Exporting America                                                   Back

Lou Dobbs

This is a fairly short but important book. (Only 166 pages followed by a list of Companies that out outsourcing American Jobs.) I hope you take the time to read it before the election

Introduction

Pg. 1 (paragraph 2) The rising debate over the outsourcing American Jobs has exposed an all too comfortable alliance between multinational corporations & government, which has resulted in Corporate America's dominance over Washington.  This is also true where the environment is concerned.

Pg. 2 (paragraph 1) Will we continue to sacrifice our jibs, our middle class, and our national wealth to Corporate America's pursuit of international trade agreements that are "free trade" in name only.

(paragraph 3) A few corporate CEO's have called me a communist, and some Republicans have called me a protectionist. For the record I am neither. However some members of the Bush administration consider me to be nothing less then a traitor to their cause of free trade at seemingly any cost to workers & our economy. Taxes come from workers. When we lose jobs we also lose government revenue.

Pg. 5 (paragraph 2) I am not a fire-breathing liberal, In fact, I'm a lifelong Republican. I believe deeply in our free-enterprise democracy, I'm a capitalist.

Pg. 6 (paragraph 2) Corporate America & Washington have forgotten about the dream that should be the birthright of everyone in this country. I hope that after reading this book you'll take time to remind them of the dream, and help keep it alive.

Chapter 1   Assault on Middle-Class Americans

"The twentieth century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: The growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy.

-- Alex Carey

Pg 7 (paragraph 1) Layoffs related to outsourcing have long-term effects on communities, because companies pulling out of those communities take their taxes with them and the people in these towns are also unable to pay taxes, because they're no longer getting paid to work.

Pg. 8 (paragraph 3) Central New York State has now lost 10,000 jobs since 1990. Senator Hillary Clinton told me that she believes "Manufacturing is not a luxury, It's not an old-fashioned economic activity. It truly is core to much of what we need to do to maintain a strong economy and, I would argue, a strong defense.

Pg. 10 (paragraph 2) Employment in the U. S. auto industry has dropped by 200,000 jobs over the past four years. During that same time, imports of Chinese auto parts have doubled.

Pg. 14 (paragraph 2) The state of Pennsylvania has already been hard by job losses, having seen 132,000 manufacturing jobs evaporate. Now it's seeing its high-tech jobs go away. At a stop in Harrisburg in 2004, President Bush told Pennsylvanians that "There are people looking for work because jobs have gone overseas, We need to act to make sure there are more jobs at home."  So far, that has been nothing but an empty statement, and to worsen the pain, the Earthlink workers in Harrisburg have been denied special trade assistance by the Bush administration.

Act how? The present administration has promoted outsourcing with tax breaks for four years while not enforcing our trade laws.

Pg. 16 (paragraph 2) Less then one-tenth of one percent of the three million textile shipments that come into this country every year are inspected. According to a recent General Accounting Office report, the lack of inspection at our borders results in the frequent smuggling of garments past U.S. customs.   What else could come in?

Chapter 2   What Right to Work?

I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand, that the world owes no man a living, but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.

--John D. Rockefeller

Pg. 20 (paragraph 1) Hewlett-Packard chairwoman and CEO Carly Fiorina recently declared that "No American has a God-given right to a job."  I'm putting this in to show you how most CEOs feel about the workers of America.

Pg. 29 (paragraph 1)  Intoxicating stuff, this blind faith in the market. How else can one explain why big business and Washington ignore staggering economic realities like a $500,000,000,000 trade deficit. How can any reasonable person ignore the fact that the United States is a debtor nation.

Pg. 30 (paragraph 2) It's been almost three years since the end of the 2001 recession. Despite strong growth, the American economy has only just began to create jobs. and those jobs, in the main, aren't the high-paying, high-value jobs typically created in recovery from a recession. And I thought a tax cut would create jobs.

Pg. 33 (paragraph 2) We are now witnessing the exportation of high-value jobs in information technology, financial services, law, and engineering to low-cost labor markets all over the globe.

(paragraph 3) Despite what Corporate America is suggesting, American workers are productive--in fact, the most productive in the world.

Pg. 34 (paragraph 1) Forrester Research estimates that $151.2 billion in wages will be shifter from the United States to lower wage countries by 2015.

(paragraph 3) It's not just corporations that are sending these jobs overseas. Many state & local governments are following the pathetic example set by Corporate America.

Pg. 35 (paragraph 2) Forty state governments are now outsourcing what were American jobs. The state of Indiana's Department of Workforce Development is responsible for helping out-of-work Indiana citizens find jobs. Ironically, the department awarded a $15 million contract to upgrade its computers to the Bombay firm Tata.

Chapter 3  Working Against Ourselves

Wise are those who learn that the bottom line doesn't always have to be their top priority.

-- William A. Ward

Pg. 41 (paragraph 1) The exporting of American jobs has been a conscious and concerted effort by companies and their consultants to save money.

Pg. 42 (paragraph 2) Businesses are started & run to make money--it's the essence of capitalism. But businesses also rely on their customers, employees, and suppliers, and that means there is also a responsibility to those stakeholders and not just to the investors.

(paragraph 3) In the past few years, the concept of corporate responsibility in too many businesses seems to extend only to senior management,  ------- CEO compensation has risen astronomically, now amounting to about 400 times what the average employee earns. Obviously, outsourcing offers an opportunity for management to make that ratio even higher.

Pg. 44 (paragraph 4) Several other factors were critical to develop offshore facilities. One, environmental regulations were all but nonexistent.

Pg. 45 (paragraph 1) Many of the factory workers in Asia (With the exception of Japan) during the 1970s and '80s labored under sweatshop conditions. Those conditions still prevail in many countries. ----------- Third world economies, willing to provide financial incentives to almost any American company that would invest overseas.

Pg. 48 (paragraph 2) Cheap foreign labor neither pays U.S. taxes nor contributes to Social Security.

Pg. 51 (paragraph 3) fifteen years ago Congress mandated economic as well as environmental impact statements on domestic policies but failed to extend the requirements for such research into foreign policy & international trade. In my opinion, Congress should do so, and soon.

Chapter 4  Globalization

No foreign policy, no matter how ingenious, has any chance of success if it is born in the minds of a few and carried in the hearts of none.

--Henry Kissinger

Pg. 53 (paragraph 2) As their power & financial strength have risen, U.S. multinationals have increasingly used their sheer mass to affect the political agenda. These companies pay out hundreds of millions of dollars a year to lobby our elected officials. And they aren't paying those high-priced lobbyists to make sure your interests & mine are well considered by Congress.

Pg. 55 (paragraph 2) More then half of the 100 largest economies in the world are corporations. That's right, there are now more companies then countries on the list of the world's top 100 economies.

Pgs. 56 - 59 Lists the economies.

Pg. 60 (paragraph 2) In effect, the government is providing an ongoing tax break to companies that move their business to countries that pay low wages.

Pg. 61 (paragraph 1) Even though they should be taxable, these profits are hidden in corporate shelters and offshore havens that protect them from the hand of Uncle Sam.  Don't you wish you could hide some of your income from the I.R.S.

Pg. 63 (paragraph 2) The Clinton administration, which had signed off on the initial tax plan in the first place, tried to close this loophole in 1998 once it discovered the way in which it was being abused. But backed by a significant lobbying effort, the GOP Congress prevented the Treasury from correcting the error. Once George Bush does something it stays done. He wouldn't go back and see if what he did was working for the American people. He never makes a mistake.  Bill Clinton was willing to change positions when situations changed.

(paragraph 3) Greed has overtaken a sense of higher responsibility to shareholders, to community, to employees, and to the public trust.

Chapter 5  the high cost of free trade

The budget should be balanced. Public debt should be reduced. The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered. And assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt.

-- Cicero

Pg. 68 (paragraph 2) The Reagan administration took dramatic steps to force our trading partners to consider fair, not free, trade.

Pg. 70 (paragraph 2) Reagan's policy forced overseas corporations to make investments in the United States, from building factories to hiring American workers, if they wanted greater access to our market.

(paragraph 3) If foreign carmakers are hiring American workers because of their superior skills, then why is Corporate America saying it has to ship American jobs overseas because American workers aren't as competitive or productive.

Pg. 71 (paragraph 2) American companies are building overseas factories, not to sell to foreign markets but to import their products into the U.S.. If a U.S. Company is going to sell in the U. S. don't you think we should insist on terms that are at least favorable to American workers and our trade balance? This isn't free trade; it's pure folly.

Pg. 75 (paragraph 3) Wal-Mart alone will import nearly $15 Billion in goods this year from China. In fact, Wal-Mart as a single company is China's fifth largest export market in the world. Remember when the marketing message of Wal-Mart was "Made in America" No more. I've been warning people about Wal-Mart (See my section on The Economy:) look just under "Do we really want four more years of this?

Pg. 76 (paragraph 1) 96% of all clothing purchased in the U.S. is now imported. Is that because foreign workers are smarted or more productive or have a better education or work ethic? No, it's because our principle trading partners have amazingly cheap labor costs.

Chapter 6

The Exporters

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruptions in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.

Abraham Lincoln

In an article for U.S. News & World Report 10/11/04

Lou Dobbs talking about the economics of war outlined some of the things that we haven't protected because of the amount of money we are spending on the war in Iraq. Some of the more important things I've listed below.

I. while we are spending over $200 Million for the war in Iraq, we will spend just over $30 million for homeland security.

1. More then three years after Sept. 11th as many as 3 million illegal aliens will enter the United States this year. Yet outlays for border & Transportation security are about$5 billion less this year then last, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

2. Only 5% of 7 million cargo containers that annually come through our ports are inspected for dirty bombs & weapons of mass destruction. The Bush administration has proposed only $46 million for port security grants for 2005, a 63% decrease from this year. The Coast Guard estimated that it would take $7.5 Billion over 10 years to meet the requirements of the 2002 Maritime Transportation Act.

3. To protect our railways, the government has so far provided only one-half cent per passenger. The American Public Transportation Association says that $6 billion is needed for transit security.