Republicans, Democrats come together in DC

[Jobber of the Week 0]

WASHINGTON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The Republican speaker of the House of Representatives joined Democrats on Wednesday in rebuking one of President George W. Bush's chief economic advisors for saying the outsourcing of U.S. jobs to workers overseas may benefit the economy.

 

With political concern about unemployment heating up ahead of the November presidential election, Democrats have seized on the comments by Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Gregory Mankiw as evidence the Bush White House is insensitive to the plight of out-of-work Americans.

 

"What planet do they live on?" asked Sen. John Edwards, a Democratic presidential hopeful.

 

With the White House on the defensive, Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said "any job loss is regrettable," but he added: "We certainly don't want to do anything that would undermine free trade."

 

McClellan brushed aside suggestions that Mankiw be fired for pointing out the potential economic merits of "outsourcing" jobs overseas. But the White House is under mounting pressure to distance itself from the economist.

 

House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois joined the bipartisan chorus of criticism from Congress and the campaign trail, saying of Mankiw: "His theory fails a basic test of real economics."

 

At issue is the practice of a growing number of U.S. companies to move all or a portion of their operations to places like Mexico, India and China, where labor costs are lower and goods can be produced more cheaply, in order to improve corporate profits.

 

In a letter to Bush, Democrats singled out global news and information company Reuters Group Plc., which plans to hire six journalists in Bangalore, India, to do financial reporting on a group of American companies.

 

Mankiw sparked the uproar earlier this week with comments that appeared to laud "outsourcing" by U.S. companies overseas. "Outsourcing is a growing phenomenon, but it's something that we should realize is probably a plus for the economy in the long run," he said.

 

OUT-OF-WORK AMERICANS

 

Nearly 2.8 million factory jobs have been lost since Bush took office and the issue looms large ahead of November's vote, where victory in rust-belt states like Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Michigan could be key.

 

Democrats have led the charge, calling on Bush to renounce Mankiw's statements.

 

"They seem to want to turn a jobless recovery into a hopeless recovery," said Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle.

 

"I hope that we actually work to solve job losses here at home, rather than simply applauding them," charged Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

 

At least one lawmaker has suggested Mankiw resign over the flap.

 

"That's kind of laughable," McClellan said. "Our economic team is doing a great job helping the president work to strengthen our economy even more."

 

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan also defended Mankiw, saying, "He's a first-rate economist and I must say he is held in the highest esteem of his colleagues."

 

McClellan said Bush's policies were creating new jobs in the United States. "Certainly free and fair trade is important to strengthening our economy even more and expanding job growth here at home," he added.

 

In addition to Democrats, some U.S. business leaders have criticized Mankiw.

 

A traditional base of support for the Republican administration, the National Association of Manufacturers accused the White House of being "insensitive" to unfair trade and complained that not enough was being done to help American manufacturers.

 

NAM President Jerry Jasinowski said he would be looking more closely at the policies and voting history of Massachusets Sen. John Kerry, who has emerged as the front-runner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

 

http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle....pe=economicNews

[NoCalMike 0]

Well the outcry over the outsourcing of jobs is at least a bit refreashing. Nice to see some folks actually seem concerned with this latest "phenomenom"

[Stephen Joseph 0]

As an economist

 

He's right. Overall outsourcing benefits the economy. Yes, structural unemployment rises over the short-run, but IT jobs are NOT what America is best at.

 

America is best at INNOVATION. We create stuff, and then its production is moved to other countries. Cars, Computers, Internet...three very glaring examples. Did outsourcing these harm us? No! They freed up American resources to go after newer innovations. What's on the horizon? Biotech, Nanotech, Internet2. Fields that will have higher wages, better work environs..etc...etc...

 

For more on actually understanding outsourcing and not being a blind idiot when it comes to economics, READ THIS ARTICLE

 

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/kev...-03-maney_x.htm

 

It is amazing to me that politicians can be so apt to prey on people who should know better.

[Stephen Joseph 0]

More thoughts, from economists...

 

Unless a candidate supports free trade, his party can only drive supporters to the polls with American-made cars.

 

http://www.danieldrezner.com/archives/001089.html

http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/movable_t...ves/000270.html

 

You all SERIOUSLY need to go back and review David Ricardo and Comparative Advantage.

[Stephen Joseph 0]

And Kerry says he doesn't like outsourcing...

 

http://www.instapundit.com/archives/014063.php

[Guest Ghettoman]

Wait I'm confused, am I supposed to hate the liberal hippie left wing scum, or the evil right wing political monsters?

