Customer Reviews

Exporting America: Why Corporate Greed Is Shipping American Jobs Overseas

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(33)

 

 

Lou Dobbs goes on the attack against corporate America. In this book, he outlines the dangers of the rampant outsourcing that American corporations are doing. By exporting white collar jobs to countries such as India and China, these corporations are undermining American society. In fact, it's a betrayal of the American worker. When manufacturing jobs went overseas, corporate America promised their workers that they would have more opportunities to get higher paying white collar jobs. Well, now those white collar jobs are disappearing, and there aren't any other jobs to turn to other than low paying jobs such as waiter, janitor, and sales clerk at Walmart. If the American worker is forced to compete with the low wages of third world nations, the standard of living in America will be pushed closer to a third world level due to this competition. Only the corporate elite will prosper in this new world order of wage slavery. These corpoate elites don't pay into the tax base, and neither to their foreign workers. With the declining tax base, the American government goes further into debt. All it would take is for a country like Saudi Arabia to dump it's reserves in dollars to destroy the American economy. It's a very precarious situation. This book does a good job of presenting this issue. The reason I give this book four stars instead of five is that it is a little short. It's doesn't give enough case studies to illustrate it's points, and even though it's short, it tends to repeat itself sometimes. However, I do believe this is a good introduction to the issue. Check it out.

Many of the "Reviews" of "Exporting America..." seem to be attacking the man, Lou Dobbs, and his admittedly controversial socioeconomic and political opinions rather than the content and import of the book being reviewed. The book has proven itself to be ahead of its time, extraordinarily insightful and disturbing accurate at predicting future events and trends. In his book, Lou had taken his many years as a financial analyst and broadcaster and used these experiences as the foundation for presenting a comprehensive view of the economic and socioeconomic problems presently facing the USA and its leaders. Who can argue with Lou's position on the ultimate dangers of outsourcing following the recent announced layoffs by GM and Ford, totaling approximately 55,000 Middle American, blue collar workers? Where are these jobs going? Of course, they are being outsourced overseas! Lou is a courageous and patriotic American, doing his best each day to salvage what opportunity remains for the USA to hold on to its quickly fading position as the world's economic, military, and moral leader. On his CNN broadcast of June 8, 2002, Lou coined the phrase "War against islamists" and its derivatives by saying "We are fighting a war against extreme, radical Muslims, who are trying to destroy us, our society, our economy, our way of life. They're called Islamists -- not Muslims or Islamics -- Islamists. They are the enemy." CNN later commented, "Because Lou serves as a commentator and analyst, as well as anchor of his show, he may express his opinion on this subject and use the phrase 'war against Islamists.'" Just how "On Target" Lou was with this insightful analysis has been borne out by the fact that even PRESIDENT BUSH has recently adopted this language and position. Lou is not afraid to take on powerful special interest groups, politicians, religious groups and others advocating their dangerous agenda. These groups are leading the USA down the path to mediocrity. Thank goodness for Lou Dobbs! The USA needs more Patriots like Lou Dobbs!

Edited 20 Dec 07 to add links.

I've said for some time now that Amazon is a virtual university, and that I consider the reviews of any book to be at least the equal of the book as educational material. This certainly applies to the reviews inspired by this provocative book by Lou Dobbs, and I give both the book, and the reviews, high marks when taken together.

It is clear that Lou Dobbs is both an intelligent patriot, and somewhat simplistic in his presentation. This does not diminish the value of what he has offered us, but we have to frame it in the right way: this is a one hour read, from Boston to DC, and needs to seen in the context of my other 1000+ reviews of national security non-fiction.

Dobbs does take on added importance, together with Stephen Flynn's book, America the Vulnerable: How Our Government Is Failing to Protect Us from Terrorism, because Dobbs helps us understand that we do not have a proper trade strategy nor a related demographic and employment strategy. To those who would say "let the free market do its work" I would point out that the free market would not raise national armies, collect taxes, or provide social security. Some things have to be done by the Nation and its State governments, and one of those "duties" is to conserve and enhance national power from "the bottom up", meaning the population's ability to produce and to fight.

