Outsourcing has become a heated issue in relation to the unemployment crisis. Basically American corporations are sending jobs overseas (especially manufacturing jobs) to countries that offer cheap labor, such as China, India, Panama, and many more. This is has caused major problems for blue collar American workers, who have struggled to find work. Many of these workers received higher specialized education because they were told doing so would assure their job security, but apparently corporate America lied. While this practice continues to ship American jobs away, little is being done to stop it. However, President Obama has declared that he plans to introduce new legislation that will limit outsourcing and offer tax breaks to corporations that stay away from the practice. This plan did upset some foreign nations, especially India, whose economy relies a great deal on American outsourcing. When it comes to unemployment in the U.S. though, I have to side with President Obama because protecting American jobs should be our highest priority right now. Having foreign outsourcing fuel your economy, is not steady or reliable thing to have. Sweatshops are often the result of outsourcing, and some even argue that they help boost a nation’s economy and decrease poverty. But having sweatshops or a poor economy are both horrible, so outsourcing is really not making these foreign nations better off. Our main goal right now should be bringing jobs back to America and then we can worry about how to help struggling foreign nations boost their economy. Outsourcing is a dangerous practice, and it is sad to see the government stand by and do nothing as it watched corporations send American jobs away. Something must be done quickly to limit outsourcing if we are serious about fixing unemployment in America.
I agree that the government needs to take action to insure jobs for American citizens. If we need to make another country mad to get our economy back on track, then so be it. I hate to be blunt, but we need to fix ourselves before we can worry about another country securing jobs. Sweatshops are a horrible consequence of outsourcing to other developing nations that lack unions to protect their workers. If President Obama led the push to limit the amount of jobs being shipped overseas, then we would see a huge jump in our economy. The only way America can secure its economy against nations, like China, is to produce more of its own goods. I think I remember reading somewhere that we import substantially more than we export. I’m not sure if this is true, but it does seem like it would be on par with our economy, especially looking at oil or other energy sources. I’m not really sure how Obama would go about limiting outsourcing, but if the white house can manage to do this, then I’m sure you’d see his poll numbers increase greatly.
ReplyDeleteWhile I somewhat agree with your post and the comment above mine, I believe that we can’t just bring jobs back to America. There is a reason jobs went to other countries in the first place; it is cheaper. With the situation our countries economy is currently in, I don’t believe we have enough money to bring jobs back to Americans and them ten times as much. I do hate sweat shops and there are some sweatshops due to this practice but the simple fact is that we can’t afford to have a full American workforce and still produce cheap goods to make money. My girlfriend’s father works at a large local furniture manufacturer who has just recently opened up a factory in China. He is in charge of training and quality management in the Shanghai factory. The company he works had to outsource because they couldn’t afford to pay American workers anymore; also they are only producing the fabric in China and many other companies are doing the same thing. They are forced to outsource but only outsource certain portions of production; therefore, leaving much of the work to still be done in America. It is a shame that we are sending jobs abroad but we can recover from this recession without this practice. If we kept all jobs in America the cost of the products would increase beyond the consumers’ ability to pay.
ReplyDeleteMe you are absolutely right. Outsourcing is a terrible practice that is taking jobs away from honest and hard working Americans. While Obama has openly stated he wants to introduce incentives for businesses to keep jobs in America, little has been done to see these policies through. Unemployment should be the greatest priority for the U.S. government right now, but unfortunately as you can see from a lack of urgency to reduce unemployment, it is not. If we upset other countries by bringing our jobs back the too bad for them. We live in the United States, arguably the greatest country in the world, and our main goal should always be providing the greatest possible welfare for all our citizens. I think we need to help ourselves first and stabilize our own economy before we start worrying about the economy of other countries. And you were right; the United States does import more than it exports. This has become a major concern in recent years and proves how outsourcing has gotten out of hand. If we are to see an improvement in employment rates in the long run then the government must provide incentives for businesses to keep jobs in America and limit the practice of outsourcing.
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that we both included outsourcing in our blogs. It has become a HUGE problem when it comes to the issue of unemployment. I still can't believe that while we are in a recession and so many Americans have lost their jobs, companies still of the audacity to send much-needed jobs overseas. I totally agree with Obama's plan to cut off the tax breaks to those companies that choose to continue sending jobs away. Although it is cheaper, we must focus on spurring our economy first, and that starts with making jobs in America so Americans can start spending!
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