The Offshore Outsourcing of American Jobs: A Greater Threat Than Terrorism

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Is offshore outsourcing good or harmful for America? To convince Americans of outsourcing’s benefits, corporate outsourcers sponsor misleading one-sided “studies.”

Only a small handful of people have looked objectively at the issue. These few and the large number of Americans whose careers have been destroyed by outsourcing have a different view of outsourcing’s impact. But so far there has been no debate, just a shouting down of skeptics as “protectionists.”

Now comes an important new book, Outsourcing America, published by the American Management Association. The authors, two brothers, Ron and Anil Hira, are experts on the subject. One is a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the other is professor at Simon Fraser University.

The authors note that despite the enormity of the stakes for all Americans, a state of denial exists among policymakers and outsourcing’s corporate champions about the adverse effects on the US. The Hira brothers succeed in their task of interjecting harsh reality where delusion has ruled.

In what might be an underestimate, a University of California study concludes that 14 million white-collar jobs are vulnerable to being outsourced offshore. These are not only call-center operators, customer service and back-office jobs, but also information technology, accounting, architecture, advanced engineering design, news reporting, stock analysis, and medical and legal services. The authors note that these are the jobs of the American Dream, the jobs of upward mobility that generate the bulk of the tax revenues that fund our education, health, infrastructure, and social security systems.

The loss of these jobs “is fool’s gold for companies.” Corporate America’s short-term mentality, stemming from bonuses tied to quarterly results, is causing US companies to lose not only their best employees-their human capital-but also the consumers who buy their products. Employees displaced by foreigners and left unemployed or in lower paid work have a reduced presence in the consumer market. They provide fewer retirement savings for new investment.

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So much for Ford bein' America's truck...

‘It Used to Be Cars Were Made in Flint, and You Couldn’t Drink the Water in Mexico’
September 15, 2016 – GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump told the Economic Club of New York on Thursday that the U.S. is a “silent nation of jobless Americans” as evidenced by the city of Flint, Mich., where jobs “have been stripped from the community and its infrastructure has totally collapsed.”

“It used to be cars were made in Flint and you couldn’t drink the water in Mexico. Now cars are made in Mexico, and you can’t drink the water in Flint, but we’re going to turn this around,” Trump said, referring to the Flint water crisis, where the water wastainted with lead after the city switched its water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River in 2014. Furthermore, the Ford Motor Company announced Wednesday that it was moving all of its small car production to Mexico to boost company profits. “Ford announced yesterday that they’re moving their small car production facilities to Mexico, and I’ve been talking about this a long while,” Trump said, adding that “to think that Ford is moving its small car division is a disgrace.” “It’s disgraceful,” he said. “It’s disgraceful that our politicians allow them to get away with it.”

Trump’s unveiled his economy plan during the speech at the Economic Club of New York, saying it “will embrace the truth that people flourish under a minimum government burden and will tap into the incredible unrealized potential of our workers and their dreams.” “My economic plan rejects the cynicism that says our labor force will keep declining, that our jobs will keep leaving, and that our economy can never grow as it did once before, and boy, oh boy, did it used to grow,” Trump said. “We reject the pessimism that says our standard of living can no longer rise, and that’s all there is left to divide, because frankly, we’re looking at an economy now of no growth and redistribution of wealth, and that’s not going to work,” he said.

Trump’s economic plan establishes “a national goal of reaching four percent economic growth.” “Over the next 10 years, our economic team estimates that under our plan the economy will average 3.5% growth and create a total of 25 million new jobs,” he said, adding that it will be deficit neutral. “This growth means that our jobs plan, including our childcare reforms, will be completely paid for in combination with proposed budget savings,” Trump said. “It will be deficit neutral. If we reach 4% growth, it will reduce the deficit. It will be accomplished through a complete overhaul of our tax, regulatory, energy and trade policies,” he said.

Trump: ‘It Used to Be Cars Were Made in Flint, and You Couldn’t Drink the Water in Mexico’

See also:

Ford Says It's Moving All of Its U.S. Small Car Production to Mexico
September 14, 2016 — Ford Motor Co. says it's moving all of its U.S. small car production to Mexico.

Ford CEO Mark Fields confirmed the long-expected move Wednesday during an event for investors and Wall Street analysts.

Ford currently makes its Fiesta subcompact in Mexico, but its Focus and C-Max small cars are made in suburban Detroit. Making them in Mexico would boost company profits because of low wages there.

The company is building a new $1.6 billion assembly plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. It will make small cars there starting in 2018.

Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant, which currently makes the small cars, will be getting new products under a contract signed last year with the United Auto Workers union. They will likely be larger, more profitable vehicles like the Ford Ranger pickup.

Ford Says It's Moving All of Its U.S. Small Car Production to Mexico