There is a related concern: when goods are created by foreign workers earning $1 per hour, instead of US workers earning $15 per hour (as discussed on page 11), two bad things happen: the first is that the goods tend to be less lasting in nature--more throw-away products that thus consume precious metal, plastic, etc (this is less applicable in IT, where Indian programmers cost 1/10th and are as good or better than US programmers); and second, they have to be transported, using tons of oil and other fuels. These are called "trade-offs." I'm not an economist, but I do believe that in a limited growth natural environment, and in an unstable world, it makes sense to localize or regionalize as much of your agricultural, light manufacturing, and energy production as possible. Sustainable environments range from local to global, but they start with the local.

The author spends some time identifying and negating twelve "myths" associated with outsourcing jobs, and I for one find these valuable, and would consider any politician unable to address the points that Dobbs makes to be unqualified to be President (I am mindful of the possibility that no one qualified to be President might actually be able to earn the nomination).

Finally, and this is a criticism of Dobbs, I think he misses the main point, and it is one that is made very ably by Peter Peterson in "Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It as well as others writing about democracy: there is no single issue or challenge facing America that could not be more ably addressed if the people were informed and engaged and actually had the power to vote on the matter. Although Dobbs notes, as does Peterson (who is Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, and hence no liberal), that corporate America, and the two "main parties", no longer represent America or American labor or the American voter, he does not focus on this as the core issue. This in my view *is* the key issue. When Dobbs asks America to vote on CNN, as he did last night, and the only issues he presents are a few foreign/defense versus economic/health issues, I ask myself: what doesn't he understand? These are dog on dog issues. The "dog-catcher" issue in America is this: does our vote count, not only in politics, but in the workplace? The answer is NO, and around that answer, we should be building a popular revolution that demands a Constitutional Convention and a completely open election in 2006. We need to churn Congress, join labor unions, and take back the power.

Newer books by Lou Dobbs, with reviews:
Independents Day: Awakening the American Spirit
War on the Middle Class: How the Government, Big Business, and Special Interest Groups Are Waging War onthe American Dream and How to Fight Back

Other books that complement his earnest populist investigative journalist campaign to be an advocate for We the People:
Day of Reckoning: How Hubris, Ideology, and Greed Are Tearing America Apart
State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America
Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency
The Global Class War: How America's Bipartisan Elite Lost Our Future - and What It Will Take to Win It Back
The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism: How the Financial System Underminded Social Ideals, Damaged Trust in the Markets, Robbed Investors of Trillions - and What to Do About It

A market loving Republican has written a powerful indictment of the outsourcing of jobs that is hurting the middle class. As a business journalist & news anchor he fully understands the machinations of the business world. Ex: Free trade is not always fair trade. Note our trade deficit has been growing for thirty years. Some reforms & tasks can't be left to the market alone. The Federal & state governments have a duty to the citizenry. The latter with the peoples consent can stop corporate greed & corruption by preventing the constant outsourcing of middle class jobs to third world countries. If nothing is done to stop the jobs from leaving. We could become in the not to distant future a two tier society. Pharoahs at the top & a poorly paid majority of drones at the bottom.

About 15 years ago I wrote to several of my representatives in Washington concerning the issue of outsourcing jobs overseas. Regardless of the politician's party, the response was unanimously in favor of this trend. The mantra in the 90s was that outsourcing allowed Americans to specialize in the high tech jobs, while leaving heavy industry and low skilled work to the third world nations. Some predicted we would all eventually be doing each others' laundry and buying each others hamburgers, which is gradually becoming reality. However, until Lou Dobbs came out with this book, I counted him and his network among the elites supporting outsourcing. I am happy to now read that Dobbs is advocating some type of restraint in the outsourcing of jobs, although I am a bit suspicious that his current diatribe on the subject may be related to presidential politics

