Project

The main point of this movie is that offshoring/outsourcing is a concern and problem for the United States. I am wanted to clarify what this was and how it is used in corporate America.  I also wanted to show the magnitude of this practice. I mention the other areas it affects because it is important to see that this practice is the tree trunk with many branches. Outsourcing and offshoring is mainly fought on a political front, but to make up for the need support I added the best organizations I have found that can help protect your rights as well as stand you up on the front lines of the cause.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a57k-dbv_pw

 

What I have seemed to find…

What I have seemed to find in the opposite views on outsourcing is quite juvenile. For instance, the notion that because corps are outsourcing they are saving money and putting it back into the US economy. This is not necessarily true. Not all business can make such a large enough profit outsourcing and nothing guarantees that business will reinvest in their domestic community. Like now, the dollar is extremely weak, volatile, and stressed. Nothing more than now make it difficult for business that are just starting to outsource or those that are pouring money into their outsourced work more difficult. The less value the dollar has the more money it takes to outsource. No law requires corps to reinvest their money in the states. More often they invest in other small developing nations that will readily except the foreign investment-part of the SAPs- to outsource their already outsourced work and even more US jobs.

Complex Subject…

Outsourcing, or offshoring, has been a complex and growing situation for some time now. Although some numbers can be found on this subject, I have come to realize that most are estimates. The US government does not require corporations to disclose the amount of jobs they have or will be sending overseas in a year, so it is obvious that corporations would not give up this information willingly.

It is assumed, mostly due to the belief that the US is undeniably the strongest and leading nation in the world, that although jobs are sent overseas many more have replaced these same positions. With the looming dread of recession (some believe us to be in the beginnings of one), rising unemployment rate, and the stagnation within all sectors of the job market it is very hard to find this assumption to have a plausible reasoning behind it.

The complex nature of outsourcing is fueled by the blind eye citizens and their government alike to the belief that the US just may be vulnerable. In addition the increase in trade, has been a glowing factor for those that believe in the invaluable nature of the US. But, for the past three decades we have generated and continue to generate a trade deficit that continues to reach record numbers. Take a minute and look around; get to know what your little piece of America is. How much of your little piece of America is made in the USA?

Comment on the new…

“New evidence suggests that shifting production overseas has inflicted worse damage on the U.S. economy than the numbers show. BusinessWeek has learned of a gaping flaw in the way statistics treat offshoring, with serious economic and political implications. Top government statisticians now acknowledge that the problem exists, and say it could prove to be significant.The short explanation is that the growth of domestic manufacturing has been substantially overstated in recent years. That means productivity gains and overall economic growth have been overstated as well. And that raises questions about U.S. competitiveness and “helps explain why wage growth for most American workers has been weak,” says Susan N. Houseman, an economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research who identifies the distorting effects of offshoring in a soon-to-be-published paper.”

 

~Michael Mandel

Business Week

June 18, 2007

“What do you think?”…Well,

To answer a question presented to me in a comment, I strongly believe that when I listen or read what the head of the Fed has to say, I take it all in stride. The Fed tends to respond to economic situations with open ended yanking. Most of what they say about the national and global spectrumis in accordance with their agenda or they are keeping the full truth to themselves. You would have to remember that the head of the Federal Reserve is the alternate governor for the United State in the IMF. It is always your responsibility to question what is said (just because someone with a few degrees or a high paying jobs says it doesn’t mean that it is true). So, a better question in my opinion would be, “How much do you believe of what they say?”

A Bit Of A Conflict

The United States government is trying its best at promoting a globalized economy. Well, after reading this article is seems that there is also conflict withing government bodies; to globalize through outsourcing or not? States governments pushing to get bills pushed through government bodies to keep corporations here; to crack down on outsourcing American jobs. Have a look: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,117432,00.html

Pose a Question…

What does it really take for a governmental decision to change? Are governments allowed to be wrong? Are the ideas of neo-libralism bad for the global economy? Today, I have an excert from the book Take This Job and Ship It by Senator Byron L. Dorgan:

“While our society is still not perfect, we have since made a lot of progress by developing rules and standards that give workers the power and ability to organize and push for humane standards like reasonable hours, wages, safe workplaces, and child-labor laws.

But that was before the “global economy” made U.S. labor laws obsolete.

In the new world order, if corporations find the labor laws in the United States too stifling, they can just move their operations abroad, where they are not inconvenienced by them.

The clock is being turned back. So much for workers rights.

“Free Trade! Free Trade!” It have become the mantra of the global corporations and their cheerleaders, suggesting all the virtues os freedom. But is this “free trade” a practice that is mislabeled? Is it really about freedom? If so, for whom? And more important, is this free-trade strategy of the United States exporting freedom or misery(p. 51-52)?”

Reflection

A few days ago I read an article on yahoo finance that discussed the changes that globalization is posing for a new generation of workers. Thinking about what is going on in the United States I realized that those that are recieving the outsourced work from the United States is recieving a raw deal. As corporations look for cheaper labor they unemploy Americans and employ other countries for far less than what they should be making. Remember when I mentioned that Dell is outsourcing engineering positions and tech positions from the US to other low wage countries? Well, don’t they have student loans? Aren’t they expecting to get out of school with some mid to high paying career then take their jobs to the next level; becoming rich? As a senior about to enter into a much volitial time, I worry about these things. In the race to the bottom, the search for cheaper labor, where does it end? Rich country first, they are next, them after that….

Over there?

It is obvious that many of the things we do not see, or do not want to see, are sometimes the most important things going on in the world. How is it that I, like most of us, can tell you the latest stupid thing Brittany, Lindsey, or Paris has done but not know a thing about Darfur? Why is there a headline for “how to deal with death of a pet,” in MSNBC news today and nothing mentioned about the thousands of people on strike in Hai Phong? Does the media have a hand in this? Of course they do, they are corporations. But someone should point out that we have an issue in our so called global connection plan. It doesn’t make since that the United States is in a war no one can confidently announce why we are their and genocide runs rapid in other counties; when famine is most prevalent in places where most of the items I own come from, and others wallow in excess. Educate yourself. Find out what is going on in the world outside of your daily media. You don’t have to be a college student or some genius with nine PhD’s to begin a generation that knows what we now tend to hide from ourselves. Learn what is going on over there. That is the first step in changing how your knowledge is being shaped by corporations. Ask questions. How is it possible that nations that export goods to the wealthiest nations are impoverished? Where is the social responsibilities of corporations?…

WSJ-New Generation of Exported Occupation

So, here I am looking through my email as I do everyday and decide to stop and look through my Wall Street Journal college weekly. Every student should be worried about how they will be getting their next job if they are graduating within the next year. With the fears of recession on the the rise and every sign pointing toward it, jobs will be hard to find.

I remember watching a movie by Michael Moore when he addressed the CEO of Nike about jobs they have overseas. His logic, like most others have I heard, was that those jobs are jobs that “Americans don’t want.” First, I find that to be an insult to all foreigners that made up and now makes up this America. Secondly, what makes us so much better than those others nations that our jobs are being shipped to that we give our crap jobs to other countries for even less than what we would have done it for? And as this logic faults, what makes someone think that jobs such as Engineering aren’t wanted by Americans?

My newly added link has an article written by the Wall Street Journal that mentions some of the latest news concerning American transitions to the foreign labor force. Ironically I am a Business Finance major graduating in December so, I am very concerned about careers that are now being sent over seas. The WSJ just reminds us that its not jobs we don’t want that are leaving the US and employing many, but careers that we all hope to have in the future leaving our nation. Maybe I should get a passport fly to Singapore and apply with MSNBC? I’m thinking I’ll have a better shot.