What happened to the jobs?

[MaggieMae]

Discuss? Hopefully by critiquing in a civil manner, without playing the blame game, how this problem can be solved and jobs brought back to America.

Where America's jobs went - The Week

In the two years after the Wall Street meltdown triggered the Great Recession, large American corporations slashed U.S. payrolls by a net of 500,000 jobs. At the same time, they hired 729,000 workers overseas.

<snip>

When did offshoring become so prevalent?

The trend began in earnest in the late 1970s at large manufacturers such as General Electric. GE&#8217;s then CEO, Jack Welch, who was widely respected by other corporate chieftains, argued that public corporations owe their primary allegiance to stockholders, not employees. Therefore, Welch said, companies should seek to lower costs and maximize profits by moving operations wherever is cheapest. &#8220;Ideally,&#8221; Welch said, &#8220;you&#8217;d have every plant you own on a barge to move with currencies and changes in the economy.&#8221; Not only did GE offshore much of its manufacturing, so did its parts suppliers, which were instructed at GE-orchestrated &#8220;supplier migration seminars&#8221; to &#8220;migrate or be out of business.&#8221;

Is offshoring limited to manufacturing?

It used to be, until the Internet boom of the 1990s made it a white-collar phenomenon, too. As economic globalization gathers speed and technology erases geographic boundaries, firms now have instant access to educated workers all over the planet, allowing enormous service companies and small businesses alike to hire Web designers in Thailand, graphics specialists in India, and seismologists in Pakistan. White-collar workers who once seemed immune to offshoring&#8212;lawyers, financial analysts, even local newspaper reporters&#8212;are now in peril of seeing their jobs shifted to India, Eastern Europe, or China. In recent years, 13 of every 100 U.S. computer-programming jobs shifted overseas, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, making it the most at-risk occupation in America. &#8220;Any job you can think of now can be done by someone on the other side of the world for less cost,&#8221; said Matt Barrie, CEO of Freelance.com, which matches employers and freelancers around the world.

<snip>

Are labor costs the driving factor?

Yes, but they&#8217;re only one reason companies prefer to hire foreign workers. By offshoring, firms can also sidestep more-stringent U.S. workplace and environmental regulations, and take advantage of foreign government subsidies designed to lure foreign investment. They can also tap a labor pool that in many cases is better versed in math and science than the U.S. workforce is. Thus, offshoring has evolved from a simple matter of cutting labor costs to &#8220;a multidimensional value proposition,&#8221; as the Conference Board&#8217;s Ton Heijmen puts it. Part of the value is that foreign workers can be required to work under conditions that would be illegal in the U.S. In Shenzhen, China, for example, Foxconn, the subsidiary of a Taiwanese company, employs 250,000 people to assemble iPods and iPhones for Apple, working long, monotonous days with a handful of timed bathroom breaks. Foxconn workers earn an average wage of $292 a month.

Is the offshoring strategy working?

For employers, absolutely. In the third quarter of 2010, U.S. corporate profits hit an all-time high of $1.659 trillion, despite a U.S. unemployment rate hovering above 9 percent. By no coincidence, in 2009, nearly half&#8212;47 percent&#8212;of the revenues of the 500 largest U.S. public companies came from outside the U.S.

<snip>

Is more offshoring inevitable?
Yes, unless the federal government decides to discourage it. Currently, the U.S. levies no tax on U.S. firms&#8217; overseas earnings as long as those profits remain overseas. That policy essentially encourages companies to reinvest their profits outside the U.S. And to give companies even more incentive to hire overseas, the Internal Revenue Service allows companies that move factories abroad to deduct from their taxable income the cost of closing their U.S. plants. Democrats in the Senate attempted last autumn to close those loopholes and create incentives to repatriate profits and jobs, but pro-business Republicans blocked their proposal. &#8220;The whole concept of offshoring,&#8221; said Mark Toon of offshoring advisory firm EquaTerra, &#8220;is here to stay.&#8221; ...

Highlighted portions are my greatest concern. If you have trouble bringing up the link, let me know. The Week usually takes down one of their links to a specific archived article embedded elsewhere after a few days.

 

[The Infidel]

Think EPA, taxes, China, Mexico, morratorium, bye bye birdie

 

[iamwhatiseem]

There is one thing that Americans can do that will have a tremendous effect.
In fact, it would not only increase employment but increase wages as well.
There is absolutely NOTHING that you can do that would even scratch the surface of what this will do.