Regardless of politics, Dobbs is right. Why do we allow unfinished timber to be shipped out of Coos Bay, Oregon by the bargeload for finishing in Japan, when an entire milling industry in the U.S. was gutted to make it happen? Why do we create customer service call centers in Asia, when there are thousands of English speaking people right here that could do the job better? And, why do we continue to perpetuate the myth that outsourcing is good for trade? Ask yourself this: What can a consumer in China, who earns a few bucks a day, lives in a hut or government housing project, and lives off a handful of rice a day buy from America, a Hummer? Dobbs is right. Outsourcing is not so good for trade and the U.S. as once believed, and the hemorrhaging of our economy needs to stop.

People talk about how America needs to learn how to compete on the global market. This means reducing our standard of living to offer products at competitive prices. Labor is just a portion of this cost. Most of the manufacturing powerhouses today, China, India, and the garment producers of Sri Lanka, the Middle East, and S. America do not have the labor laws or product liability concerns we have. Should we compromise our standards in hiring, pay, and liability to compete?

We live in an America in which Republicans could say that the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, and at least half of the electorate would believe them. Democrats are only a little better off-they might say that the sun actually rises in the south-southwest in order to demonstrate their differences from, and opposition to, the Republicans.

What is this nightmare we are living? What surreal world have we awoken into?

Lou Dobbs wonders about this as well, and seems to be shaking his head with the same absolute incredulity. He has been maligned and attacked for stating the obvious, that the sun does, indeed, rise in the east regardless of what our pathetic political parties say. The topic of his book, "Exporting America", is about the exportation of American jobs to the cheaper labor markets of third-world countries such as India and China. From corporate CEOs to the President, everyone says that exporting these jobs is actually good for America, but Lou Dobbs asks, "How can this be true when the sun actually rises in the east? How can this be true if there are no jobs for Americans? How can this be true if we are annually exporting a greater share of our national wealth to foreign countries than we receive in return? How can this be true if, since we have already exported so many of our jobs, we no longer have enough products or services left for export in order to balance our trade deficit?

As a staunch Republican who opposes unlimited and unregulated "free trade", Lou Dobbs demonstrates that the corporate sacking of America is not a partisan issue, but a corruption issue. He has been a highly respected financial analyst and reporter, but has been attacked for pointing out that unlimited trade is unsustainable and must ultimately result in lowering our standard of living to that of our Third-world competitors. American corporations may now consider themselves to be "multi-national" corporations. In other words, they will make their profits no matter what happens to the United States. These same "multi-national" corporations also pay off our senators, congressmen, and president, as well as dictate our trade and monetary policies. While Lou Dobbs does not descend into exasperational rhetoric, his ultimate message is hard to miss: we have to stop whining about evolution and abortion and start fighting to hold our country together against these corporate and political thieves. Dobbs actually writes, "...Corporate America will not end the outsourcing of American jobs to cheap foreign labor markets without government intervention." When a Republican writes a statement like this, you have to know that our nation is in serious trouble and that we have to do something about it soon.

These people who talk about outsourcing as if it were no more than an abstract concept sicken me. When they talk about our economy "adjusting" what they really mean is Americans with IT and other advanced skills are losing good jobs. The best advice the free traders can give is to "retool," i.e. learn new skills, as Bush did in the third debate. This overlooks the fact that middle aged and older workers have very limited options when trying to enter a new field, no matter how well qualified they are in it. Also it's unlikely that we will find positions with comparable salaries. Are you going to tell a guy who lost his software design job to someone in India "look Bob, there's a tech school just up the road. You and Beverly can work nights at McDonald's for a couple of years while you take classes on being a plumber. As for your three kids, the manager will let you bring home a kid's meal for them every night!" That's the idiocy these pro-outsourcers, including Bush, are peddling.

The simple truth is that this new phase of outsourcing is vastly different from what has been happening here since the 1960's. Until the recent past the vast majority of jobs that left were labor-intensive, low-skill, low-paying factory positions. But now it's the high end jobs, the ones that are the traditional tickets to the good life, that are being taken away. America cannot endure having its best and brightest reduced to sweeping floors, starting lawn care businesses, and asking "do you want fries with that?"

