes it extremely difficult to continue the consumer economy, then what?

If people were thinking of long-term benefit to the nation, free trade would be continued with nations with similar rules to the US - Canada, European Union, Australia - and the nations close enough that pushing could deal with it - Japan, Korea, Israel - but for the rest of them, kiss it. Mexico has no business in NAFTA, and our porous border, designed that way to help the trade, is allowing for more drugs in the US and more guns and murders and misery in Mexico.

Time to play by the rules of what works for us. One can make manufacturing work with the environment more easily - increased recycling, pollution controls, energy efficiency programs, you get the idea - and they should. The US needs a re-industrialization on a big scale, preferably with the future being built on industries that provide good jobs and help deal with the future at the same time.

[leeroysphitz]

4. What about the great Samoan dream?

[RB TexLa]

6. Many here feel only Mericans are good enough human beings to deserve a job.

[Skittles]

8. most of us are not OFFSHORE WHORES

we actually CARE about AMERICA

[ProfessionalLeftist]

9. Why is an offshore whore peddling its wares here?

This isn't "Sociopath Underground".

What is the benefit of contributing to the destruction of the US economy and then coming here to DU to rub the noses of those whose lives you're destroying in your dirty deeds? This reminds me of those kids who kill innocent animals for amusement then post the videos on YouTube for all his friends to see - because he's so proud of himself.

Perhaps a psychiatric ward might be a better place for Mr. Offshore Whore.

[Skittles]

10. there are plenty of Americans selling their souls to offshore jobs

ECONOMIC TREASON

[Catherina]

5. If only. But then what would the parasitical class do?

Rec'd.

[stray cat]

7. Maybe you can create a job for an American as a resolution -we all expect others to create the jobs

[Hippo_Tron]

11. In the 50's and even 60's the rest of the world's industry was still crippled from World War II

Other than the USSR, which was at odds with most of the west for obvious reasons, the US was the only game in town. On top of that oil was comparatively dirt cheap back then. I'm not saying that outsourcing hasn't been devastating for many people, businesses, and communities. But outsourcing or not, America is probably never going to enjoy the prosperity it did in the 1950's and 1960's again because the rest of the world has caught up.

[Romulox]

13. Actually, we lag behind most of the developed world, including those "crippled" countries...

The unflattering comparisons between working conditions in the US vs. Western Europe (or even Canada!) can't be explained away by them having "caught up"; they have clearly and unambiguously surpassed us. :hi:

[Hippo_Tron]

14. They still all have a lower GDP and most have a lower GDP per capita

But the income gap in the US is indeed so enormous that indeed a worker is more likely to be prosperous in those other developed nations.

[Romulox]

12. Look at the threads on Detroit. It's done. It's too late. And it's not gonna stop just because

it is YOUR job this time... :shrug: