Outsourcing, good for America?

Question

Somebody explain to me how outsourcing is good for America. A factory closes down and moves to Mexico or China. 800 people loose $20 an hour jobs. 800 people will NOT be buying new cars, NOT be buying a new house (or loosing the one they have), NOT going on vacation, NOT sending their children to college, NOT saving for the future, and this is good for America? So we can but products cheaper? I can get a DVD player for $20. This is worth 800 people loosing their jobs? We still pay through the nose for things we need, but frivolous crap like Emerson DVD players and TVs can be bought dirt cheap. WW2 was won on the inustrial power of the American work force. When WW3 starts (which doesn't seem too far away) who will be the industrial powerhouse? China? India? Trade agreements are great for the fat cat at the top, while what's left of the middle class dwindles to nothing. The future? the haves and the have nots.

Answer 1

The cost (or pain) of free trade is narrowly concentrated. i.e. It hurts the people who have lost their jobs. But the benefits of free trade is widely distributed through out the economy. Therefore, it is imperative to provide temporary assistance and job training so that the affected people can transition to new jobs.



Say some companies keep their jobs in America for the sake of keeping them in America. Such companies will go out of business because they will lose to their global competitors who will have a lower cost structure. Those workers will still lose their jobs. Therefore, forcing companies to keep jobs in the US is not the solution.



Free trade is good for the middle class because it opens new markets and creates more new jobs in America. It may not be the same old jobs. The affected workers may have to go back to school or learn new skills to take advantage of new opportunities. Free trade also lowers the cost of consumer goods and improves the standard of living for everyone. If one takes a look at the rich set of consumer products available in abundance today from ipods, to computers, to Internet access, to cars, clothes, furnitures, etc. it is in large part because of globalization and free trade.



Your point about the widening gap between the rich and the poor is a different issue, not related to free trade.

Answer 2

Outsourcing usually is not bad for the U.S. Done correctly, it is quite beneficial. There is little need to keep low-level manufacturing jobs here simply because other countries can do the same thing cheaper. Problems arise when you outsource jobs that contain sensitive information, advanced technologies, and/or goods that are necessary for 'homeland security.' Obviously, outsourcing CIA operations is just plain dumb. Outsourcing advanced technologies can be problematic especially if you send the work to a country without strongly enforced intellectual property laws (i.e.: people can steal your technology and get away with it). Finally, it has long been thought to be a bad idea to have to import food for fear that other countries might decide to try to starve the U.S. in times of conflict. That is why many developed nations have agricultural subsidies that make us overproduce food (both the U.S. and the E.U. are major culprits).

Answer 3

Outsourcing is good in some respects and bad in other. While most outsourcing involves low skilled labor and low paying jobs in our market, it requires that our workforce become more educated and skilled for the available jobs.



Instead of worrying about what we could have had we need to focus on what we do have. A bottomless pit of experience, education, and drive. This is what makes us American. We know we can and we will. Can you name one way in which an outsourced job directly effected you?



This national "crises" or this world wide economic problem are huge adversities to overcome, but we can and we have before. While you knock a major source of income for another country, you tout our ability to expend cash. You could buy a sony dvd player for $200, but the same circumstances are involved in its creation as are in the case of the emerson dvd player. Would you pay $250 for the same dvd player if I had built it here in America? Probably not. Even if you answered yes to that question, you would have to be willing to sacrifice more than the additional cost in purchasing that item. This low skilled job would require a, more than likely, higher skilled American who would also demand a higher pay, medical benefits, vacation, etc. Is $4.00 an hour in income worth a $20.00 an hour worker.



This is not an overall accurate assessment of the real workforce in an outsourced location, but is so in terms of American workers and what we have to offer in our workforce.



The problem lies in that the added benefits of outsourcing are only realized by the business owner. If these benefits were more directly related to the workers advancement, then we would better appreciate outsourcing and be able to better capitalize on its return in savings. Cheaper or employer supplemented education and job training would be a good start.

Answer 4

Losing jobs to other countries is not good for the economy of a region or the country. A company failing because of the high prices of their products is also not good for economy.



When you go to Walmart to buy that kid's toy for $2 instead of going to learning Express and buying original for $10. You pay less but get cheap low quality version, likely made in China verses good quality product made in USA or Europe. So what does the toy company have to do? Move manufacturing to china to get similar low costs.



In the 1950's South Carolina offered major tax credits to draw the textile industry from New England leaving many people out of work. In last 10 years, China has drawn textile industry from USA/S. Carolina. And SC is crying foul?