Equally nonsensical is the idea that no one can stop outsourcing. If the federal government simply refused to give contracts to firms that outsourced it would stop overnight. Also citizens can boycott the companies. They can cause PR nightmares for companies that outsource. A film maker like Michael Moore could do a movie on what outsourcing has done to families in this country. People could phone call centers that have been moved to India and keep their lines tied up. There are literally thousands of ways to retaliate. For example, check on the new reviews for the book "The Outsourcing Revolution" right here on Amazon.com. To say outsourcing can't be stopped is like saying that past social ills like slavery and segregation couldn't be stopped. They were, because a core group of Americans devoted themselves to doing so.

And make no mistake - outsourcing is evil. It's social injustice at its very worst. The ones who practice it are terrorists. They terrorize hard working Americans and destroy them by taking away their jobs. Michael Corbett is on a par with Osama Bin Ladin. Both of them will occupy the lowest pit of Hell.

I know this is common sense, so those who quote Adam Smith as if his words were scripture and hug their copies of "Atlas Shrugged" will never understand it. Or maybe they will, once they become part of the "adjusting economy." Enjoy those plumbing classes, chumps!

Lou Dobbs has got it right. Our Administrations, past and present,Congress and Corporte America have sold us out all in the name of power and greed. This book lays the facts out in front of everyone to really show what has happened to America that at one time the whole world looked up to. When you depend on foreign souces for your basic needs something is wrong with the way America is governed and something is surely wrong when Corporate America has our governmnet in their pockets. Lou Dobbs should be congratulated on telling it like it really is. He has the courage to stand up to constant critizism about his views about outsourcing our jobs and outsourcing the future of America. A must read for all Americans worried about our future.

Being an avid reader of business news, both domestic and foreign, I know that our blue and white-collar jobs have left and continue to leave this country at an alarming rate. When you combine this fact with our equally alarming trade deficit, it is hard to understand why our government and the multinational corporations engaging in these practices continue to preach that unfettered free trade is good for America.

Lou Dobbs, both on his show, and in this book, very convincingly (and accurately) points out the inevitable outcome of this free trade frenzy -- a radical decline in consumerism in America as a result of the death of the middle class. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in discovering what is REALLY going on in the world of multinational corporations, free trade, and globalization.

I think it is commendable that Mr. Dobbs, despite his own personal circumstances and beliefs, made the decision to objectively and courageously examine our current trade practices, and the relationship between corporate America and our government. The result of his research has done much to validate those who have been, or are in danger of, being displaced from their jobs by cheaper foreign labor. It has also placed him in the position of being sharply criticized by the business community (witness the sour review above from "The Economist"). Such criticism has not deterred him, and, in fact, he welcomes debate on his show with those who strongly oppose his views.

Lou Dobbs makes a very strong argument that it is time that our government worked for the people who are responsible for all those government jobs...the American public.

It's my opinion that it is time for our government to stop protecting and rewarding those corporations who are pushing our country toward the brink of economic annihilation.

It's funny, but those who scream the most loudly about the evils of protectionism appear to be engaging in this practice the most.

This is a stirring polemic by Lou Dobbs, an unlikely crusader against free trade. As a television anchor, business journalist and publisher of an investment newsletter, Dobbs has credentials that might lead you to expect him to cheer for unimpeded capitalism. But Dobbs delivers, instead, an indictment of free trade replete with charges of "corporate greed." At times, his book reads like just another rant by just another economically naïve protester railing against the machinery of capitalism. But Dobbs ultimately delivers more than slogans. He backs his indictments with evidence. He shows, for example, how the U.S. tax code's treatment of transfer pricing encourages outsourcing of jobs. In a `tour de force' of communication, Dobbs manages to make such arcane facts of financial life interesting and accessible to the average reader. We highly recommend his book to those affected by, or participating in, outsourcing.