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Report: Obama Launches New Program to Help Corporations "Take Advantage of Low Labor Costs" Abroad
With the President Obama reversing his campaign promises on trade issues by pushing to pass NAFTA-style trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia, and with the unemployment crisis persisting, the key jobs question is once again front and center in American politics. Specifically: How do we create jobs here at home and build our most valuable 21st century industries?
Rajiv Shah, a 36-year old former undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture, now leads the U.S. Agency for International Development for the Obama administration. Under director Shah, the USAID will partner with private outsourcers in Sri Lanka to teach workers there advanced IT skills, as well as skills in business process outsourcing and call center support. Prior to the USDA, he worked for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the leading private development organizations. The first and foremost answer is that our government should stop doing stuff like the program described in this stunning new report from Information Week:
U.S. To Train 3,000 Offshore IT Workers
Despite President Obama's pledge to retain more hi-tech jobs in the U.S., a federal agency run by a hand-picked Obama appointee has launched a $22 million program to train workers, including 3,000 specialists in IT and related functions, in South Asia.
Following their training, the tech workers will be placed with outsourcing vendors in the region that provide offshore IT and business services to American companies looking to take advantage of the Asian subcontinent's low labor costs...
The outsourcing program (is) sure to draw the most fire from critics. While Obama acknowledged that occupations such as garment making don't add much value to the U.S. economy, he argued relentlessly during his presidential run that lawmakers needed to do more to keep hi-tech jobs in IT, biological sciences, and green energy in the country.
Now look, I'm all for a robust foreign aid budget - we don't do nearly enough to help the developing world. However, using foreign aid money to specifically help private corporations "take advantage of low labor costs" in the developing world - that's absolutely grotesque.
Right now, Even if we do not reform our atrocious trade policy that incentivizes a wage-cutting race to the bottom, the least we should be doing is investing every single available dollar we have in job training and job creation here at home.
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175 Comments so far
Show AllSurprise!!
But when it comes to lower wages and the middle class disappearing...just keep blaming Juan from Sonora for picking fruit in California.
Why are these armed "Minutemen" not barricading the offices of Microsoft and demanding they hire American workers?
I doubt many "Juan's from Sonora" are working at Redmond.
The issue isn't people picking fruits in California, or working in Redmond. When MS employs people in Redmond, MS is subject to American labour laws. It can't force people in Redmond to sign contracts stating that they will not kill themselves, because they have been overworked to the bone.
The issue is for example, Apple, taking advantage of serf labour in China to make IPods, which are then sold at a premium in the US. Etc. To the benefit of Apple's shareholders.
"...just keep blaming Juan from Sonora for picking fruit in California." - exactly my first thought, too.
Yes, and Bill Gates is going to give away "his" money to charity instead of paying it to the employees who helped him make it. Behind every mega-rich person is an underpaid employee or two or two hundred...
Can you imagine how the economy would perk up if every one who ever worked for Microsoft got a check based on salary and time with the company? Holy shopping spree, Batman!!
Keep in mind that Gates and the other pledging billionaires own the charities they will be giving the money to.
Any state going to try to pass a law to ban this? Arizona? Where are those soi-dissant right wing champions of the working classes who rant and rave about "immigrants stealing jobs"?
Russell Pearce probably doesn't know that the InterTubes had developers or where they came from.
This seems to be the opposite of what Obama told the ACL-CIO yesterday.
Obama has elevated lying to a new level as an art form. He went into office as the annointed shill for big business and he has more than fulfilled that obligation. Makes one wonder what the country will look like in six years after he concludes his "scorched earth policy" on behalf of big money, big business and international corporations.
He is a disgrace to the office he holds.
6 years? So you think he'll be re-elected?
The Republicans are looking for another Bob Dole to run in 2012 to assure that Obama keeps doing their dirty work until 2017 without Republicans having to take the heat.
I regret now that I helped elect the sob but it's possible he will have fulfilled his "promise" to his big $$ donors and not run in 2012.....and God help us if Hill & Bill are back on PA Avenue.
There's a problem here. American business wants customers but American business does not want employees. This is catching up with us and the people in charge, in busuness and government, just don't get it.
Maybe they do get it. Maybe the US market is less important in an age of burgeoning economic growth in places like India and China, places that provide a much more vibrant market than the US. Looks to me like we aren't even that important as consumers anymore.
There are certain ideas that USians just can't get out of their heads. One, exceptionalism, that we are the cat's meow. Second, that our corporatist system thinks so too. USians are like battered wives who continue to think their husbands love them. Big Daddy loves us and is working in our interests, USians think.
Maybe it's time we started to question that second assumption a bit more. Face it, our economy is tanking. Ergo, we are not a growth market. Ergo, we are dispensable.
By George, she's got it. Good post.
