Outsourcing Jobs and USA's Greed

If you look at a world population density map, you'll see that where our jobs are going they are among the brightest country's out there. More people there then there are jobs for them. So they "buy" our low skill jobs to fill in there gaps. Just like we buy oil from foreign lands to supplement what we can't drill out of our own land. If you can outsource an American job for a fraction of the cost, maybe Americans can outsource themselves to live at a fraction of the cost it does to live in the US. To American standards these people make crap for money but if you look at there economy a $3/hr job is like a $30/hr job here in the US. But we live here and take it up the ass because we have become accustom to our way of living.

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Originally Posted by Zimzum

....So they "buy" our low skill jobs to fill in their gaps. ...
.... But we live here and take it up the ass because we have become accustomed to our way of living.

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why should we sacrifice our unskilled laborers to make up for what their employers fail to provide? our standard of living has facilitated the growth of these corporations and now in order to increase their profit margins they are willing to lower that standard of living, at the same time increasing its cost. not only is this a bit of a back stab, it seems incredibly short-sighted as well.

But when you have millions of people willing to work for penny's on the dollar, what labor market can compete with that? These people are not thinking about the jobs they took from Americans. They want to feed there family's and take there kids to the dentist before they die from a cavity. I don't think you could live anywhere in America for $500 USD a month. Rent, food, bills would be too much. But take the same $500 USD and there tons of places you could live quite well outside our boarder. Its not just greed on the part of corporations but from everyone.


In theory I could sell my house. Cash in on all by stocks, bonds, retirement, etc.. Move to Brazil and live the rest of my life without working a single day

Zim Zum has the right idea. It's all about competition. We are more competive in some areas and other countries are more competive in other areas. Unfortunately, the U.S. is not competitive in the unskilled labor market.

Corporations exist to make money, not lose it. Sorry to break it to you but that's the sad (for some) fact. More money, more profits, and being more competive is what helps drive innovation. The additional money is put back into the economy and the innovation is what drives the creation of new products that help raise our standard of living. This is why we have the standard of living that we do. It's called capitalism and is what makes America great. Frankly, I'm always surprised at how many people who wave the banner of capitalism when it comes to a discussion of it vs socialism but then turn their backs as soon as Capitalism doesn't work in their favor.

We sacrifice our unskilled laborers to keep our standard of living, not do away with it. How do you expect to keep the standard of living if prices for manufactured goods go through the roof? Give the unskilled laborers more money? Wonderful, more money into the economy, more inflation, time for another raise. How long can we keep it going?

Ultimately, if this is such a bad thing, the market will correct itself. Think about it, if so many people lose their jobs. If so many people are put out of work, if the standard of living falls for enough people, who will buy the goods made by cheap labor? But is this happening? No. Outsourcing didn't start last year, it's been going on for a very long time. Yet, the economy grows and unemployment falls. Hmmm, makes you wonder doesn't it.

Additionally, whether good or bad, we have to ask ourselves what is the alternative? If U.S. corporations don't outsource, how can we stay competitive with goods coming from countries that do? For example. what should the U.S. television industry do? What's that? There is no U.S. television industry anymore. Why not? Because the companies weren't competive with the Japanese. They had become complacent and before they knew it they were gone. So, what happens when U.S Corporations can no longer compete with foriegn corporations and have to close up shop entirely. That's right, more people out of work. And do you know what? The same people who whine about outsourcing will then be whining about poor management not making the right decisions which would have kept the corporation going.

You can't have it all folks. Rarely can you have your cake and eat it too. Certainly not in the business world. It's not as simple as just ending outsourcing. Your looking at one little piece of a 1000 piece puzzle. Every action has an effect and many, many times it comes down to choosing the lesser of two evils becaus ethat is what will be the best choice 5,10, 20 years down the road.

Outsourcing didn't start last year, it's been going on for a very long time. Yet, the economy grows and unemployment falls. Hmmm, makes you wonder doesn't it.
It certainly does. I believe the numbers are skewed, on purpose, to make us feel better about our crashing economy. The only ones doing well in this economy are the upper crust. The people with large stock portfolios and upper management. You are right about one thing, when the average consumer can't afford to consume, the walls will come crashing in. Hey, every civilization has it's day and we've had ours, now like all of the rest of them, greed is about to bring it down. Moving to a cheaper country has a few drawbacks, like safety, health care, leaving all your friends and family etc., but might be the only alternative for people like me living on social security and a small pension. When I was in Mexico a couple of years ago, I got to talking with a mexican citizen and we were discusing incomes. I informed him that I only recieved about 1500.00 a month. He said I could live very well on that. Of course after I sold out here, I'd have a few hundred K to re-establish my abode with. He raised 5 children on about 800.00 a month and bought a house and had a decent car, so I believed him. If it gets much worse in my neighborhood (illegals buying in), I might as well move to mexico anyway where I could live well on my meager retirement, I already speak a little spanish, uno, dos tres quatro, etc.