Don't buy cheap foreign items from Wal-Mart, Cosco, KMart, Target etc. etc. etc.
Buy American when you can.
You will feel better about your purchase, it will likely be of better quality and last longer - and you can walk around with the knowledge that you help your fellow Americans rather than hurt them.

You can't/won't do this?
Then you have no right to complain about the economy.

 

[william the wie]

There is one thing that Americans can do that will have a tremendous effect.
In fact, it would not only increase employment but increase wages as well.
There is absolutely NOTHING that you can do that would even scratch the surface of what this will do.

Don't buy cheap foreign items from Wal-Mart, Cosco, KMart, Target etc. etc. etc.
Buy American when you can.
You will feel better about your purchase, it will likely be of better quality and last longer - and you can walk around with the knowledge that you help your fellow Americans rather than hurt them.

You can't/won't do this?
Then you have no right to complain about the economy.

Not contradicting you but the USD vs. Yuan ratio is quickly making this position obsolete. Now that China has gotten to a labor shortage (it began in the fall of last year) due to the one child policy it is losing competitive advantage. Africa is getting its act together and India has not yet reached China's point but the era of cheap labor pools overseas is coming to a close.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

There is one thing that Americans can do that will have a tremendous effect.
In fact, it would not only increase employment but increase wages as well.
There is absolutely NOTHING that you can do that would even scratch the surface of what this will do.

Don't buy cheap foreign items from Wal-Mart, Cosco, KMart, Target etc. etc. etc.
Buy American when you can.
You will feel better about your purchase, it will likely be of better quality and last longer - and you can walk around with the knowledge that you help your fellow Americans rather than hurt them.

You can't/won't do this?
Then you have no right to complain about the economy.

Not contradicting you but the USD vs. Yuan ratio is quickly making this position obsolete. Now that China has gotten to a labor shortage (it began in the fall of last year) due to the one child policy it is losing competitive advantage. Africa is getting its act together and India has not yet reached China's point but the era of cheap labor pools overseas is coming to a close.

I said cheap foreign goods...whether it is China or Africa or Cambodia or Hong Kong or etc.etc.

 

[MaggieMae]

There is one thing that Americans can do that will have a tremendous effect.
In fact, it would not only increase employment but increase wages as well.
There is absolutely NOTHING that you can do that would even scratch the surface of what this will do.

Don't buy cheap foreign items from Wal-Mart, Cosco, KMart, Target etc. etc. etc.
Buy American when you can.
You will feel better about your purchase, it will likely be of better quality and last longer - and you can walk around with the knowledge that you help your fellow Americans rather than hurt them.

You can't/won't do this?
Then you have no right to complain about the economy.

If only the majority of us had the extra money for gas to allow us to truck all over town, spending hours looking for an American made product. And even if we're lucky enough to find one, chances are some of its components were made in China, etc. Your "solution" is a pipe dream.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

There is one thing that Americans can do that will have a tremendous effect.
In fact, it would not only increase employment but increase wages as well.
There is absolutely NOTHING that you can do that would even scratch the surface of what this will do.

Don't buy cheap foreign items from Wal-Mart, Cosco, KMart, Target etc. etc. etc.
Buy American when you can.
You will feel better about your purchase, it will likely be of better quality and last longer - and you can walk around with the knowledge that you help your fellow Americans rather than hurt them.

You can't/won't do this?
Then you have no right to complain about the economy.

If only the majority of us had the extra money for gas to allow us to truck all over town, spending hours looking for an American made product. And even if we're lucky enough to find one, chances are some of its components were made in China, etc. Your "solution" is a pipe dream.

As long as people like you think it is - then it will remain so.
I bought a Dishwasher, Washer and Dryer...all 3 American made...all three are in the same store as all of the other brands.
Gosh - it took me like 6 seconds to Google "American made dishwashers".
Yeah - took a lot of effort.

 

[Flopper]

We cannot reverse this trend but we can slow it down. The corporate tax rate is too high. It's encouraging businesses to leave the country. Further there are too many tax loopholes in corporate taxes that reward companies for sending jobs overseas. We need to eliminate these loopholes and cut corporate taxes in half, however we can't do that without major spending cuts or raising personal income tax. A bill that would cut corporate taxes, provide some spending cuttings and restructure corporate taxes would go along way toward bring jobs back to America.

