HOW THEY SEE IT | Outsourcing Corporate greed fuels exportation of U.S. jobs

By AMY F. ISAACS
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON -- The despicable art of shipping jobs overseas has become the rage of American business practice.
In the name of stock prices, corporate profiteering, and CEO bonuses, the backbone of American business is no longer performed in the United States.
India, Egypt, China, and all points in between have become the homes for manufacturing and service sector jobs. Workers are no longer a valuable asset in the eyes of Corporate America and have instead become an expendable commodity to be sacrificed on the altar of corporate greed at the expense of families and communities.
Refuting what proponents say
Supporters of these practices argue that outsourcing helps the overall global economy and therefore new, and supposedly better, jobs will replace the old.
Experience has proven that notion false. The United States is currently seeing modest gains in jobs even though they fall well short of the pace needed to lower the overall unemployment rate.
A closer examination of the profiles of the jobs lost vs. the new jobs created demonstrates that the average new job pays almost $2 an hour less than the job it is meant to replace.
A pay cut of $2 an hour turns out to be over $8,000 less earned per year. How exactly is that better for the economy? It certainly isn't better for workers or their families trying to feed their children or make a house payment.
GOP call center in India
Everyone seems to be getting in on the act. Even the Republican Party. According to the Hindustan Times of India, during a 14-month period in 2002 and 2003, while the Republican Party was beating the patriotic drum, they were fund raising and searching for votes using two call centers located in India.
Most shocking is that the Bush administration not only tolerates this trend but also applauds it. N. Gregory Mankiw, chairman of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisors favors outsourcing.
To say that shipping jobs overseas is the "latest manifestation of the gains from trade that economists have talked about" as Mr. Mankiw did, displays a blatant disregard for those who struggle daily to make ends meet.
The problem with Mankiw's assertion is that sending jobs where they can be done cheaper may appear, at first glance, to make sense, but a closer examination reveals the truth.
Impact on overall economy
Jobs lost here in the United States create a reduction in the purchasing power of the American people as a whole. By preserving purchasing power strength through lower unemployment, we get more spending and eventually the comfort and stability that foster investment and create a healthy economic cycle.
Stability plays an important role in how the economy operates. We can see this in how significant fluctuations in stock prices are driven by news of instability or news of strength.
With outsourcing looming over their heads, many employees will hold their money close at hand and neither spend nor invest it.
The result is a further depressing of the economy. On the other hand, a stable job market can withstand some moderate outsourcing as lost jobs can be replaced with reasonable and timely substitutes.
By promoting and supporting policies that create stable jobs and not just concentrated wealth, the United States can prevail.
However, until we find a reliable, equitable and consistent way to replace the jobs that are being sent overseas, the practice of rampant outsourcing is going to be a plague on the American worker and on the American economy.
X Amy F. Isaacs is the National Director of Americans for Democratic Action, the nation's oldest independent liberal political organization, located in Washington, DC. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.