I love the way nobody has answered my questions. You want to laugh at me for not putting overly personal info out there (about someone else to boot), and yet not one of you has answered my questions about how this all applies to you on a personal level. I'm reading a lot of abstract theory. So I'll ask again.

Hashman: Do you think your mother is just being greedy and bogarting her "stored wealth"? Do you think she has an unreasonably high standard of living? Or has she busted her ass to get where she is?

Fengzi:What type of job do you have that you can afford to be so smug about this? Surely you won't mind telling me.

My stepmom was the one I was having the conversation with. My mom is a trophy wife who sells commercial real estate for fun, she doesn't work for her wealth very hard. So she can go on vacations to random countries every year, she sells shopping centers and such, but her friend is 75% of the operation. She goes to lunch with people who are interested in investing and talks them into it. She brings in the money, he does the investing. Good for her that she can bring in a half a mill per year working maybe 60 days a year.

My stepmom worked for an airline company for 10 years or so along with very successful network marketing career. Now she is a corperate flight attendant and does an amazing job and works for her money. I respect my stepmom more (I still repsect my mom, don't worry) than my mom because my stepmom works hard for her money.

My stepmom and I talked about it more and she now thinks that Virgin Airlines should become part of the US domestic flight industry because the customer service is crap. Overseas flight attendants actually care about how your flight is (there are some good ones, but alot of bad ones too).

My viewpoint on all this is that if it is cheaper, outsource so you can stay competitive and don't post 12 billion dollars in losses. Toyota is providing alot of jobs to Americans as they have one of the biggest automotive plants in the US, outsourcing from Japan to America... Along with staying competitive, it also provides for someone else less fortunate. If we had Greenspan back working for the Federal Reserve still we could probably outsource 90% of our jobs lol, jk...

Thank you Hashman. See, it makes more sense when you explain your position by providing some background.
I also didn't realize until 2 minutes ago when I read a post of yours on another thread that you were still in highschool. Please go back and read Delusion's post, particularly the part about a ghost economy. I myself am one of those who operate within said ghost economy. I have to in order to survive.

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Originally Posted by Mrs. Greenjeans

Fengzi:What type of job do you have that you can afford to be so smug about this? Surely you won't mind telling me.

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Surely not Mrs. Greenjeans. In fact, here's the whole story.

I graduated high school as a long haired stoner with a 1.2 GPA. My first job was cleaning horse stalls(aka shoveling shit). After that I worked in a factory manufacturing corregated paper products, worked as a cook at Sizzler, did some construction work, delivered pizza, etc.

After a few years of this, I decided I wanted something better and started taking night classes at the community college. This led to a university where I eventually earned a B.S. in International Business and a B.A. in East Asian Studies. All while working full time.

After I graduated I moved to China for a while, where I taught English as I was learning to speak, read, and write Chinese. I now work as an account manager for a distributor of U.S. made semiconductor manufacturing equipment. My company's headquarters is in Taiwan and all of our sales are in Taiwan, China and Singapore.

I am also pretty active in the stock market and, although my portfolio is fairly modest, I am able to pull in a return of about 25% per year. Although, if you've been following the news, you'll know that the last few days have hurt me badly.

While I was living in China I met my wife. My wife grew up in a poor, poor, village in Eastern China. She remembers that for many years, while she was growing up, her family was only able to afford to eat meat once per week. The rest of the time was rice, tofu, and vegetables. The first time she had her own bathroom was after we were married and got our first apartment. Prior to that she shared a communal bathroom with the rest of the village, or in the dorms while she was in college. Despite her poor background, my wife had managed to get into China's version of Harvard when she was 15yo and had a master's degree by the time she was 21. She is now a senior software architect for a major U.S. internet company.

And yes, I do smoke weed. Except for a 5year period, shortly after I moved back to the U.S., I have smoked for the last 25 years. Although now I limit my consumption to the evenings, after everything's done, and my daugher is in bed.

Hope this answers your question. I don't consider myself smug, and if you knew me I'm sure you would find me a very modest person. This is just pretty much my area of expertise. Plus, having spent my time in the trenches, I do have the ability to see things from both points of view. Please do not take my support of outsourcing as a lack of sympathy towards those that are hurt by it. It is just, as I have already said, often the lesser of two evils and many times what is best long term.

Sorry if I went a bit overboard there folks. But, since she asked, I was just trying to give Mrs. Greenjeans an idea where I was coming from.