 

[Dr.House]

There is one thing that Americans can do that will have a tremendous effect.
In fact, it would not only increase employment but increase wages as well.
There is absolutely NOTHING that you can do that would even scratch the surface of what this will do.

Don't buy cheap foreign items from Wal-Mart, Cosco, KMart, Target etc. etc. etc.
Buy American when you can.
You will feel better about your purchase, it will likely be of better quality and last longer - and you can walk around with the knowledge that you help your fellow Americans rather than hurt them.

You can't/won't do this?
Then you have no right to complain about the economy.

If only the majority of us had the extra money for gas to allow us to truck all over town, spending hours looking for an American made product. And even if we're lucky enough to find one, chances are some of its components were made in China, etc. Your "solution" is a pipe dream.

Algore would be upset to know that you use your gas guzzling vehicle to "truck all over town" to do your shopping research...

Especially since he invented the internetz...

 

[MaggieMae]

There is one thing that Americans can do that will have a tremendous effect.
In fact, it would not only increase employment but increase wages as well.
There is absolutely NOTHING that you can do that would even scratch the surface of what this will do.

Don't buy cheap foreign items from Wal-Mart, Cosco, KMart, Target etc. etc. etc.
Buy American when you can.
You will feel better about your purchase, it will likely be of better quality and last longer - and you can walk around with the knowledge that you help your fellow Americans rather than hurt them.

You can't/won't do this?
Then you have no right to complain about the economy.

If only the majority of us had the extra money for gas to allow us to truck all over town, spending hours looking for an American made product. And even if we're lucky enough to find one, chances are some of its components were made in China, etc. Your "solution" is a pipe dream.

As long as people like you think it is - then it will remain so.
I bought a Dishwasher, Washer and Dryer...all 3 American made...all three are in the same store as all of the other brands.
Gosh - it took me like 6 seconds to Google "American made dishwashers".
Yeah - took a lot of effort.

Not everyone is in the market for big ticket items. If I were, I would definitely do some shopping around for American made, but I might still have a problem because where I live we don't even have a Best Buy, a Costco, or even a Walmart that sells major appliances.

When everything people use to normally stock a home with just essentials--bedding, dishes, kitchen and bath utensils--plus all the smaller items, that's where the big problem lies in trying to find THOSE products that are "Made in America." Again, to travel around searching would be counterproductive, and I'd probably come up empty in the end anyway.

 

[Flopper]

Whatever happened to the Buy America campaign? We still have some American manufacturing left. Why not a major Buy America campaign? It might not do much for American owned manufacturing, but it might help draw foreign corporations such Toyota, Honda, Sony, etc to open plants in the US. I think for far too long our government has taken a neutral position with regard to foreign trade. That is certainly not the case with the Chinese and Japanese government and a number of other countries.

I remember the arguments about free trade in 1980's. Let each country produce and market worldwide what it produces best and cheapest without government intervention. It sounded great, but what we didn't consider is that the US just might not be able to produce the best and cheapest.

 

[MaggieMae]

We cannot reverse this trend but we can slow it down. The corporate tax rate is too high. It's encouraging businesses to leave the country. Further there are too many tax loopholes in corporate taxes that reward companies for sending jobs overseas. We need to eliminate these loopholes and cut corporate taxes in half, however we can't do that without major spending cuts or raising personal income tax. A bill that would cut corporate taxes, provide some spending cuttings and restructure corporate taxes would go along way toward bring jobs back to America.

I think if the corporate loopholes are plugged and lower the rate, that would no longer encourage corporations to keep their business overseas (see link), and we wouldn't have to touch personal income taxes, at least for the time being.

 

[MaggieMae]

One in four Americans say the best way to create more jobs in the U.S. is to keep manufacturing in this country and stop sending work overseas. Americans also suggest creating jobs by increasing infrastructure work, lowering taxes, helping small businesses, and reducing government regulation.

Gallup:
Americans

See options chosen at the link.

 

[asterism]

Discuss? Hopefully by critiquing in a civil manner, without playing the blame game, how this problem can be solved and jobs brought back to America.

Where America's jobs went - The Week

In the two years after the Wall Street meltdown triggered the Great Recession, large American corporations slashed U.S. payrolls by a net of 500,000 jobs. At the same time, they hired 729,000 workers overseas.

<snip>

When did offshoring become so prevalent?

