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Here's the part that I don't get about all this "global economy" malarkey. Every single person who touts the wonders of the new globalization seems to take one thing for granted: that America is the consumer of all these goods and services. What we're saying is that America, having bootstrapped itself into the most powerful and prosperous economy in the world, must now basically feed all the other economies, until there is a redistribution of wealth. This edges exceedingly close to communism in my mind. Instead, what these countries need to do is to spend their money on their own infrastructures, raising their own standards of living internally, and thus providing markets to their own goods and services. Rather than siphon off the jobs of American workers, they should instead concentrate on building their own economies. This idea of an "inevitable downward harmonization" of the standard of living is smiply a bunch of rhetoric designed to allow the draining of American prosperity to other countries, thereby allowing the multinational corporations to reap the benefits in a sort of grand labor arbitrage, much the same way that currency traders make money off of fluctuations in the world currency markets. The money companies are saving is not going to Americans, it is going to corporate investors and corporate officers. This is a no-win situation for America, and a no-lose situation for multinationals and emerging countries. But it can only be done via complicity in Congress, and they know we know. Look how often the issue is coming up in political discussions. Look at the complete crap that's being thrown up to defend the positions, such as the article mentioned here (do you really expect us to believe that outsourcing is going to stop terrorism?). Make no mistake, folks, your country is being sold out, and the only way to get it back is to remove any incentives for outsourcing. Remember to write your congressmen, folks. I suggest using places like http://www.numbersusa.com/faxcenter or http://capwiz.com/fair/dbq/officials/ and faxing and/or emailing your representatives at least once a month. Remember, while they may be getting cash from the pro-outsourcing lobby, they know all that cash flow disappears if they lose their job. And the knuckleheads who tell them what to do (the pollsters) go strictly by the numbers. If they get enough faxes and letters, they're going to tell their bosses to vote on our side. And I don't know that they actually have the time to type the names of all the faxers and collate out duplicates, so sending multiple copies may help. If nothing else, it shows you're serious.
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Social Dimensions of Outsourcing: world scale free trade trickle down effect and/or blackmail?
Joe Pluta wrote: The money companies are saving is not going to Americans, it is going to corporate investors and corporate officers. While this is mostly true, it is important to be able to counter the corporate argument that by keeping costs down, the costs of the end product will be lowered thereby allowing the corporation to compete with other companies. In letters to representatives it is important to point out that A). There is little or no evidence of lowered costs of goods, and B). The overall cost (of outsourcing) to the company may not have been lowered at all in the first place! Don't forget that the rep is bombarded by professional corporate lobbyists. These people are professionals because they are good at what they do. Having an understanding of the opposing arguements, and being able to counter them is essential to swaying over the rep. Otherwise you may receive a form letter back from the rep's office that just states the lobbyists position. Dave -
Social Dimensions of Outsourcing: world scale free trade trickle down effect and/or blackmail?
You decide. Article in its entirety; http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/29/op...29FRIE.html?hp Excerpt from article; There is nothing more positive than the self-confidence, dignity and optimism that comes from a society knowing it is producing wealth by tapping its own brains — men's and women's — as opposed to one just tapping its own oil, let alone one that is so lost it can find dignity only through suicide and "martyrdom." Indeed, listening to these Indian young people, I had a déjà vu. Five months ago, I was in Ramallah, on the West Bank, talking to three young Palestinian men, also in their 20's, one of whom was studying engineering. Their hero was Yasir Arafat. They talked about having no hope, no jobs and no dignity, and they each nodded when one of them said they were all "suicide bombers in waiting." What am I saying here? That it's more important for young Indians to have jobs than Americans? Never. But I am saying that there is more to outsourcing than just economics. There's also geopolitics. It is inevitable in a networked world that our economy is going to shed certain low-wage, low-prestige jobs. To the extent that they go to places like India or Pakistan — where they are viewed as high-wage, high-prestige jobs — we make not only a more prosperous world, but a safer world for our own 20-year-olds.Comment
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Social Dimensions of Outsourcing: world scale free trade trickle down effect and/or blackmail?
Otherwise you may receive a form letter back from the rep's office that just states the lobbyists position. Understood, David, but if the politicians get enough letters, they'll realize their jobs are in jeopardy, and at that point, it won't matter how many lobbyists they have. The one thing we can do that lobbyists can't do is elect (or not elect) these people. Why do you think we're seeing the issue on the lips of more and more pooliticians? Because they know it's getting to be about votes. I agree it helps to be somewhat persuasive, but knowing the political process, I know that alot of it is pure number crunching, and every letter makes a big difference, no matter how poorly written. The point: WRITE LETTERS! JoeComment
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