Joe
Would their markets be vibrant if the outsourcing were to stop and people illegally crossing the border weren't allowed to steal our jobs? I heard that China and India were also having some economic equality problems like the US. Perhaps once their economies have peaked, they could outsource back to us and we'd be vibing?
You are assuming they care about US workers as customers in the tradition of Henry Ford. Ford saw that to sell enough cars, US workers needed to have some money in their pockets. This has changed.
Thomas Paine said "The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion". This bunch says "The World is my market, all mankind are my employees, and to make super-profits is my religion". There is nothing of public value left in their moral and ethical repertoire.
It does not matter one bit to them if the middle class disappears, the working class is left without jobs. They will not remedy the situation that is working so well for them right now. They like their stuff and are too narcissistic even to understand the kind of polluted and dysfunctional world they are leaving their own children.
Joe
Good point. Thanks. That was a basic error in assumption on my part...thinking that they actually cared about Americans and American jobs.
BigMac, Oh, they get it alright, every time the ultra rich get their bank statements they "get it." The same ones that the Republicans want to endow with an additional $800+ million in continuing tax breaks to outsource more jobs.
True, but I don't see the Democrats putting up much of a fight either.
I would be okay with aid to education in impoverished countries if it went with the stipulation that they establish a minimum wage comparable to our own and osha and environmental standards that matched our own. To do any less is to insult our own people, laws, and environmental ethics.
Don't worry. Soon enough our minimum wage, osha, and environmental standards will equal those of the "third world".
We will NEVER need an actual draft to supply troops for the Empire's endless, unwinnable, MIC-enriching wars with these current economic/employment policies. The only "decent job" opportunity with affordable medical benefits for Americans will become the U.S. military, known as the "poverty draft".
Just don't get wounded and expect great follow-up care once you return.
This is old stuff. One of such examples of your tax dollars at work, was the Department of Commerce sponsored meetings that encouraged attendees to move their garment industries out of the US and into the Caribbean because of its lower wages. And don't forget, GE pressured its suppliers to move their businesses out of the US if they wanted to continue doing business with GE. Is Sirota truly shocked to discover that, like the Republican politicians, the Democrats do the bidding of those who have purchased their votes?
Gee, and o is such a gungho american 'ALWAYS' looking out for the people of this country. When this beautiful program happens, I would expect what was recently announced that JOBS won't return for a decade will now say: 'JOBS WON'T RETURN TO AMERICAN'. Period.
And it is lousy that the republicans hammer po o so much for creating a socialist country here.
And the dimocrats just stand around and stare slackjawed at the biggest blue dog there is in our government. A damn stinking lying coward bastard of one.
No wonder the job interviewers have been going too big on education and experience against us unemployed candidates trying to get a good job !
Corporations justify this behavior by saying that they can't find qualified workers. Heaven forbid they should have to put together a 90 day training program. Any time anyone complains, they kick some teachers (we used to say "underpaid" teachers but now $35,000 with benefits and a pension is starting to look like a dream job) for not making us all smart enough to be bypassed for the positions they're filling overseas.
Corporations aren't alone. I just got slammed by an open border advocate who had the nerve to say this:
"Suffice it to say that the "stealing" of jobs, like all natural phenomena, will continue whether you think it should or not."
Man, we're wrecked all over.
Every year they are bringing us to the terrible point of no return. Eventually, we are going to have to take back the country in the only way left to us. Violent, lethal action against our own government and against the corporations that own it.
The only thing that worries me is after the smoke clears who will be in charge.
Ironblood, Violence is not revolutionary and only begets more violence. Non compliance requires courage, imagination and charity, and it is more lethal than bullets. We are ripped off by Health Insurance Co.s because we pay our monthly premiums. If you are curious why huge corporations are so powerful and are able to buy and control govt., look in your garage, on your desk, in the fridge, in the closet, in your medicine cabinet; in short, in the mirror.
Agreed, voting third party is the only answer. If enough people "throw their vote away", eventually we'll elect enough outsiders.
However, with the current campaign finance structure and the fact that TV advertisement moves public opinion, it doesn't sound promising.
Some time ago, I read that Pres. Clinton said that NAFTA had been a mistake. Does Obama read the newspapers?
This USAID policy is a horrible step backward.
Thomas Friedman must be just giddy with this news.
Soon, reporting from an expensive New Delhi hotel, Thomas will extol the miracle of "free markets" and globalism.
Oh, and Oilbomber is indeed the Consummate Con Man.
Agreed. Is there no end to his treachery? And sites like KOS still put up sickening tributes to this 'man'. What happened to his pledge that he will give tax breaks to corprations that bring jobs back. Why, theywent where all his other comments went. I never thought I could dislike someone worse than I did Bush. I can't stand this pos. I did enjoy his rebranded Mission Accomplished speech yesterday tho.