The trend began in earnest in the late 1970s at large manufacturers such as General Electric. GE’s then CEO, Jack Welch, who was widely respected by other corporate chieftains, argued that public corporations owe their primary allegiance to stockholders, not employees. Therefore, Welch said, companies should seek to lower costs and maximize profits by moving operations wherever is cheapest. “Ideally,” Welch said, “you’d have every plant you own on a barge to move with currencies and changes in the economy.” Not only did GE offshore much of its manufacturing, so did its parts suppliers, which were instructed at GE-orchestrated “supplier migration seminars” to “migrate or be out of business.”

Is offshoring limited to manufacturing?

It used to be, until the Internet boom of the 1990s made it a white-collar phenomenon, too. As economic globalization gathers speed and technology erases geographic boundaries, firms now have instant access to educated workers all over the planet, allowing enormous service companies and small businesses alike to hire Web designers in Thailand, graphics specialists in India, and seismologists in Pakistan. White-collar workers who once seemed immune to offshoring—lawyers, financial analysts, even local newspaper reporters—are now in peril of seeing their jobs shifted to India, Eastern Europe, or China. In recent years, 13 of every 100 U.S. computer-programming jobs shifted overseas, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, making it the most at-risk occupation in America. “Any job you can think of now can be done by someone on the other side of the world for less cost,” said Matt Barrie, CEO of Freelance.com, which matches employers and freelancers around the world.

<snip>

Are labor costs the driving factor?

Yes, but they’re only one reason companies prefer to hire foreign workers. By offshoring, firms can also sidestep more-stringent U.S. workplace and environmental regulations, and take advantage of foreign government subsidies designed to lure foreign investment. They can also tap a labor pool that in many cases is better versed in math and science than the U.S. workforce is. Thus, offshoring has evolved from a simple matter of cutting labor costs to “a multidimensional value proposition,” as the Conference Board’s Ton Heijmen puts it. Part of the value is that foreign workers can be required to work under conditions that would be illegal in the U.S. In Shenzhen, China, for example, Foxconn, the subsidiary of a Taiwanese company, employs 250,000 people to assemble iPods and iPhones for Apple, working long, monotonous days with a handful of timed bathroom breaks. Foxconn workers earn an average wage of $292 a month.

Is the offshoring strategy working?

For employers, absolutely. In the third quarter of 2010, U.S. corporate profits hit an all-time high of $1.659 trillion, despite a U.S. unemployment rate hovering above 9 percent. By no coincidence, in 2009, nearly half—47 percent—of the revenues of the 500 largest U.S. public companies came from outside the U.S.

<snip>

Is more offshoring inevitable?
Yes, unless the federal government decides to discourage it. Currently, the U.S. levies no tax on U.S. firms’ overseas earnings as long as those profits remain overseas. That policy essentially encourages companies to reinvest their profits outside the U.S. And to give companies even more incentive to hire overseas, the Internal Revenue Service allows companies that move factories abroad to deduct from their taxable income the cost of closing their U.S. plants. Democrats in the Senate attempted last autumn to close those loopholes and create incentives to repatriate profits and jobs, but pro-business Republicans blocked their proposal. “The whole concept of offshoring,” said Mark Toon of offshoring advisory firm EquaTerra, “is here to stay.” ...

Highlighted portions are my greatest concern. If you have trouble bringing up the link, let me know. The Week usually takes down one of their links to a specific archived article embedded elsewhere after a few days.

A prolonged stable business and regulatory environment is a good start. Actually, that just helps to stop the decline. Moving forward it helps as long as there is a situation that encourages growth. Right now there isn't much of one. A 2 year respite on increased taxes has helped, but that just means layoffs of businesses on the edge ceased. It has not and will not stop them in already failed businesses. Companies experiencing some increases will hire modestly, but that in turn depends on access to capital that simply doesn't exist in this era of financial reform and government micromanagement of lending. A balance sheet showing a business book value of $300K is scoffed at by FDIC regulators. Small banks who know their customers and happen to fall into a zone of scrutiny (think IRS audit on steroids, none of it makes much sense) cannot lend to such a small company, regardless of the potential the business holds. That used to occur some, which is why venture capital was used. However that too is diminished due to many factors. The redefining of "accredited investor" as well as the groups now under those restrictions has contributed to this.

So what happened to the jobs? The government experts who imposed these restrictions and then spent all this money promising to deliver them failed.

