Obama Launches New Program to Help Corporations...abroad

[maryf]

Report: Obama Launches New Program to Help Corporations "Take Advantage of Low Labor Costs" Abroad
by: David Sirota
Thu Aug 05, 2010 at 11:15

In recent months, President Obama reversed his campaign promises on trade issues - first by dropping his pledge to renegotiate NAFTA and then by pushing to pass NAFTA-style trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia. Now, with the unemployment crisis persisting, the key jobs question is once again front a center in American politics. Specifically: How do we create jobs here at home and build our most valuable 21st century industries?
The first and foremost answer is that our government should stop doing stuff like the program described in this stunning new report from Information Week:

U.S. To Train 3,000 Offshore IT Workers

Despite President Obama's pledge to retain more hi-tech jobs in the U.S., a federal agency run by a hand-picked Obama appointee has launched a $22 million program to train workers, including 3,000 specialists in IT and related functions, in South Asia. Following their training, the tech workers will be placed with outsourcing vendors in the region that provide offshore IT and business services to American companies looking to take advantage of the Asian subcontinent's low labor costs...

The outsourcing program (is) sure to draw the most fire from critics. While Obama acknowledged that occupations such as garment making don't add much value to the U.S. economy, he argued relentlessly during his presidential run that lawmakers needed to do more to keep hi-tech jobs in IT, biological sciences, and green energy in the country.

Now look, I'm all for a robust foreign aid budget - we don't do nearly enough to help the developing world. However, using foreign aid money to specifically help private corporations "take advantage of low labor costs" in the developing world - that's not "aid," that's rank taxpayer subsidization of for-profit exploitation. Right now, Even if we do not reform our atrocious trade policies that incentivize the ongoing wage-cutting race to the bottom, the least we should be doing is investing every single available dollar we have in job training and job creation here at home. Doing the opposite - actually using public dollars to intensify that wage-cutting race to the bottom - is grotesque.

George W. Bush's administration was rightly criticized by progressives for publicly endorsing job outsourcing, and Obama's administration should be similarly taken to task for now putting taxpayer funds behind the previous administration's endorsement.

http://www.openleft.com/diary/19706/report-obama-launches-new-program-to-help-corporations-take-advantage-of-low-labor-costs-abroad

[FiveGoodMen]

1. Change that will be the final nail in our coffin.

[maryf]

2. The third world will be the whole world

Except for about 5%...

[TBF]

3. Globalization has been a theme that we're hearing more & more about -

I've seen stories about it - like this one in Newsweek:

http://www.newsweek.com/2008/12/30/writing-the-rules-for-a-new-world.html

We hear about the corporations and governments working together. The thing that the stories don't mention though, is how the workers come out in all of this. Now that capitalism is virtually world-wide, perhaps it has to crash worldwide so we can evolve to the next level.

[maryf]

4. I think that's going to be what happens...

Borders are now just fences to keep the different herds from joining together to stampede...

Remember the corny mantra to act locally, think globally? Still gotta think like that...


world wide the workers are reacting to injustices...

did you see this??

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=367x27784

6 billion people are pretty damn powerful as a force...

[maryf]

5. check out this thread too

Same subject, different writer, source:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8886324

[gateley]

6. This is where we need Helen Thomas to ask Gibbs WTF??? nt

[ProSense]

7. Sirota's distortions

debunked

It's USAID.

[maryf]

8. private companies, right?...

help build them up, move them out, any unions there?

[mzmolly]

9. Thank

YOU. :yourock:

[maryf]

10. back atya! nt

[jeanpalmer]

21. Does it bother Obama

that jobs are being outsourced?

[Lorien]

54. *crickets*

[Bluebear]

62. *more crickets*

[Raineyb]

33. No it hasn't and a link to one of your nonsense post does not a debunking make.

USAID is training people to do IT work in Sri Lanka where there isn't demand for said services. So whom does this help? Could it be outfits that outsource their IT to places like India where having Sri Lankan workers could help them cut the price of labor even further?

[Name removed]

37. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Marr]

69. That doesn't debunk jack shit.

It's just the same old misdirection and "yeah, but" garbage.

[Initech]

11. Will this shit ever stop? Outsourcing is killing our economy.

[maryf]

12. Not just outsourcing..capitalism...

the corporations want the lowest paid workers who won't demand, or can't demand, decent working conditions, or health care, or basic human rights...all too keep the profits as high as possible. They are fucking themselves because no one will be able to afford all they want us to consume; it's a vicious spiral down...

The corporations know no borders, they own the world now. Time for us to take it back...

[Dhalgren]

13. Kick! Damn, it just keeps going!

You know what? Yeah, I want my damned pony - cause we sure as hell ain't getting anything else! I can't wait for the "jobs programs" chorus to chime in. "But, but, the admin has created dozens of jobs! Good paying, minimum wage jobs! You guys are just being mean!"

:rofl:

Oh, and Kick!