MS, Apple, and the rest of them are dependent on the illegal, mining, murder, and rape that occurs daily in Africa and elswhere, and supplies our cell phones, lap tops, etc, with the necessary ingredients and labor to keep our toys on the shelf. Of course, it isn't immigrants picking fruit in California, its the overfed Americans who have not only never picked a piece of fruit but have never even seen a fruit tree. I have grown and sold organic produce for years. It is amazing how many well dressed, educated Americans in their shiny cars and designer apparel don't know that potatoes grow underground. Cities everywhere owe their exitence to the production and delivery food to their tables. You can't eat an iphone.
Switching users from Microsoft to Linux is like trying to get progressives organized. I like the fruits from your state although I live in Fargo, ND where we're limited on what we can grow. Keep up your good work. Someday, they might just listen.
Why would I want to switch to Linux? Are you implying that Linux is in some way more ethical than Microsoft? I don't know anything about it. Could you elaborate?
"Are you implying that Linux is in some way more ethical than Microsoft?"
http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/32481.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Microsoft
http://gcn.com/articles/2007/04/20/stallman-free-software-is-matter-of-good-vs-evil.aspx
Thanks, Poitou. It looks like I have a lot to learn. These links look like a good start.
Any of the free source / open source OS are more ethical than MS, whether Linux, FreeBSD.
Thanks for the links. I guess I was wrong about you. Sorry I got nasty earlier.
Look
It's not right but the world is too big and complex to do much about it at this time.
Anyone who is making money in the stock market has blood on their hands.
Just about every piece of clothing or housewares that we buy has been bloodied.
It is the way of the world.
I'm an organic farmer also but at this moment it isn't doing me much good except to put food on MY table.
The consumer only wants perfect fruit and designer bananas.
We have a long way to go before we become human beings again.
It is difficult to solve problems until you are not the problem.
Every time I get in my car I am part of the problem.
Every time I turn on my computer too.
There is no way out of this conundrum.
It just is what it is.
I try to live simple but I may eventually be simply livng on the street the way things are going.
I just won't put my money in the stock market.
And green friendly stocks rarely pay.
When I have extra I give it away be it food or money.
Support your local non profits who are doing good work in the world.
We have a non profit that supports community conservation in developing countries.
Teaching people conservation from the ground up and maybe helping to save a few endangered species.
Not economically smart but I sure have some great friends and have met lovely people along the way.
Most of my real life heros are native americans and indigenous peoples.
They don't want iphones...they just want to be left alone.
I say follow your wildest dreams of what you can do to make a difference.
It sure makes for an interesting life and that is where the real riches are.
"Rajiv Shah, a 36-year old former undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture, now leads the U.S. Agency for International Development for the Obama administration. Under director Shah, the USAID will partner with private outsourcers in Sri Lanka to teach workers there advanced IT skills, as well as skills in business process outsourcing and call center support. Prior to the USDA, he worked for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the leading private development organizations."
Ah, yes, Gates planting people in a willing administration, who then train cheap labor abroad who can provide more profits for - Gates! How sweet.
If there was any doubt before, we know where those billionaires "charitable contributions" are going, now don't we?
But he's pledged to give away half of his fortune. Doesn't that make you feel better?
Let's go serfing now, everybody's serfing now, come on be a serf with me!!
Great play on words! And unfortunately, so spot-on.
Remember Goolsby during the Obama campaign?
"For the Canadians, a key point of concern was Obama's sharp criticism of the North American Free Trade Agreement. DeMora wrote Wilson that in the Chicago meeting, Goolsbee "candidly acknowledged the protectionist sentiment that has emerged, particularly in the Midwest, during the primary campaign" but reassured Rioux that Obama's NAFTA-bashing "should be viewed as more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans." Three weeks later, Canada's CTV News reported that a "senior member" of Obama's campaign had phoned Wilson personally to advise him to "not be worried about what Obama says about NAFTA.""
http://www.slate.com/id/2185753
Voters, so eager to believe in Obama, to live by slogans like "change we can believe in" and "audacity of hope", disregarded this and believed Obama's oblique denials.
Obama continues to pursue, and will continue to pursue indefinitely, a system where corrupt kleptocrats sell out their respective citizens to each other for profit and power. At the same time, issuing more and more unbelievable denials, until even his most ardent supporters recognize their raving idiocy in supporting him.
Information Week sez: "... a federal agency run by a hand-picked Obama appointee has launched a $22 million program to train workers, including 3,000 specialists in IT and related functions, in South Asia."
***
What is the source of that $22 million?
Because there's no way U.S. taxpayer dollars are being used to train overseas workers to take their jobs. I mean, right?
Considering we're broke, as a nation, financially, no.
That's 22 million BORROWED dollars, from China, that we owe back with INTEREST.
Sigh.
Like that makes it any better.
NOT!