 

[asterism]

One in four Americans say the best way to create more jobs in the U.S. is to keep manufacturing in this country and stop sending work overseas. Americans also suggest creating jobs by increasing infrastructure work, lowering taxes, helping small businesses, and reducing government regulation.

Gallup:
Americans

See options chosen at the link.

Obviously polls are wrong. A majority of Americans in the most important poll (the Presidential Election) were wrong when they chose Obama's plan to fix the economy.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

If only the majority of us had the extra money for gas to allow us to truck all over town, spending hours looking for an American made product. And even if we're lucky enough to find one, chances are some of its components were made in China, etc. Your "solution" is a pipe dream.

As long as people like you think it is - then it will remain so.
I bought a Dishwasher, Washer and Dryer...all 3 American made...all three are in the same store as all of the other brands.
Gosh - it took me like 6 seconds to Google "American made dishwashers".
Yeah - took a lot of effort.

Not everyone is in the market for big ticket items. If I were, I would definitely do some shopping around for American made, but I might still have a problem because where I live we don't even have a Best Buy, a Costco, or even a Walmart that sells major appliances.

When everything people use to normally stock a home with just essentials--bedding, dishes, kitchen and bath utensils--plus all the smaller items, that's where the big problem lies in trying to find THOSE products that are "Made in America." Again, to travel around searching would be counterproductive, and I'd probably come up empty in the end anyway.

Your just wrong Maggie.
You don't have to travel, The time it took you to type this post you can find brands made in America.
You just have to WANT to

 

[Midnight Marauder]

What happened to the jobs?

The stimulus was supposed to bring millions of "shovel-ready" jobs which President Obama later admitted, never existed or were even in the cards. Spending months wagging about "funemployment," the Dems waited way to long to think about JOBS, and merely extended by years, the high unemployment rate.

 

[william the wie]

Dropping corporate income tax to 12.5% as in Ireland might well create an insourcing bubble but it would also kick in the afterburner of job creation. Even better substituting a progressive VAT for the corporate income tax would really get insourcing going on the high pay, high skill end.

 

[MaggieMae]

Discuss? Hopefully by critiquing in a civil manner, without playing the blame game, how this problem can be solved and jobs brought back to America.

Where America's jobs went - The Week

In the two years after the Wall Street meltdown triggered the Great Recession, large American corporations slashed U.S. payrolls by a net of 500,000 jobs. At the same time, they hired 729,000 workers overseas.

<snip>

When did offshoring become so prevalent?

The trend began in earnest in the late 1970s at large manufacturers such as General Electric. GE’s then CEO, Jack Welch, who was widely respected by other corporate chieftains, argued that public corporations owe their primary allegiance to stockholders, not employees. Therefore, Welch said, companies should seek to lower costs and maximize profits by moving operations wherever is cheapest. “Ideally,” Welch said, “you’d have every plant you own on a barge to move with currencies and changes in the economy.” Not only did GE offshore much of its manufacturing, so did its parts suppliers, which were instructed at GE-orchestrated “supplier migration seminars” to “migrate or be out of business.”

Is offshoring limited to manufacturing?

It used to be, until the Internet boom of the 1990s made it a white-collar phenomenon, too. As economic globalization gathers speed and technology erases geographic boundaries, firms now have instant access to educated workers all over the planet, allowing enormous service companies and small businesses alike to hire Web designers in Thailand, graphics specialists in India, and seismologists in Pakistan. White-collar workers who once seemed immune to offshoring—lawyers, financial analysts, even local newspaper reporters—are now in peril of seeing their jobs shifted to India, Eastern Europe, or China. In recent years, 13 of every 100 U.S. computer-programming jobs shifted overseas, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, making it the most at-risk occupation in America. “Any job you can think of now can be done by someone on the other side of the world for less cost,” said Matt Barrie, CEO of Freelance.com, which matches employers and freelancers around the world.

<snip>

Are labor costs the driving factor?

Yes, but they’re only one reason companies prefer to hire foreign workers. By offshoring, firms can also sidestep more-stringent U.S. workplace and environmental regulations, and take advantage of foreign government subsidies designed to lure foreign investment. They can also tap a labor pool that in many cases is better versed in math and science than the U.S. workforce is. Thus, offshoring has evolved from a simple matter of cutting labor costs to “a multidimensional value proposition,” as the Conference Board’s Ton Heijmen puts it. Part of the value is that foreign workers can be required to work under conditions that would be illegal in the U.S. In Shenzhen, China, for example, Foxconn, the subsidiary of a Taiwanese company, employs 250,000 people to assemble iPods and iPhones for Apple, working long, monotonous days with a handful of timed bathroom breaks. Foxconn workers earn an average wage of $292 a month.