[Guest Cerebus]

SJ,

 

Excellent links but remember being an economist is vastly different than being a politician (though it is undeniable the two intertwine). It's hard enough to tell an out of work blue-collar unionist he's out of work to benefit the long term goals of the economy, but even harder to tell a middle class white collar suburbanite the same thing. People are interested in keeping their jobs not Daniel Ricardo's theories, so no politician will actaully want to go against it. As Mark Twain said, "Principles mean nothing unless one is well fed."

[Vyce 0]

Wait I'm confused, am I supposed to hate the liberal hippie left wing scum, or the evil right wing political monsters?

A little of both, actually.

[Stephen Joseph 0]

SJ,

 

Excellent links but remember being an economist is vastly different than being a politician (though it is undeniable the two intertwine). It's hard enough to tell an out of work blue-collar unionist he's out of work to benefit the long term goals of the economy, but even harder to tell a middle class white collar suburbanite the same thing. People are interested in keeping their jobs not Daniel Ricardo's theories, so no politician will actaully want to go against it. As Mark Twain said, "Principles mean nothing unless one is well fed."

Yes, proverbial game theory right there...leading to a Nash equilibrium that just isn't optimum. Sure we feel for the people that get hurt...but there's two options...grow and stay affluent relative to the world...stagnate and let the world get affluent.

[NoCalMike 0]

Wait a fucking second, outsourcing cars to be made with cheap labor didn't hurt us? Sorry that is complete bullshit. True, maybe the corporate leaders are making more money, but quality of the motor vehicle as definately gone down. Cars are specificially being designed these days to make them harder to work on as well. Cheap Labor in the long run results in cheap results. The benefit of cheap labor in foreign countries is for those sitting in an office making out a budget, not to the consumer who ends up paying ten times as much money back in the service department for maybe shaving a couple thousand off the price of the car at purchase time.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

America is best at INNOVATION. We create stuff, and then its production is moved to other countries. Cars, Computers, Internet...three very glaring examples.

Uh. Okay. But we're not all inventors here.

 

  Did outsourcing these harm us?  No!

 

Actually, Michigan still has the air of a ghost town from all the auto factories that got up and left. And finally these jobs are starting to appear again. Toyota's more popular models (Camry, Tundra, Sienna) are built in a plant in Kentucky.

 

A lot of the reason why these jobs disappear is, as Toyota's proven (those models are some of their most reliable and solid) is not because American engineers are sloppy. It's that American managers are idiots. Let's move some CEO jobs overseas.

[NoCalMike 0]

America is best at INNOVATION.  We create stuff, and then its production is moved to other countries.  Cars, Computers, Internet...three very glaring examples.

Uh. Okay. But we're not all inventors here.

 

  Did outsourcing these harm us?  No!

 

Actually, Michigan still has the air of a ghost town from all the auto factories that got up and left. And finally these jobs are starting to appear again. Toyota's more popular models (Camry, Tundra, Sienna) are built in a plant in Kentucky.

 

A lot of the reason why these jobs disappear is, as Toyota's proven (those models are some of their most reliable and solid) is not because American engineers are sloppy. It's that American managers are idiots. Let's move some CEO jobs overseas.

A lot of american managers are idiots because of the hiring process. A lot of companies these days take a college degree over the fact of someone working with the company ten years, and ya know, actually understanding what the hell is going on there and knowing the inside and outs of the workings. So what you end up having for a manager/supervisor is some idiot that when you try to go to for a concern or question, you just get back a blank stare from because they have no clue about how anything on the manufacturing level works, but hey they have a degree in business, so they must know their shit, right!?! In a warehouse/factory setting, I think it would benefit people if they promoted from within rather then just check monster.com for a 4-year degree graduates and then pick one randomly out of a hat. You make think I am sounding ludicrous, but that is not far off from how they hired Supervisors at my last warehouse job.(Target).

[Jobber of the Week 0]

A lot of american managers are idiots because of the hiring process.

I've found it to be a desperate need to pass the buck.

 

Without sounding like Kamui 2.0, in the Toyota example, Japan's way of doing business is a lot different than it is here. If a manager causes something embarassing to happen, he takes the shame of it. Over here, he passes it on to another manager, a lower worker, or simply demands that his team do the near-impossible job of "fixing this."

 

Nobody in management is willing to stake their reputation for something, so everything is crap that's somebody else's fault, because none of them care.

[NoCalMike 0]

A lot of american managers are idiots because of the hiring process.

I've found it to be a desperate need to pass the buck.

 

Without sounding like Kamui 2.0, in the Toyota example, Japan's way of doing business is a lot different than it is here. If a manager causes something embarassing to happen, he takes the shame of it. Over here, he passes it on to another manager, a lower worker, or simply demands that his team do the near-impossible job of "fixing this."

 

Nobody in management is willing to stake their reputation for something, so everything is crap that's somebody else's fault, because none of them care.

oh so true......