Sunday, January 15, 2006
RACING TO THE BOTTOM
The UK Guardian brings us an AP account of US Senator Max Baucus:
“Sen. Baucus Says Outsourcing Fact of Life”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-5543860,00.html
Speaking in Bangalore, India's technology center, the Senator, who represents the Multinational Corporate bottom line said: “Everybody is concerned about job losses and so am I… But the world is flat and we must work harder to better retrain our people… Offshoring is a fact of globalization…”
I guess it’s too much to hope he was just pandering to an audience. Damn shame we can’t offshore the Senate… I’m sure we could find somebody to bloviate a lot cheaper than this…
Many years ago when the rust belt began the long slow bleed of blue-collar jobs that has since done so much to impoverish the American working class, smug pundits – the ones whose jobs weren’t being exported – said It’s OK! We will all just get jobs in high tech…
And we will – as soon as our living standards become “competitive” with India’s. In other words, when we adjust to living on a tithe of a wage…
It’s interesting, though. We have to go to a Brit paper to read an account of this bit of economic treachery. Why?
Because this is an issue no one in the MSM wants to deal with. Why?
Because there is no political hay to be made here. Neither major political party can beat the other up on this because they are all in on it together. Baucus is probably right. Offshoring is a fact of globalization, and likely nothing short of a bona-fide shooting revolution is going to stop it.
After all, our government is supposed to represent the fat cats, not the people…
Oh, it isn’t entirely one-sided. Some foreign businesses have found it advantageous to “offshore” to our shores. But note the pattern: Those companies are almost entirely from the few Nations whose living standards equal or exceed ours.
It’s a race to the bottom – the one race where the winner loses. Along with everyone else…
“Sen. Baucus Says Outsourcing Fact of Life”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-5543860,00.html
Speaking in Bangalore, India's technology center, the Senator, who represents the Multinational Corporate bottom line said: “Everybody is concerned about job losses and so am I… But the world is flat and we must work harder to better retrain our people… Offshoring is a fact of globalization…”
I guess it’s too much to hope he was just pandering to an audience. Damn shame we can’t offshore the Senate… I’m sure we could find somebody to bloviate a lot cheaper than this…
Many years ago when the rust belt began the long slow bleed of blue-collar jobs that has since done so much to impoverish the American working class, smug pundits – the ones whose jobs weren’t being exported – said It’s OK! We will all just get jobs in high tech…
And we will – as soon as our living standards become “competitive” with India’s. In other words, when we adjust to living on a tithe of a wage…
It’s interesting, though. We have to go to a Brit paper to read an account of this bit of economic treachery. Why?
Because this is an issue no one in the MSM wants to deal with. Why?
Because there is no political hay to be made here. Neither major political party can beat the other up on this because they are all in on it together. Baucus is probably right. Offshoring is a fact of globalization, and likely nothing short of a bona-fide shooting revolution is going to stop it.
After all, our government is supposed to represent the fat cats, not the people…
Oh, it isn’t entirely one-sided. Some foreign businesses have found it advantageous to “offshore” to our shores. But note the pattern: Those companies are almost entirely from the few Nations whose living standards equal or exceed ours.
It’s a race to the bottom – the one race where the winner loses. Along with everyone else…
