Calling Lou Dobbs! Talking point for you, Dude...

Lotsa commenting and posting on outsourcing here lately. Good topic. Jobs are under pressure. All that retraining talk of the late 80s and 90s had rust-belters becoming computer nerds or CSRs and telemarketers only to now find that they've become geeks with student loans facing a dismal job market, again. You can't blame peope for thinking they got sold a pig in the poke by myopic, say-anything-to-get-past-this-situation business people and politicians. But one thing I haven't noticed being raised are the higher level implications of decoupling domestic jobs from corporate health.

C-Level executives are in danger of losing some vital artillery: Politically, companies and industries have used the "apple pie" fig-leaf of job creation to wheedle policy makers into tax cuts, tariff gymnastics, subsidies and free range on a lot of issues like the environment, copyright, safety regs, zoning etc. Viewed this way, Outsourcing has the potential to create the Grange Wars all over again. Don't laugh. If CEOs can only winge and moan about balance sheet health and the abstract need for their companies to survive, yet offer no domestic employment growth benefit to prove their American commitment and cement their standing in society, they're going to get a very rude shock in the next 10 years.

Welcome to the future, Masters of the Universe.


Yes, here at Fouroboros Worldwide we work on how to negate this Hobson's Choice, but hey, we believe in getting paid for our sweat too, eh? (Well, at least until certain Scroogy individuals around here can be convinced to cut loose with some of the good stuff.)