Outsourcing America: What's Behind Our National Crisis and How We Can Reclaim American Jobs

New American, The, Nov 14, 2005 by William Norman Grigg

Outsourcing America: What's Behind Our National Crisis and How We Can Reclaim American Jobs, by Ron and Anil Hira (New York: American Management Association, 2005), 236 pages, hardcover, $21.95. Available from American Opinion Book Services, P.O. Box 8040, Appleton, WI 54912 (plus shipping and handling); by phone at 920-749-3783; or online at www.aobs-store.com.

Even before the creation of our constitutional republic, America was recognized in Europe as the incubator of a new kind of society built on what is now called the "middle class." It was the aspiration and realistic hope of every American that he could become self-sufficient, improve his economic standing, and provide his children the means to enjoy an even better standard of living.

For decades, the American middle class has been under siege by a cultural elite determined to undermine its moral foundation, and a political ruling class bent on destroying the economic base that sustains it. The strip mining of America's manufacturing and hi-tech sectors through "outsourcing" is the most visible front of that ongoing war against the middle class.

In their useful book Outsourcing America, Ron and Anil Hira, internationally recognized experts on economic policy, demonstrate that the exodus of manufacturing and tech jobs abroad is the intended product of federal policy, rather than an undesired incidental result of "market forces" at work. Analyzing specific instances in which jobs were outsourced to such nations as Ireland, India, and China, the Hiras document that "in each case, a government-business strategy was put in place ... including tax breaks, infrastructure provision (for example, actually creating software parks), and financing.... We would have to ignore the facts to claim that offshore outsourcing is simply the result of market forces."

It is to be expected that foreign governments would offer such incentives to attract investment by U.S. companies. But reasonable people would be utterly shocked to learn that our own government is collaborating in this process by offering tax incentives for shipping jobs abroad, and guest-worker programs that result in U.S. white collar workers being required to train their foreign replacements.

The Hiras are capable analysts of the economic and corporate policies being used to bring about this betrayal, but they don't provide any insight concerning the motives behind it. Their list of proposed solutions doesn't address the fundamental problem confronting the American public, namely a corrupt government controlled by a globalist Power Elite seeking to reduce our population to serfdom. But Outsourcing America is valuable as a readable reference book, particularly in light of ongoing debates over regional and global trade pacts.