Thursday, July 01, 2004

Of course, he still has a job
So easy to hate...
U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas Donohue is promoting overseas outsourcing of jobs as a way to boost the economy and even increase employment...

Donohue, speaking Wednesday night to the Commonwealth Club of California, said he believes exporting high-paid tech jobs to low-cost countries such as India, China and Russia saves companies money that they may use to create new jobs for Americans.

CEOs from Wall Street to Silicon Valley have embraced the theory, and the pace of offshoring has shocked statisticians and economists.

In early June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics downwardly revised projections for white-collar job growth for 2002-2003, based on accelerated job migration. The agency reported that seven of the 10 occupations expected to gain the most ground are low-wage occupations that do not require a college degree.

Technology consulting firm Gartner Inc. estimates that 10 percent of computer services and software jobs will be moved overseas by the end of this year.

[...]

Donohue acknowledged the pain for people who have lost jobs to offshoring - an estimated 250,000 a year, according to government estimates. But pockets of unemployment shouldn't lead to "anecdotal politics and policies," he said, and people affected by offshoring should "stop whining."

[...]

Donohue, 66, past president of the American Trucking Associations and regional assistant postmaster general in San Francisco and New York, likes to say that "business should stop apologizing" for perceived abuses.

But some experts are urging politicians and lobbyists to move away from rhetoric and start talking about what to do with jobless white-collar workers in tech hubs such as Silicon Valley, Boston, Seattle and Austin, Texas.

"Endlessly debating whether offshoring is good or bad is pointless - like debating whether you've had a good trip on the Titanic while the iceberg comes into view," Forrester Research Inc. analyst John McCarthy said Wednesday. "The jobs go offshore today and the economic benefits don't come around for years. For the unemployed guy to accept business leaders' position is like believing Dick Nixon saying, `Trust me, I'll take care of it all. Things will be fine.'"

It's hard to even think of harsh enough things to say about a person like this. After the revolution he will lose everything be required to make a living as a wal-Mart greeter (after the revolution we will keep one Wal-Mart just for this purpose).

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