[maryf]

14. and you folks want unions too???

decent working conditions??? and time even to have fun??? WTF!!! Bring em on!!

[OhioChick]

15. Fucked up on so many levels. n/t

[maryf]

18. and in so many ways...nt

[Jim Sagle]

47. and for so many years...

:mad:

[ChromeFoundry]

16. So much for that "change." n/t

[maryf]

17. yep, I gave up hope for change before the words lost all meaning...nt.

[SammyWinstonJack]

39. Chump change.

x(

[Starry Messenger]

19. already rec'd, kick!

[jeanpalmer]

20. Here's the key

From the article: "he argued relentlessly during his presidential run that lawmakers needed to do more to keep hi-tech jobs in IT, biological sciences, and green energy in the country." Notice, "lawmakers" need to do more... That's not him that needs to do more, he's not a lawmaker, he's the President. So he's not doing anything different from what he said he would do. Obviously he believes the President needs to expedite the outsourcing, which he is doing a good job of. What better way to complete the task than to use government money to train the substitute workers.

What a con.

If anyone needs job re-training, it's Obama, in how to be a Democratic President.

[Dhalgren]

27. +1 for your reply!

:applause:

[Lorien]

52. Indeed. nt

[amborin]

22. K&R Robert Reich wrote about this recently, too

[AikidoSoul]

59. If Robert Reich ran for president

I would work my ass off for him.

Tom me he's a real Democrat with a capital "D".

[Hannah Bell]

23. how hopey & changey is that! yay!

[laughingliberal]

24. *Sigh* K&R. eom

[inna]

25. Rec'd, of course, but... the worst news is not the (relatively) tiny program that everyone seems to

be focused on, but... a huge, gigantic elephant in the room which seems to be largely ignored for some unexplainable reason.

That elephant is a new push to pass NAFTA-style trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia - a policy that is going to be DISASTROUS for American workers (but hugely profitable for the corporations, of course).


From the link in Sirota's post:

Obama Promises Push on Trade Pacts

President Obama, who vowed in his State of the Union address to double American exports over the next five years, said on Wednesday that he would renew his efforts to renegotiate long-stalled free trade agreements with Panama and Colombia and persuade Congress to adopt them.

The two trade pacts, and a third one with South Korea, were negotiated by the administration of former President George W. Bush, but all three have languished in Congress because of deep opposition from Democrats. Mr. Obama said in Toronto last month that he intended to make a new push for the South Korean agreement, and on Wednesday he pledged to press ahead with the two Latin American pacts as well.

“For a long time, we were trapped in a false political debate in this country, where business was on one side and labor was on the other,” Mr. Obama said in the East Room of the White House, at an event intended to highlight his administration’s efforts to promote exports. “What we now have an opportunity to do is to refocus our attention where we’re all in it together.”

Trade is a particularly difficult issue for many Democrats, especially in an election year when jobs are already scarce, because of a widespread view that American workers suffer disproportionately when the United States lowers trade barriers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/08/us/politics/08exports.html

“For a long time, we were trapped in a false political debate in this country, where business was on one side and labor was on the other” - WTF????

:nuke:

I don't understand why people are not widely protesting this outrage; most people are not even aware of what is about to happen.

Welcome to NAFTA on steroids and new American serfdom.

:nuke:

[maryf]

26. Thanks so much for this...

you should start your own OP with this, pretty please??

[inna]

64. You're welcome, and I probably will. It's actually worse than I thought,

I'm still finding out (gory) details.

Have you seen this btw? http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8893066

[maryf]

67. good, no I mean bad...

damn really bad...

[WinkyDink]

28. "Double America's exports" must refer to EXPORTING JOBS.

[maryf]

31. +1nt

[seafan]

36. Ross Perot had it pegged in 1992. And he was ridiculed.

Giant Sucking Sound - Ross Perot 1992 Presidential Debate (2 minutes, 35 seconds)



18 years pass.




So, here we are in 2010.


What do we see everywhere around us?



Few jobs for Americans in America.
Our manufacturing base has been shipped abroad.
We are deprived of adequate health care because so many of us are unemployed.
We have become a debtor nation, barely held afloat by consumerism.

Only now, most people have little money left, to consume cheap products from abroad.





The very bad news in 2010 is that we are still rushing headlong toward the cliff.



Obama Promises Push on Trade Pacts

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
July 7, 2010

WASHINGTON — President Obama, who vowed in his State of the Union address to double American exports over the next five years, said on Wednesday that he would renew his efforts to renegotiate long-stalled free trade agreements with Panama and Colombia and persuade Congress to adopt them.

The two trade pacts, and a third one with South Korea, were negotiated by the administration of former President George W. Bush, but all three have languished in Congress because of deep opposition from Democrats. Mr. Obama said in Toronto last month that he intended to make a new push for the South Korean agreement, and on Wednesday he pledged to press ahead with the two Latin American pacts as well.

