In response to the Perspectives column written by Declan McCullagh, "The truth about offshoring ":
You have got to be kidding me. First of all, the unemployment rate you give of 5.7 percent is true but that rate only figures the amount of people who are currently receiving unemployment benefits. All those who have exhausted benefits are not counted. We have to figure that the number is closer to 10 percent or 12 percent.
While there is an economic truth to outsourcing, you have to consider the context. We followed the outsourcing path to move our manufacturing south of the border or to the Far East and our solution was the fabled service economy. Now the high-end jobs in the service industry are being shipped to India. Other than the obvious jobs that are necessary for America to survive (food service, government work, education, etc.) what do we have to offer in the world market?
Nothing.
There are very few products or services manufactured in America that other nations actually want to purchase. What now? I know guys with master's degrees in IT who are answering phones in a call center for first-level support. I've seen my team of 120 techs get cut by 40 percent along with increased numbers of users to support and a 50 percent increase in medical insurance costs. The economy is taking a nosedive and the corporations who move out are the only ones to blame (other than the NAFTA clowns.)
Corporate America already has enough apologists--please consider the reality of the economy before writing off our current screwed up state as "good business."
Michael Jatczak
Detroit, Mich.