The United States has generated the wealthiest and most powerful economy in the world. Most for-profit, and even increasingly non-profit firms, are focused on being bigger and having their "numbers" grow faster than anyone else. You can notice the excitement, the publicity, the swell of pride every time the company's stock, or the S&P 500 hits a new high. The corporate leaders driving this economy want to stay on top, and you can't blame them for that. These guys are certainly not stupid. Their stock highs, and subsequent bonuses do create jobs for Americans, and ultimately lower costs for consumers.
Yet I hear people all the time who have issues with these same American companies outsourcing menial jobs. "Outsourcing is taking away jobs!" "Why don't they hire Americans to do that work..don't they see our unemployment numbers?" These are some of the comments that seem to summarize people's anger. But do we really want these companies paying an American worker four times as much as it would cost a Chinese, Indian, or Mexican worker to do the same work? It's not like we are outsourcing creative, highly-skilled jobs. They are "labor-intensive" jobs that require little brainpower. And ultimately, since these companies who do outsource these labor-intensive jobs, are saving money, they can continue to expand and grow and look attractive for potential investors. These investors pump more money into these companies, and, because these companies keep their costs so low, their cost of capital (for expansion, and additional Research and Development) remains low enough where they decide to borrow; this leads to more jobs-for Americans. Good paying jobs creating and manufacturing products that will in turn push their stock prices higher...and the cycle continues. So please, can we see the big picture when it comes to outsourcing?
Wow, where to start?...Your first paragraph pretty much summarizes the entire reason outsourcing occurs, which is corporate greed. And no, their stock highs and subsequent bonuses do not create jobs for Americans, and they most certainly do not lower costs for consumers. The bonuses go right in their pockets, which is where they want that money to stay. And the only thing that truly lowers costs for consumers is competition. Either that or loss of demand. And it's not just "labor-intensive" jobs that require little brainpower that are outsourced. We're starting to outsource quite a bit of pharmaceutical and biotech scientist and manufacturing jobs to India. I've seen it myself and I've seen the layoffs that can occur because of it. Its certainly not a good thing for Americans or the American economy. If you want the economy to keep roaring along like it has in the past, you need to keep Americans employed so they have money in their pockets and spending power. That's what drives the American economy. Also, you never said what we should do with all those good Americans who are unemployed. What would you suggest?
ReplyDeleteI have to say I concur with Jeff. This could be a great subject to debate...
ReplyDeleteI can agree with most of what you are saying here. i do not have a problem with the outsourcing to a point. I do sort of buy into the fact that some of the jobs are ones that Americans won't do. Also, my opinion of unions comes in here in that I think the unions have forced rates up so high that companies can't afford to keep their plants in America anymore. Also, I am a capitalist through to the core. I'm pro American products too. That being said, there is the negative side of capitalism when it goes unchecked and becomes totally greedy as Jeff said. I think this is not a cut and dry issue. There are pros and cons to both sides.
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