“For a long time, we were trapped in a false political debate in this country, where business was on one side and labor was on the other,” Mr. Obama said in the East Room of the White House, at an event intended to highlight his administration’s efforts to promote exports. “What we now have an opportunity to do is to refocus our attention where we’re all in it together.”

Trade is a particularly difficult issue for many Democrats, especially in an election year when jobs are already scarce, because of a widespread view that American workers suffer disproportionately when the United States lowers trade barriers.

On the South Korea pact, for instance, Democrats have expressed concerns about that country’s restrictions on automobile and beef imports from the United States — concerns that Mr. Obama has vowed to address before sending the agreement to Congress for passage.

.....

This did not garner the attention it required when it was posted here a month ago. Thanks, inna, for bringing it back to the forefront.


These trade agreements really are the herd of elephants in the room.

“For a long time, we were trapped in a false political debate in this country, where business was on one side and labor was on the other,” Mr. Obama said in the East Room of the White House, at an event intended to highlight his administration’s efforts to promote exports.

A false political debate? No, Mr. President.



It really IS the essence of a much-needed debate. What we have exported are our jobs.


For much too long a time, Big Business has, indeed, been the enemy of the people's labor.

[Poboy]

45. Good background. -nt

[blindpig]

46. It is the essential debate.

“For a long time, we were trapped in a false political debate in this country, where business was on one side and labor was on the other,” Mr. Obama said in the East Room of the White House, at an event intended to highlight his administration’s efforts to promote exports.

Anyone who denies that the interests of labor and capital are in opposition has shown their hand. We know which side they're on and it ain't ours.

[Jim Sagle]

48. It's fascism plain and simple.

[maryf]

61. hear, hear...

:hi:

[Little Star]

55. Yes he did and yes he was ridiculed.

[inna]

65. Exactly.

Have you seen this thread?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8893066#8895492

[seafan]

66. Thanks for these important threads, inna. Our country has been overtaken by the vampire squid.

Bob Herbert: A Sin and a Shame, July 30, 2010

Robert Reich: Corporate Profits Return, But There's Nearly Zero Hiring, July 27, 2010

Roger Bybee: For Multinationals, U.S. Wages, and Workers, No Longer Key to Profits




Two emergency actions should be taken.

1. Impose immediate, crushing tariffs on imports of foreign-based American companies that outsourced, and now want to bring their foreign-produced products back into the U. S. to sell. Use that money to rescue the people by creating jobs, universal health care (decoupled from employment), providing education and rebuilding infrastructure.


2. If tariffs fail, refusal to offload their container ships in our ports should follow.



I believe that we the people are very close to the point of no return.

[Poboy]

43. Get up there -nt

[Lorien]

53. K & R for this post

The apologists can't spin or cover up the hideous truth of what this administration stands for anymore. We have no representation.

[TBF]

56. After you break the Unions it cuts down the debate.

At some point, though, people are going to catch on to the fact that they are all laid off and unemployment only goes so long. At that point Mr. Obama will have to answer to the folks in the streets (who are hopefully protesting rather than simply dying).

[Name removed]

58. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Karmadillo]

29. But, but, but he promised during the campaign to screw us on behalf of the oligarchy. Didn't he?

nt

[maryf]

30. but many people thought he said something else...nt

[blindpig]

32. Hey, corporations are people too.....

see, he's helping 'somebody', don't ya want anybody to get help? It takes time to turn around an aircraft carrier. It's only been two years. It's bush's fault. blah blah blah blah bargle snort....

k&r

[TBF]

34. Morning kick for all those who are unemployed, and not being retrained.

Solidarity.

:kick:

[Jakes Progress]

35. I wonder what corporate lobby lizard

got the administration to back this. I wonder just which of the billionaire CEO's will be able to afford gold fixtures in the lake house guest bathroom because of the several thousand who will be out of work here. Bet he sent a nice present for Obama's birthday.

[SammyWinstonJack]

41. "Bet he sent a nice present for Obama's birthday. Maybe he paid for Michele's vacation in Spain?

:evilgrin:

[Jim Sagle]

49. No, we paid for that.

[LongTomH]

38. K& R & Forward

I'll send your link out to my political mail list!

:kick:

[maryf]

60. Wow, thanks!

:)

[Individualist]

40. Government of, by and for the corporations

Don't you just love DLC/NDC!

[smokey nj]

42. Kick!

[roxiejules]

44. "Anyone who says he or she cares about the working class...

in this country should have walked out on the Democratic Party in 1994 with the passage of NAFTA."

- Chris Hedges

[TBF]

57. He's right of course ... nt

[me b zola]

50. K&R

[Lorien]

51. WTF?!

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

Obama is quickly becoming one of my top ten least favorite Presidents. I NEVER expected his administration to become this big of a disappointment!

[burnsei sensei]

63. Wow.

How's that hopey changey corporatist welfare working out for you?

[Marr]

68. Wait a minute. Our tax dollars are paying to train foreign workers to replace us?

Christ, I knew these neoliberal clowns were bad, but this is sickening.