Is the offshoring strategy working?

For employers, absolutely. In the third quarter of 2010, U.S. corporate profits hit an all-time high of $1.659 trillion, despite a U.S. unemployment rate hovering above 9 percent. By no coincidence, in 2009, nearly half—47 percent—of the revenues of the 500 largest U.S. public companies came from outside the U.S.

<snip>

Is more offshoring inevitable?
Yes, unless the federal government decides to discourage it. Currently, the U.S. levies no tax on U.S. firms’ overseas earnings as long as those profits remain overseas. That policy essentially encourages companies to reinvest their profits outside the U.S. And to give companies even more incentive to hire overseas, the Internal Revenue Service allows companies that move factories abroad to deduct from their taxable income the cost of closing their U.S. plants. Democrats in the Senate attempted last autumn to close those loopholes and create incentives to repatriate profits and jobs, but pro-business Republicans blocked their proposal. “The whole concept of offshoring,” said Mark Toon of offshoring advisory firm EquaTerra, “is here to stay.” ...

Highlighted portions are my greatest concern. If you have trouble bringing up the link, let me know. The Week usually takes down one of their links to a specific archived article embedded elsewhere after a few days.

A prolonged stable business and regulatory environment is a good start. Actually, that just helps to stop the decline. Moving forward it helps as long as there is a situation that encourages growth. Right now there isn't much of one. A 2 year respite on increased taxes has helped, but that just means layoffs of businesses on the edge ceased. It has not and will not stop them in already failed businesses. Companies experiencing some increases will hire modestly, but that in turn depends on access to capital that simply doesn't exist in this era of financial reform and government micromanagement of lending. A balance sheet showing a business book value of $300K is scoffed at by FDIC regulators. Small banks who know their customers and happen to fall into a zone of scrutiny (think IRS audit on steroids, none of it makes much sense) cannot lend to such a small company, regardless of the potential the business holds. That used to occur some, which is why venture capital was used. However that too is diminished due to many factors. The redefining of "accredited investor" as well as the groups now under those restrictions has contributed to this.

So what happened to the jobs? The government experts who imposed these restrictions and then spent all this money promising to deliver them failed.

My brother-in-law had no problem getting a letter of credit for $100,000 from his community bank to expand his used car business into undercoating (surprisingly lucrative) and adding snowplows. He and his son were not only able to keep their present employees, but had to add two more.

And then there's this:

SBA Growth Capital Program Provides Record $1.59 Billion in Financing for Small Businesses in FY10 | SBA.gov

Market-driven program spurs additional capital assistance to help small businesses grow, create jobs at no cost to taxpayers
WASHINGTON – At a time when capital was scarce for small business, financing from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s growth capital program increased 23 percent in fiscal year 2010, providing a record $1.59 billion to help small businesses grow and create jobs, according to SBA Administrator Karen Mills.

The fiscal year 2010 volume is the highest single-year volume in the 50-year history of SBA’s Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) debenture program. Increased volume in the program is in part a result of changes made by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Those changes contributed to an increased number of new SBIC licenses, decreased license processing times, and initial capital to new funds rose dramatically.

I'm beginning to think a lot of small businesses don't work hard enough trying to find financing, doing the legwork needed. Instead, they wait for opportunity to knock? Like big investors who couldn't care less about small AMERICAN businesses.

 

[Flopper]

We cannot reverse this trend but we can slow it down. The corporate tax rate is too high. It's encouraging businesses to leave the country. Further there are too many tax loopholes in corporate taxes that reward companies for sending jobs overseas. We need to eliminate these loopholes and cut corporate taxes in half, however we can't do that without major spending cuts or raising personal income tax. A bill that would cut corporate taxes, provide some spending cuttings and restructure corporate taxes would go along way toward bring jobs back to America.

I think if the corporate loopholes are plugged and lower the rate, that would no longer encourage corporations to keep their business overseas (see link), and we wouldn't have to touch personal income taxes, at least for the time being.

Federal corporate taxes amount to about 300 billion. I think any serious cuts in corporation taxes need to be made up somehow, either through spending cuts or personal income tax.